

Ask HN: How do we get the right alpha users? - joshuahays

Hello! Our startup is at the point now where we could really utilize some real-world testing but a problem we're having is getting the right alpha users. We essentially have two different users - a car buyer and a dealership. The problem is facilitating a test environment without it actually having to be launched... so all transactions would be 'pretend'.<p>Spoke with a YC startup last night who we are close friends with and they suggested to forget user (car buyer) testing and focus on dealership testing. In a sense, our 'alpha users' would be the dealerships and we could equate how many potential users each dealership would represent. Thought the idea was brilliant.<p>What would you suggest? If you need more info, I'd be happy to provide it - didn't want to hardcore self-promote. :)
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rdhn
Good plan, though you just delay the problem of finding users to test. You
will want to test your user experience at some point.

1\. Clarify your benefit to the buyer to figure out who your ideal tester is
(your zero negotiation and and unlimited deals reasons are a good start).

2\. Work out where these people are and go promote to them. So you need people
who: are comfortable shopping online, already research purchases online, are
cost-concious, are actively considering a car purchase, live in <insert
geographic restriction>. Posting to petrolhead forums asking for volunteers
and buying adwords for "car comparison <location>" would be a good start.

Sounds like you have some dealerships engaged. They have access to car buyers
so can they help you find testers? They may sees a risk of leaking prospects
to the competition, but surely you can control who sees applications in your
test environment?

3\. Offer incentives, or you'll waste time battling the drop-out rate instead
of fixing bugs. E.g. Fund your dealers offering a small extra discount for any
sale completed through your service with feedback given.

Hope there is something new and useful in there.

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joshuahays
Thank you, I appreciate the time you took to respond! I imagine our homepage
will do the job of clarifying the benefit to the buyer, buyers will be those
in the market for a new/used car.

I saw several forums called 'petrolhead', which do you suggest?

Yes, we have several dealerships right now who have utilized the alpha. They
do have access to car buyers but wouldn't dare distract them from purchase to
help us test our site. Yes, we can control who sees what. However, there isn't
a benefit for one dealer to encourage one customer to go to Bidzuku if there
aren't other competing bids?

So offer the dealers actively utilizing our alpha and providing feedback with
future incentives like discounts on our service?

Thanks again!

