4 Qualities of a Good Beta Tester
When you’re a new tester, it can be hard to know what to do in order to be considered a ‘good tester’. Out of all the possible skills and attributes you could develop, which ones are most valuable to a beta team?
It’s easy to feel intimidated by the experienced testers who you see submitting tons of feedback and spending hours each day with the product. While their dedication is great, devoting hours each day to a product isn’t the only way to make a notable contribution to your test. We sat down with a few of our beta managers to hear what they had to say. We identified four common attributes that good testers share, which are all attainable for even the most novice of testers.
1. Communicative
Good communication is an essential characteristic of a good tester. We appreciate quick, concise, and clear feedback for our teams to review. Communication includes submitting feedback, commenting, voting, and engaging with other testers.
Good communication is about quality, not quantity. Sharing clear, thoughtful, and actionable details allows our team to quickly address your issues, ideas, and opinions. In the end, we want feedback that helps us clearly understand your concerns and get them to our clients. Don’t forget that a picture is worth a thousand words. Using screenshots, videos, and other attachments with your submissions helps explain everything quickly and more easily.
2. Effort
Anybody who goes beyond just submitting their own feedback and also collaborates on the feedback of other testers is a great tester. Testers who take the time to interact with other testers, upvote feedback they agree with, and respond to the testing team quickly are on their way to becoming an all-star in our community. Why? It shows you’re interested in more than just your personal experience with the product, and you’re willing to put in some extra effort to help with the issues other testers are having.
Ultimately, good testers are those who are engaged with the test. You don’t have to log in every single day, but you should use the product daily. Quality is always better than quantity, and we are looking for testers who give thoughtful feedback. Don’t sugarcoat your feedback or feel like you have to tell the beta team what you think they might want to hear. Tell the truth and be open and honest about how your real-life experience of the product was life. As any beta manager will tell you, it’s not about collecting only positive or negative feedback. What really matters is capturing testers’ true experience with the product.
3. Positive attitude
One of the best (and easiest) things to bring into a test is a positive attitude. Our tests are commonly betas, which focus on unreleased products that are likely to have a quirk or two. The whole point of testing is to find out these quirks before the product gets released. Since it can take far longer to look into these issues than you’d expect, the test management team deeply appreciates when our beta testers are patient and understanding.
The issues you find in testing are issues that millions of people may not experience thanks to your feedback. We love testers who have the overflowing curiosity and passion required to test a product to the fullest. On the other hand, test managers won’t select testers who are testing solely because they expect compensation. This kind of testing isn’t a job, and it shouldn’t be treated like one.
4. Insightful
The best feedback is often not big, product-transforming ideas. Products that are being beta tested are only weeks or a few months away from their release date, so usually product teams can’t add large new features or make major changes (unless the beta test uncovers a major bug). But don’t let this discourage you! Big ideas that don’t make it into the first round are saved and considered for future versions of the product.
Where beta testers can make the biggest difference is by giving small insights into how to make the customer experience better. Look for ways to make the installation process clearer, or small additions that would make the current feature set easier to use. A good tester will be able to give more feedback than just big nice-to-have features; they understand that submitting small ideas and tweaks can make a big difference in the user experience.