

Ask HN: How long should a beta signup last? - zarroba

I watch this new trend to launch a beta signup page before the actual launch of the product and I wonder if they follow any rule regarding how long is this period.<p>Is simple until the product isn't ready or is some marketing behind? Do they wait until they have a number of signups? Is there an optimal fixed duration?
======
tomgallard
I think it very much depends on the product. A common way to use a beta-signup
(as we've been doing at Pwinty) is to find some inital users who you can get
using your service before you have completed all the sign-up, billing pages
etc, and while things may still be a little flaky.

This can be really useful for working out if you are missing key features, or
for getting ideas for future direction of the product.

Maybe the best use of a beta/coming-soon page though is to try and get an idea
of the market size. Pretty much the first thing I do when I have a new product
idea is to slap up a basic signup page, and spend a bit of money on Adwords to
get an idea of whether this is something people want or not.

This also lets you get a feel for how much customers will cost you to acquire
(through Adwords at least) which can feed into your business/cash-flow
planning.

It also allows you to get your page indexed and ranked by Google, meaning
you'll have an easier time of it when you start trying to drive organic
traffic to your site when you launch.

~~~
zarroba
Thanks for your insight. The idea of using an initial batch of users to do
some kind of acceptance testing is a really nice idea.

------
AhtiK
If you know that you are very likely going to launch and have a way to
communicate the pitch - open up for a beta signup.

Launch as soon as user can experience the pitch message.

The time between these two is unknown and I guess would make sense not to set
a concrete launch date. The sooner the user gets hands on it the better.

------
barrynolan
If you can,until your "musthave' threshold is beyond 40% on at least one
feature. Have a look at musthavescore.com.

------
ashconway
Create scarcity by limiting the amount of beta invites available apposed to a
setting a fixed time period.

~~~
tomgallard
I think it depends on the product - you need to be careful not to just annoy
people so they go and find some other solution to their problem!

~~~
ashconway
Fair point. I actually thought launch rock would have more on best practices
for launch pages but couldn't find something
<http://launchrock.com/blog/category/bestpractices>

~~~
zarroba
It was the first place I looked for answers and haven't found nothing there.

