How have we been spending our time? Last week’s Hometasking challenge asked Centercoders to step onto the silver screen by recreating iconic movie scenes.

Coworkers have also shared ways they’re making a positive impact beyond their homes, from sewing up masks and delivering groceries, to taking extra time to reach out to people struggling with isolation.

In the uncertainty of dark times, it’s inspiring to see how people create their own light. We’ll keep you posted on all the ways we Centercoders are carrying ourselves, our company, and our community forward. In the meantime, here are this week’s featured Centercoders: their home offices, how they’ve taken to working remotely this past month, and what they’re grateful for.

Colleen, Ops

“Of everyone I know, I am probably in the best situation for working from home. I have a good internet connection, a clean, safe, and quiet place to work, the support of my company and family, and the best coworker ever (my doggo, Hoagie).

“However, privilege begets responsibility in my humble opinion, so I am actively trying to use my circumstances to be extra supportive to my colleagues — even if it’s just doing a small task for someone, like sending an email or doing some data entry. I am really starting to miss people though!”

Mike, Dev

“Things are definitely a bit weird, but it’s a lot less weird than I expected. I’m managing well enough. Our team does a standup every morning, so I get to see them every day (the people who have their cameras on, at least).

“I get the feeling everyone is eager for more human connection than they get at home, even if it’s work-related. But I also got this feeling at work — there’s a general friendliness in the whole company. It’s really great to see that continue despite the circumstances.

“I still miss being able to walk to the store near the office to grab what I need. I miss the work coffee machine, bumping into people in the kitchen, talking about work, life, and everything in between. In the meantime, I’m enjoying the view outside — especially with the recent rain we’ve been having — and I like working in my pajamas.”

Doug, Services

“Transitioning from the quiet of the Utah office to working at home hasn’t been hard for me. I have a great office set up here (as you can see). Mostly, I feel very fortunate that our jobs allow us to work remotely.”

Tom, Product

“I have found myself to be pretty productive, even with two energetic two-year-olds. Thankfully, the company and our clients all understand that we’re going through this together. Not everything will be perfect — and that’s ok. I really miss hockey and sushi though.”

Seph, Design

“I’ve always done well by myself for long periods of time, but lately, I’ve found the quiet hard to handle. I’ve really gained a deeper understanding of humans as social creatures! I miss the white noise and sounds of the physical office, but I find ways to work around it.”

Let’s Stay Connected

We’ll be posting more dispatches from across our remote offices as the weeks continue. In the meantime, stay connected by subscribing to our monthly newsletter.

Sign Up for Centercode’s Monthly Newsletter

The post Dispatches from Centercode’s Remote Offices: Colleen, Michael, Doug, Tom, and Seph appeared first on Centercode.

Over the course of three half-days in April, customer testing professionals from all over the world gathered together virtually to exchange ideas, ask questions, network, learn from industry leaders, and brainstorm solutions for increasing the performance of their programs.

The conference is available in its entirety to watch on-demand for free, but here are the biggest highlights from the world’s largest event for customer testing professionals.

Meet Ted, Centercode’s Newest Team Member

During his keynote on Day 1, Centercode CEO Luke Freiler introduced the newest member of the Centercode Team, Ted. Ted, which stands for “tester engagement director,” offers a prescriptive approach to engagement management using machine learning and automation based on industry best practices.

Ted may be new, but he’s already very close to our hearts here at Centercode. Listen to Luke’s keynote or check out the transcript from his Ask-Me-Anything session to get a complete rundown of what Ted’s capable of and how he’s revolutionizing the process of Customer Validation.

Inside Today’s Industry-Leading Programs

In addition to a sneak preview of Ted and Centercode’s 2020 roadmap, attendees also heard from customer testing program leaders at companies like Bose, Autodesk, and TechSmith, among several others. From interviews to insight-driven sessions, they shared their real-world experiences with challenges they’ve faced in growing their CV programs and the tools and techniques they’re using to overcome them.

