How do you plan and run betas or early access programs, including participant selection and feedback loops?

Always start with purpose. Why are you running the early access program? What assumptions are you testing, and what do you need to learn? Clarity here keeps your efforts focused and ensures the feedback you collect is actionable, not just interesting. Next, define success and exit criteria before launch. What does success look like, and what signals will tell you it is time to roll forward or roll back? This might include specific usage metrics, satisfaction thresholds, opt-out rates, or a set t ...Read More

tl;dr: A good beta is tightly scoped, participant-quality over quantity, and designed to answer specific questions; it is not just “get feedback.” 1. Start with the right participants Work closely with Customer Success to identify customers who are: Good partners (healthy accounts, low churn risk, responsive) Strong ICP fit (the feature solves a real problem for them) Willing to engage (usage, feedback sessions, potential references) Set expectations upfront: this is not passive access. They’re ...Read More

I’m a big fan of customer advisory boards, or CABs for B2B products. These customers or potential customers can be excellent and recurring sources of input for your product roadmap, an avenue to understand deeply how your customers run their business, and can be a source of users for beta programs or prototype testing. CAB customers appreciate being part of beta testing. In a past role I worked with a marketing manager to identify and recruit customers who fit the target profile. We held quarter ...Read More

We run beta and early access (EA) programs as structured, time-bound experiments designed to validate new functionality before general availability. Each program follows a clear framework jointly managed by Product Management and Product Operations to ensure consistent execution, measurable outcomes, and strong customer collaboration. 1. Planning and scoping Every beta begins with a well-defined problem statement, hypothesis, and measurable success metrics. The right beta model is selected based ...Read More

I love having access to  purpose-built beta management tools, they've become critical to our release strategy. The software available now for A/B testing, feature flags, and controlled rollouts makes it easy to release functionality to specific customer segments and gather feedback quickly. We can iterate in real-time based on what we're learning. When planning a feature release, the beta period is baked into the timeline from the start. We structure these programs with enough runway to actually ...Read More

We use a tiered approach that matches the validation rigor to the feature's business impact: Participant Selection: Tier 1 features (flagship/new products): Start with design partners, building to 5+ customers in private beta and 7-10+ by public beta Tier 2 features (new functionality): 3+ customers in private beta, scaling to 3-5+ by public beta Tier 3 features (enhancements): Generally skip beta and go direct to GA Participants are selected based on their use case fit and willingness to provid ...Read More

We run betas and early access programs for larger product launches where we have uncertainty and seek to reduce risk by a closer partnership with our customers. We seek participants by looking for our Ideal Customer (e.g. fits a set of criteria of who we believe will purchase the product and/or have the necessary experience to answer the open risk areas we need). And while that's the perfect way to get participants we often rely on our larger customers more often than the diverse set that we'd w ...Read More