If the Customer Validation platform is the skeleton, Betabound is the beating heart of Centercode. Every day, members of our 200,000+ tester network are putting their time and energy towards helping our customers build spectacular products. Leading the collaboration between our tester community and our customers is the Betabound Team.
From expanding and diversifying the tester community to innovating recruitment strategies and initiatives, the Betabound Team is hard at work matching products with testers and vice versa. Following the success of their second Ambassador Program webinar, the team sat down with us to share a little bit about themselves, their experiences, and their best practices for engaging the tester community.
Brad Day
Director of Betabound
What role do you play on the Betabound Team?
As the Betabound Director, I’m ultimately responsible for everything involving the Betabound tester network. This means creating new ways for Betabounders to participate and engage, spearheading the major updates coming to Betabound, supporting our testers, and everything in between.
What have your experiences participating as a tester taught you about community management?
The biggest thing I’ve learned from participating as a tester is the importance of communication. We’ve all heard the phrase “communication is key” before, but really – when you’re participating in a test and you’re part of an exclusive group getting to experience something before anybody else, communication becomes absolutely critical.
In this industry, bumps along the road are common. It’s rare for things to go exactly as planned, so if any test details change or anything gets delayed/adjusted, it’s important to communicate that to your testers. They’re part of the team! If testers feel valued, they become more valuable.
What’s your favorite part of your job?
I absolutely love being able to work with such a wide variety of products. We never know what we’re going to be able to get our hands on next, and we’ve had the opportunity to interact with some really breathtaking technology.
Are there any skills you developed in previous jobs that have helped you in your current role?
My first job out of high school was at a computer repair store, where I was able to learn the basics of customer support. Through this, I became comfortable with helping solve complex problems and work through a wide variety of issues. Problem-solving is a critical aspect of working in Customer Validation – it’s something I still do every day.
What piece of outdated tech do you miss the most?
I miss old television – TV before everything was on demand. It was a big deal to wake up at the right time or get home before your favorite show started.
What’s an item on your desk that people ask you about?
I proudly display a Donald Duck figurine. I can do a pretty solid Donald Duck voice, and he reminds me that it’s okay to still feel like a kid sometimes.
What’s the best piece of advice you can give someone about interacting with the tester team?
The more valued testers feel, the more they want to help and provide feedback. Make them feel appreciated and always be in touch!
Conrad Neill
Technographics Specialist
What role do you play on the Betabound Team?
As the in-house Technographic Specialist, I spend my days finding new tech products, keeping up with the evolution of existing products, and promoting the technology profiles within Betabound.
What’s the most challenging aspect of your role?
The biggest obstacle I’m facing is the fluidity of product specs. Having everything connected to the internet (refrigerators, cars, my coffee mug…) means a firmware update could change major features or add new ones.
What’s your favorite part of your job?
The best part about my job is that I’m never not learning. The industry is always changing, and I’m constantly accruing and sharing knowledge on all kinds of product trends. Sharing that knowledge with our clients and colleagues means we’ll be able to eliminate issues and concerns with tomorrow’s products.
What have your experiences participating as a tester taught you about community management?
The biggest thing that being on the other side has taught me is the value of keeping in touch with your tester community. In my role, this means continually reaching out to our testers and verifying the hardware and software they’re testing on. As people switch out or update their personal devices, like cell phones, computers, or tablets, I need to ensure the test platforms on their profiles stay up-to-date.
What’s your favorite video game and why?
I have three: Half-Life 2 for its groundbreaking engine; Psychonauts for its gameplay elements; and Metro 2033 for the atmosphere. All have amazing stories.
What piece of outdated tech do you miss the most?
I miss CRT monitors because of the color advantage it has over most modern displays, but technology today seems to be making great strides in this area.
What’s the best piece of advice you can give someone about interacting with the tester team?
Go in with the mindset that your testers are going out of their way to help you and your product be successful. I’m blown away by how many real people are genuinely interested in being helpful on product tests, volunteering their time and energy to give valuable feedback.
Ulysses Quintanilla
Recruitment Specialist
What role do you play on the Betabound Team?
I’m the Recruitment Specialist. My biggest responsibility is making sure we have as many qualified applicants as possible for our managed customer tests.
What’s the most challenging aspect of your role?
Drafting and executing an effective qualification survey can be tricky. You have to make sure you cover all of the test’s requirements without asking too many questions. A robust survey can overwhelm even the most passionate applicants. If the survey discourages them, the test manager will have fewer qualified candidates to choose from.
I have to capture the most important requirements while keeping it short and sweet, so we can have the biggest pool of applicants possible.
What’s your favorite part of the job?
I love being a part of the success of all the varied projects we help launch for our customers. We have an array of products to test and I like working out how I’ll need to change my recruitment strategy to be successful with each type.
What have your experiences participating as a tester taught you about community management?
Being on the other side of a customer test has definitely taught me the value of communication. If I was a tester and I didn’t know about a product test that’s really cool and totally up my alley, I would be really bummed out if I wasn’t able to apply in time. So when I’m ready to launch a new recruitment – say for a new smart lock – I take advantage of our member profile interests to make sure that everyone who has expressed interest in smart-home products gets notified.
In addition to applying and participating in a lot of the opportunities posted on our Betabound homepage, I’ll usually hop on Apple’s public beta program. I love to peek behind the curtain, so to speak.
What’s an item on your desk that people ask you about?
I’d say it’s a tie between my D.Va (from Overwatch) Funko Pop vinyl figure and my motorized disco ball.
What piece of outdated tech do you miss the most?
I miss my Sidekick. Texting was so easy and that swivel screen was so satisfying to pop up.
What’s the best piece of advice you can give someone about interacting with the tester team?
Don’t be shy about engaging with someone after they’ve submitted an issue or idea. Even if it’s a bug that can’t be fixed any time soon, testers love hearing updates. Having that connection goes a long way in creating a dedicated tester, which is a wonderful thing to have on future tests.
More Community Management Tips
Want more insider knowledge? Hear Betabound Director Brad Day share more tips for growing and maintaining your tester community in our on-demand webinar, Smart Strategies for Building a Relevant and Engaged Tester Community.