Here are some of our favorites:

• GE Lighting’s Joy Trillet on Wrangling CV in a Modern Enterprise
• Bose’s Jenna Deutsch on Cranking up the Volume of CV
• Autodesk’s Chris Mitchell on the Best Engagement Tool You Never Knew You Had
• Trimble’s Alex Larsen on Curating a CV-Centric Culture
• TechSmith’s Eric Pearson on Getting Your Recruitment Right for Your Beta Program
• TestFairy’s Yair Bar-On on Mobile Testing Done Right

Deep-Dive into Tips, Tricks, and Techniques

In addition to hearing insights from customer testing program leaders, conference attendees also benefited from presentations on scaling your program, managing incentives, promoting a customer-testing friendly culture within your organization, and much more. Hosted by CV professionals in the field, these sessions offered tips, techniques, and strategies for every area of customer test management, from engagement and program development to growing your community.

Here are some of our favorites:

• 5 Core Roles Every CV Professional Should Master
  with Austin Meyer. This session teaches you the 5 skill sets you need to navigate the fluctuating demands of managing a customer testing program.
• Increasing User Compliance Through Incentive Management
  with Mike Fine. Get the most out of your investment with these tips for using your incentive budget effectively.
• 5 Tips for Better Tester Engagement
  with Tony Fisher. This session gives 5 tips for increasing tester collaboration, completed activities, and quality insights by avoiding the common pitfalls of “homegrown” customer testing.

On the last day of the conference, attendees enjoyed a full day of workshops. They brought their program-specific questions directly to our Customer Validation experts. This allowed them to benefit both from the decades of experience Centercode’s CV Team offers and the perspectives that professionals are bringing from their individual programs.

Missed the workshop? Our team is always ready to tackle your questions. Schedule time to talk one-on-one with our CV experts!

The Fun Doesn’t Stop Here

Delta ’20 was truly a one-of-a-kind experience — but if you missed it, don’t worry. It won’t be the last. In the meantime, you can catch every minute of the sessions, insights, and best practices (or relive your favorite moments) from this year’s conference free and on-demand.

Watch Delta ’20 On-Demand

The post Highlights from Delta ’20: The Virtual Customer Validation Conference appeared first on Centercode.

They also asked a lot of eye-opening questions — both about the current state of customer testing and what’s in store for the future. In his live Ask-Me-Anything, Centercode CEO Luke Freiler tackled some of those questions head-on. He discussed Ted, the “tester engagement director” bot that codifies the Customer Validation Framework into a collection of features for prescriptive tester engagement. He also shared insights into our roadmap for 2020.

In case you missed it, here are some of the most revealing questions from the AMA!

Mario Espinosa, DAZN: Hey Luke, Ted looks great! Can’t wait to start using it. Is there anything you currently have in the works with Ted that isn’t available for release yet but is in the works for the future?

Luke: Hi Mario! Absolutely, there are so many opportunities to carry this concept forward. The next two areas I’d like Ted to lend a hand to are tester recruitment (helping find and select testers) and feedback management (encouraging relevant discussion).

Sharon Rylander, Square Panda: I agree, that’s very exciting! What do you anticipate the handoff will look like between Ted and the beta manager, day-to-day — e.g., will there be a code phrase that highly active users can type in an email that would send an alert to the manager to pay attention or take action?

Luke: Hi Sharon! The full answer to this would be huge — but in short, we look at Ted as having two relationships: the PM and the tester. There are separate libraries and facts for both. For example, if the PM has an imminent phase planned, but not yet published, Ted will remind them to do so. The goal is to focus the PM’s relationship with the testers to the feedback or discussion area, which is intended to be a single place to engage and take action.

Alex Larsen, Trimble: Are you concerned about Ted automating away some of the human element that makes the connection between test managers and participants so genuine and fun? How do you balance increased productivity with a personal connection and driving engagement?

Luke: Absolutely not. We ultimately want to achieve two things: (1) give you back many more hours to engage in a more meaningful way by doing the heavy lifting for you, and (2) centralize that activity into a place where you can more easily take action and see their feedback through (so everyone wins).

