COACH TIP: How to go about beta testing your new coaching product or program.
Beta testing is taking a sampling of your target market and running them through your new coaching product or program. Beta testing your new coaching product or program can provide you with a wealth of information about the effectiveness of the offer, the psychographics of your target market and the language they use (great fodder for your marketing copy), and give you a very good idea as to the effectiveness of the product itself. If your test-takers are happy, you’ll have testimonials to show for it… another marketing bonus.
The feedback that you’ll get from your beta testers will help you refine and reiterate your product so that by the time you’re ready to officially launch, you’ll already know you’ve got a winner on your hands.
Furthermore, if you end up having a wide range of people taking part in your trial run, you may glean some unexpected information you might not have considered before.
Beta testing your new coaching product or program can be a gold mine for your coaching business.
On the other hand, it can also give you a heads up that your product is a flop. After all, the last thing you want is to spend a lot of time and money creating, designing and then marketing a new product or program, only to discover it’s not going to work. Unfortunately, this is a mistake too many coaches make.
As painful as it may be to hear the truth, you do want the truth, don’t you? This is no time to take things personally; this is business.
HOW DO YOU RUN A BETA TEST?
Invite a group of people who are a match for your target market. Don’t ask your mom or your cousin to take part because they’re not likely to be impartial… family members don’t ever want to hurt your feelings. Besides, they can often be a distraction.
If possible, hop on the phone with each of the individuals you think would be a “perfect fit” for the product or program you’re offering. Tell them about it, ask them questions, get feedback on the spot, and then use that to tailor your beta offer accordingly.
People from your core audience will likely be thrilled to be part of beta testing a new program… it’s like being invited to join an exclusive club. Let the members of this “club” know how much you appreciate their participation and value their feedback. Encourage them to be honest and to not hold back in giving you suggestions for improvement. You don’t have to make those changes, but if enough people are saying they’d like to see X instead of Y, then you might want to take that feedback to heart.
As to how many people to invite, that depends on how many you can feasibly take on and provide the level of service you expect to deliver.
Part of building a dream coaching business is creating dream products and services, and this is one way to make sure you do just that.
DID YOU KNOW THAT A BOOK IS THE FASTEST WAY TO BUILD AN AUDIENCE, GROW YOUR LIST, AND PROMOTE YOUR PRODUCTS AND SERVICES?
My NEW (tiny) book is called BOOK to BUSINESS… get it HERE
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