The Importance of Your Community in Delta Testing

October 8, 2021

The whole point of automating your user testing processes is to make the hard work of traditional beta faster and easier. But saying "beta is automated now" isn't the only thing that makes delta testing more efficient and effective.

Like any form of user testing, your success rests in the hands of real-world testers. It's a simple formula: no real-world tester feedback = no real-world product insights. That makes your community your gateway to the real-world feedback that feeds impactful, target market-driven decision-making.

Here's why your community is so important and how it fuels your delta testing processes.

You Always Have Testers Available

Your tester community is a group of people who care about your brand and your product — likely because they have a personal connection to them. They can be your current customers, potential customers, or even your employees. But the unifying factor is that they're enthusiastic about the solutions you're offering. This makes them prime candidates for delta testing.

Having enthusiastic testers readily available is a critical part of spinning up any delta testing project. It's what makes recruiting testers and scoring actionable feedback for delta tests faster and more reliable than traditional beta. And this is especially important for continuous testing, where ongoing releases in need of ongoing validation demand a plentiful supply of tried-and-true testers.

Profiles Make Recruitment Easy

Building your ideal tester team is about more than finding people who want to test your product. Being willing is critical — but they also have to be able, meaning they have the necessary equipment and the right qualifications to provide feedback that's aligned with your target market. Gathering your testers into a community gives you a place to house user profiles and test platforms: two assets that are essential for your delta testing efforts.

The demographic details testers fill in when they complete their user profiles help you identify candidates that accurately reflect your customers' lifestyles. Meanwhile, test platforms give insight into the technographic side: the phones, computers, robot assistants, and other connected devices that will likely interact with your product in the real world. Between test platforms and user profiles, identifying the right candidates and inviting them to participate is as simple as "filter and send."

Tester Impact Scoring Highlights Your All-Stars

Having demographic and technographic details on file makes filtering for ideal candidates easy. But these aren't the only things your community helps you keep track of. They also allow you to track your testers' performance over time.

In an everything-and-the-kitchen-sink tool like the Centercode Platform, all the minutiae of delta testing happen in one place. That includes an understanding of everything your testers contribute, even across projects. That cumulative impact is their Tester Impact Score, and it's a vital asset for identifying your all-star testers and inviting them back to share their prized insights over and over again.