Michael Flores, Avid: Will Ted’s user impact score system replace the current user score system or co-exist with it? What do you recommend that project managers do if their user score systems are already robust and carefully managed?

Luke: It will co-exist. User Impact Score will be automated and available in all the same areas — but the existing scoring will be fully available and leverageable in Macros and such.

Ellen Murphy, JUUL Labs: Hi Luke, yesterday you mentioned a mobile app coming in Q3/4. Can you give us any more information about its functionality, timeline for live release with customers, etc.?

Luke: Hi Ellen! The short version is that the entire tester experience will be available — including Ted, feedback/discussion, surveys, etc. — as well as Admin dashboards/reports. What it doesn’t include is administrative functionality like survey creation. We’re looking to support as much mobile native functionality as possible, like the camera, badges, and notifications.

We don’t have a release date beyond 2020. It’s a parallel project alongside Ted, driven by different resources (although we’ll be pushing a couple from Ted onto it as soon as it’s out).

Conor Mulhern, Alarm.com: I run a CV program for a B2B company that develops products for both our customers and their customers as well. My current Customer Validation experience exclusively focuses on our customers, but I’d love to be able to accommodate their customers on their behalf in the future. I worry that we wouldn’t be able to create an experience that our customers would feel meets their brand needs. Do you have anything on the roadmap to accommodate that B2B2C experience?

Luke: Very interesting question. We’ve run a lot of tests like that ourselves (for example working with contractors who do installations, and then the users of the product they’re installing) – and they certainly have their own set of challenges – most of which we’ve been able to handle. The branding aspect of the question is something I’ve never considered before – I’d have to think that through.

Chris Mitchell, Autodesk: What are your thoughts about moving more into User Research/Usability, as well as maintaining a focus on validation? They all blur together for us, and we often have “competing” teams doing similar things with different tools.

Luke: Very, very mixed. The problem with leaning more into this space is that it puts us more directly against tools like Qualtrics — which is very different. They focus 100% on surveys and analytics, which I’d roughly estimate is only about 25% of our space. If I’m going to compete directly with that, I need to put a lot of resources into it. It also means spending a LOT of energy “catching up” as opposed to innovating, which is something I think our space has tons of room for.

Sharon Rylander, Square Panda: Do you see Centercode’s business opportunity with larger and more structured companies, or do you think there’s also an opportunity with scrappy startups?

Luke: This is definitely one of those things that keeps me up at night. Here are some numbers: at one point, 60% of our marketing leads were companies under 50 people and they ultimately generated 8% of our revenue. I made the call based on that data to focus on companies above that size — but it was a heavy heart (at the time we were below that threshold, now we’re not). As I said yesterday, our platform is a reflection of the industry it serves — big and fragmented. Ted is a huge attempt to address that, meaning we could provide something more streamlined.

My hope is that Ted will open us to create new editions of our product focused on a much wider audience, which can have a lower cost of sales – and everyone wins. I LOVE startups, my favorite Centercode success stories were all startups (Roku, Nest, etc.). In the meantime, we’re constantly brainstorming what we can offer those audiences at no cost.

Alex Larsen, Trimble: Have you or your team noticed a general increase in the number of companies taking Customer Validation more seriously over time? What are the trends in the marketplace when it comes to customer testing? Are we trending in the right direction when it comes to future job opportunities for people in our line of work?

Luke: We’re definitely seeing growth, but it’s still early. One of the things I didn’t get to speak to yesterday was what we’re looking to do with our certification program. We’re in the process of digitizing it to be self-serve, which we’d like to offer freely. The goal is to market it to anyone displaced by the (hopefully not) imminent recession. In other words, we’re looking to provide a new skill set to people who need it, but it’ll be available to others. Our cert ambitions were never monetary; we just want more people doing this, which will ultimately lead to growth for us.

Michael Rothstein, Roku: I’d love to see a collaborative environment where Centercode project managers (such as those attending this conference) can post questions, solutions, and feature requests, and we can all work together to share ideas. The best platform to run this could be the Centercode platform itself using discussion groups. Your support team is fantastic, but I think providing an additional way for us to share and learn from each other would help all of us. What are your thoughts on this?

