Soft Opens - or Betas

[Reverie]

What do you think of Beta openings for forums? Do you like when there is a few beta "Testers" who also post around a bit before the forum opens? Do you think this is a good investment into the forum? Would you be a "Beta Tester/Poster"? Why or why not?

 

[Arantor]

There are two angles to this.

Firstly, having content before actual opening is good. The more the better. It also means you have people that have kicked the tyres on the structure and the divisions of content.

Secondly, it also means you have kicked the tyres on any customisations you've made to the forum before you start. For many forums this isn't particularly tragic, because the scale of change for many forums is quite lightweight but the more customised the theme and plugins, the more testing you want ahead of any go-live/main open.

 

[Ravenfreak]

I think they're actually quite beneficial to a forum. You have a few people join up before the community is public, and they can help you not only create content for the forum but give you pointers on how to improve the forum. Not only that, but if they notice some out of place things on your community or bugs, you can resolve them before revealing the forum to the public. If I ever think to make another forum in the future, I'll probably do a soft launch. (Though for now I'd like to just focus on the sites I have now...)

 

[Kyng]

Yeah, I think they're a good idea.

Back when I moved from ZetaBoards to MyBB, it took us a month to get everything set up. It was quite a monumental task - and inevitably, a few things got missed along the way. Thus, it was very helpful to have Beta testers to point those things out... I think the biggest issues was probably that it was impossible to edit posts!!!

 

[Uncrowned]

A closed beta can be nice as it allows staff and members to add some content to the site and get conversations moving before going live. However, I never found trying to do live betas or soft launches really anything useful as for the users it is basically the live site and most don't seem to care about the "status". Launching without content is a bad idea and labeling it a beta does not really help with that too much. Although a lot of this depends on the people you are working with as if you have a large group ready to try out your site before it really gets promoted, then a soft launch may work very well.

 

[Cedric]

On one hand, I can see the benefits of a beta opening. It allows for a smaller group of people to test out the forum and provide feedback on any bugs or issues that need to be addressed before a larger audience joins. This can help ensure a smoother launch and a better user experience for everyone. In many of my forum openings, I have done the same.

However, I can also see how beta openings can be frustrating for those who are not a part of the initial group. It can feel exclusive and like they're missing out on something. Plus, if the beta testing period goes on for too long, it can lead to a lack of interest from potential users who may move on to other forums in the meantime.

 

[joelr]

100% in agreement.

As a certified community manager, one problem that I consistently see - especially among the smaller hobbyist, unprofessional forums - is the rush to open.

You should be able to hit certain objectives in your closed beta:
- can you build / share more than half of your content?
- can you define your user journeys, so when you open to a larger group it's a smooth experience?
- have you fine-tuned your community strategy and objectives and mission and competitive advantage?
- can you get a small group of users to consistently post on a weekly basis? My rule of thumb is 5 users.

In short, run the short race first to test your assumptions before trying to run the marathon.