

Ask HN: How to reward beta testers? - tzaman

We are currently preparing our beta testing plan for our application (http://carmivore.com) and we will soon start inviting testers. We will charge a monthly subscription fee for the final product, but are unsure how to reward our testers properly.<p>Any recommendations and tips welcome!
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kjhughes
Some common rewards:

    
    
      Free use for some number of months.
      First shot at their preferred user names; lower user #n.
      Badges; points; karma; etc.
      Public recognition.
    

A bit more expense and with fulfillment hassle:

    
    
      Physical swag: t-shirts, pens, buttons, etc.
    

A bit more leg work:

    
    
      Complimentary, complementary partner service.
    

My favorite:

    
    
      Make your product so awesome that the value it provides is reward enough.

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mrgreenfur
Solid list. I'm going through the same thing soon and have decided to never
give it away. Give it away while you're patching critical bugs, but if it
works, they should pay for it. Give them other stuff, like faster response
times or better support, but you should never give the product away. No idea
if this makes business sense, but it's what I've settled on.

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AznHisoka
What about a page with their credits, and a link to their blog if they got
one?

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shaggyfrog
Ask them what they want.