Luke: This is something our customer success and product teams have goals set for and are working toward. We actually did this in the past, but I’m hoping this time we’ll see a lot more activity. Please help make that happen. (:

Watch the Delta ’20 Conference On-Demand

Missed the conference (or want to relive your favorite moments)? Watch Luke’s keynote, as well as all of the best-practice sessions on-demand!

Watch the Keynote Now

The post Luke Freiler Talks Ted and What’s in Store for Centercode appeared first on Centercode.

Last week, our operations team started a company-wide activity called Hometasking Challenges. The first challenge? Build a robot companion out of items from around the house.

It’s the first of many challenges to come as we make a conscious effort to have fun and stay connected internally. This week, we’re connecting with the rest of the world by sharing more photos and thoughts from members of the Centercode Team. Enjoy these snapshots from our coworkers’ remote offices.

Kyle, Sales

“I’m surprised at how productive I feel working remotely. Maybe being in the office was somewhat of a safety net. Working from home, there is no room for letting things fall through the cracks. It makes me more focused and more accountable!”

Mike, Services

“I’ve spent a good chunk of my career working from home, so this transition has been pretty easy for me. I’ve always liked listening to music while I work. Remote time is giving me a chance to listen to my records during the day — I have 350 albums, so it’s great to have more time to enjoy them.”

Ria, Marketing
(with a cameo from her husband Matt in Customer Success!)

“The hardest part so far is remembering to take breaks and rest my eyes. The best part is that our 6-minute commute has been reduced to 10 seconds! Also, I love that our dog Myles gets to be an office dog. Since he barks and “kettles” (meaning he whines even when he’s content), it’s hard to bring him to an office where other people are trying to focus. Getting to spend more time with him is great…even though he doesn’t seem to care much that we’re home all the time. ”

Eddie, Dev

“My girlfriend lives in Portland but decided to quarantine down here with me. It’s great working next to her! Trading lame jokes all day makes the time go faster. Even so, I miss my officemate, Frank. 🙁 ”

Frank, Dev

“Surprisingly, working remote has taught me to be more organized. I set goals for what I want to accomplish and cross them off by the end of the day. Plus, all the extra time I used to spend commuting has allowed me to focus more on my hobbies. But I miss Eddie.”

Let’s Stay Connected

You don’t have to miss us — we’ll be posting more dispatches from across our offices as the weeks continue. In the meantime, stay connected by subscribing to our monthly newsletter.

Sign Up for Centercode’s Monthly Newsletter

The post Dispatches from Centercode’s Remote Offices: Kyle, Mike, Ria, Eddie, and Frank appeared first on Centercode.

While we are and have always been fully equipped to take our show “on the road,” the transition from a lively and bustling open office to our homes has taken some getting used to. But the Centercode Team is nothing if not adaptable. As we adjust to these new circumstances, we’re trying out new ways to keep our culture as a company thriving. Friday’s Virtual Happy Hour, for example!

As part of this push to stay connected, the Centercode Team wanted to share their thoughts on how they’re adjusting to #remote living and working.

John, Product

“I’ve really been surprised at how respectful my family is during my time in the office. With a 6-year-old and 7-year-old, I thought I’d have to deal with way more interruptions. But they quickly and quietly leave if I tell them I’m on a call. They’re better coworkers than I expected!

“I didn’t realize how much enjoyment I get from impromptu collaboration. I do miss being able to offer help when I see someone working on a problem instead of waiting to be asked.”

Hilary, Ops

“Remote work has been surprisingly productive. I miss the ability to knock a quick question out in person, but Slack and Zoom meetings have been a major asset to keeping productivity and connectivity up. In all honesty, I’m not mad at this commute! It’s awarded me an extra 45 minutes more every day to spend with my husband and pups.”

Matt, Marketing

“I love when my kids are my ‘work buddies,’ keeping me company in my office while I work. They can only come in if they are drawing, reading, or doing other school-related activities. It’s crazy to hear how much their vocabulary has expanded from listening to me on calls.”

Diego, Services

“I really enjoy the ability to cook every meal (I’m getting ready to whip up a quick garlic shrimp, broccolini, and rice for lunch). It hasn’t been troublesome to work from home because the positivity and responsiveness from everyone at Centercode make the day feel pretty normal. I’m also very thankful for today’s technology so I can still have those ‘face-to-face’ conversations when I need them.”

Stay Connected With Us

We’ll be sending out more dispatches from across our offices. In the meantime, stay connected with us by signing up for our monthly newsletter.

Stay Connected with Centercode’s Monthly Newsletter

The post Dispatches from Centercode’s Remote Offices: John, Hilary, Matt, and Diego appeared first on Centercode.

As you’ve probably guessed from the title of this blog post, the answer is “absolutely.” Stopping issues, critical errors, or tons of small bugs can cause tester engagement to decrease dramatically.

“OK hold up on a second,” you might be saying to yourself. “The impact of recruitment, communication, and tools I understand very well — I’ve been reading your entire Engagement Workshop Series after all — but isn’t the whole point of customer testing to assess the performance of a buggy product?”

Yes and no. It’s one thing to recruit technical users for the specific purpose of routing out critical bugs and other performance issues. But if you’re asking everyday target market testers to perform tasks on product functions that are very error-prone or still in the works, you can expect to see a sharp participation drop-off. It’s simply too difficult and time-consuming for them to successfully get through weekly activities, let alone provide feedback.

When testers run into areas of your product that haven’t been fully developed, it also prevents them from experiencing and providing feedback about your product the way your future customers will. This takes a toll on how relevant incoming feedback is to your project goals, since tester engagement is just as much about quality as it is about quantity.

Here are the warning signs that excessive product friction is decreasing tester participation.

Friction with Your Product: Warning Signs

• Testers are unable to complete activities. There’s a difference between “unwilling” and “unable.” If frequent issues or problems with product areas prevent testers from completing their activities, you’ll see a sharp decrease in tester engagement.
• Testers aren’t submitting ideas or praise. If testers encounter too many bugs, they’ll spend the majority of their time reporting issues. They won’t be able to get the full experience of key product features in a way that allows them to provide ideas and praise.
• Product usage is low overall. If usage metrics show that target market testers aren’t using your product in a meaningful way, it could mean that your product is too buggy or inconvenient for testers to use in the ways they’d naturally want to use it.
• There is a large number of duplicated critical issues. When a significant number of testers report the same blocking issues, it’s a sign that bugs are interfering with the tester experience.

Quick Fixes for Friction with Your Product

You wouldn’t expect your customers to muddle through a frustratingly buggy product on the market. In the same way, your testers need a mostly clear product experience to thoroughly test key features and provide meaningful feedback. They need (and want!) every opportunity to give their authentic impressions and experiences.

Here are the steps you should take if you’re experiencing some of the warning signs from above.

• Check Development Progress. If testers aren’t completing activities or using your product at all, make sure your product is substantive enough for your testers to truly use. Do testers have a tangible, feature-complete product to provide feedback about, or are they testing a prototype, wireframe, or concept version? Are all of your topics and activities reasonable, given your product’s current state?
• Check Your Testing Phases. If a high number of your testers are reporting critical issues, check back on how your product performed before customer testing. Did it go through rigorous QA testing and/or dogfooding processes before it landed in the hands of customer testers? Were all of the major issues resolved during those phases? Are there open tickets for your product that could be negatively impacting the tester experience?

Your Roadmap to Increasing Tester Engagement

It’s tough to navigate all the moving parts behind maintaining tester enthusiasm and soliciting high-quality feedback. The Tester Engagement Pocket Map is full of tips and tactics for troubleshooting your CV project and comes with a compact tester journey map to point you in the right direction.

Consult the Tester Engagement Pocket Map

The post Engagement Workshop: Identifying Product Readiness Issues appeared first on Centercode.

When your tools and structures are disjointed, disorganized, or challenging to access and use, it becomes too difficult and too time-consuming for testers to engage during your project. The fewer hoops testers have to jump through to find information, submit feedback, and communicate with you, the easier it will be to maintain a steady flow of tester data.

Here are the warning signs that your engagement rates may be suffering because of friction between your testers and the tools you’re giving them to use.

Friction from Tools: Warning Signs

• There’s a very low amount of incoming feedback. This could be a sign that accessing or interacting with your feedback forms is more inconvenient for your testers than they’re willing to deal with.
• You’re not getting enough of certain types of feedback. If there’s not an easy channel for submitting each type of feedback (e.g., issues, ideas, or praise), testers will simply submit feedback however it’s most convenient for them. This can create the illusion that you don’t have enough of any one type of feedback.
• Testers aren’t completing their weekly activities. If your testers are completing fewer and fewer activities, it might be a sign that your activities are structured in a way that is making it too difficult for them to get through (e.g., there are too many activities each week, or they are too prescriptive or complicated).
• You’re getting incomplete surveys or feedback that’s missing significant information. This can be a sign that your feedback forms are either too long — taking focus away from the information you really need — or that they don’t provide an easy enough way to include the information you need.

Quick Fixes for Friction from Tools

Your tools and project structures are the bridge between you and your testers out in the world. Since testers have a finite amount of time and energy to devote to your project, getting healthy participation from testers means keeping that bridge free and clear of obstacles that might sap those reserves.

Here are the steps to take if you’re seeing the above warning signs of friction with your tools pop up during your CV project.

• Check Your Feedback Forms. If you’re seeing fewer feedback submissions or not enough of any particular feedback type, check your feedback forms. Is there a separate form for each type of feedback? Are they easy to access? Are your forms too long, or do they ask for too much information? Are you asking for data — like crash logs or diagnostic reports — that is overly inconvenient for testers to gather?
• Check Your Surveys. If you’re seeing too many incomplete surveys, evaluate how much time and effort it takes to complete those surveys. Do your testers have an easy and obvious way to access the survey? Are you asking for too big a time or energy commitment? Is your survey long (more than 20 questions) or mentally draining (more than four open-ended questions)?

More Tools for Increasing Tester Engagement

Now that you have a better understanding of how your tools impact your testers’ ability to provide quality feedback, get familiar with more ways you can increase engagement in every area of your CV project. Download the Tester Engagement Pocket Map, a compact ebook for diagnosing the common causes of low tester participation.

Consult the Tester Engagement Pocket Map

The post Engagement Workshop: Identifying Friction with Your Tools appeared first on Centercode.

Sometimes, it’s not you — it’s your testers.

Like calling your dry cleaners to order a pizza, trying to solicit data from incompatible testers won’t get you very far. Bringing the right testers into your project increases both the amount and quality of the feedback you pull in during Customer Validation. And by the “right testers,” we mean testers who are both in your target market and are enthusiastic about helping you improve your product. Keeping testers engaged throughout your CV test — and securing the results that make your project a success — hinges on recruiting testers with both of these critical traits.

How Recruiting Affects Engagement

Simply put, when your testers aren’t members of your target audience, they’re less likely to use your product and provide feedback. Even if they are submitting issues and ideas, this misalignment can ultimately derail your efforts with input that isn’t relevant to your product’s success.

Centercode Product Director Austin Meyer often cites an example from early in his CV career.

“About five years ago, we recruited users to beta test a mobile phone that offered a physical keyboard as a key selling point. It didn’t take long to realize we had the wrong testers when the majority of incoming feedback said, ‘I don’t like phones with physical keyboards.’ In the end, we had to update our recruitment to capture accurate target market feedback. It was definitely a humbling experience.”

There is a similar effect when your testers don’t have a genuine interest in helping you improve your product. Testers who come into your project half-heartedly will be reluctant to put forth any effort, making it difficult for you to get the data you need. These two traits work together because target market testers have an organic reason for using your product. They’re more likely to be excited about testing it because it’s been built with their needs in mind. That’s why it’s much easier to keep them using it and providing useful insights throughout your project.

Like developing a clear communication strategy, bringing the right testers into your project is a core tenet of high engagement and quality feedback. Let’s take a look at the four most common warning signs that your testers aren’t a good fit for your CV test.

Incompatible Testers: Warning Signs

• Testers don’t/wouldn’t use key product features. It’s more difficult to engage testers on product areas they say they don’t or wouldn’t use. On top of that, any insights they do provide aren’t as relevant because their natural behaviors don’t line up with those of your target audience.
• Testers aren’t completing all their test activities. Testers who continually fail to complete activities are either showing that they wouldn’t naturally use your product the way a member of your target market would or they’re not excited about providing their feedback in the first place.
• Consistent communication doesn’t increase the quality or amount of feedback. Testers who aren’t from your target market are naturally less excited about testing your product, which means they’re more reluctant to give useful insights — no matter how well you’re communicating.
• There’s too much impractical or irrelevant feedback. If the majority of the feedback you’re receiving is impractical or irrelevant (e.g., Austin’s story about the physical phone keyboard), your testers’ attitudes or interests may not match what your product actually delivers.

Quick Fixes for Incompatible Testers

Your recruitment strategy plays a pivotal role in attracting testers who will stay enthusiastic and engaged throughout the course of your project — and screening for testers who don’t fit the bill. While fine-tuning the perfect strategy for your CV test takes some experimentation, here are some quick fixes for the warning signs listed above.

• Check Your Recruitment Strategy. If your testers say they don’t or wouldn’t use key product features, check your recruitment strategy. Did your invitation include a clear product description? Did the questions in your qualification survey help you identify enthusiastic applicants and select the ones whose demographic and technographic traits align with your target market?
• Check Your Communication Approach. If your testers aren’t completing their test activities, you may need to go the extra mile to get them going. Are you quick to follow up on their questions or comments? Are you able to offer any additional, easy-lift incentives for their efforts, like special recognition or swag?
• Check Your Feedback Submissions. If your testers are submitting too many impractical or irrelevant ideas, look for ways to shift their mindset into more of a bug-hunt. Are you able to direct incompatible testers to test product areas that need more bug reports than ideas? Can you identify testers who are submitting quality feedback and nurture them?

Engaging Your Testers Step by Step

Now that you have fresh insight into the relationship between recruitment, engagement, and quality feedback, dig deeper with a phase-by-phase guide to tester participation. Our brand new ebook gives you a tester journey map and tactics for tackling your most persistent participation challenges — from recruitment to test closure.

Consult the Tester Engagement Pocket Map

The post Engagement Workshop: Identifying Tester Incompatibility appeared first on Centercode.

Tester communication encompasses interactions at every stage of your project, starting at recruitment and continuing to test closure. It’s crucial for developing your testing culture, setting confidentiality expectations, educating your testers on how to participate in your test, directing them to the product areas where you need feedback, and much more.

Because tester communication is such a mission-critical piece of your engagement strategy, the methods, tone, clarity, and frequency of your communications have a big impact on participation during your test. In this blog post, we’ll look at the most common warning signs that your communication strategy is negatively impacting tester engagement, and share quick fixes for getting things back on the right track.

Tester Communication Breakdown: Warning Signs

• Testers are unresponsive. Testers often stop engaging with a project when they don’t have a clear understanding of what they’re expected to do.
• Sharp drop-off in feedback. While there will be a natural decline in feedback after the first week of testing, a sudden drop-off during your test indicates that your testers may need some guidance in the form of tutorials or educational resources on how to participate in a CV test.
• Incoming feedback is vague or lacks specific detail. Similarly, when you get feedback like “The product is broken” or “The product doesn’t work,” it might mean your testers need direction on what constitutes helpful feedback and how to provide it.
• Angry responses to activity reminders. Vague instructions, failure to follow up with questions, or sporadic communication confuses testers and may cause them to lash out in frustration.
• Missing feedback in key product areas. Without appropriate direction and guidance, your testers can’t reasonably know which features and product areas you need them to cover.

Quick Fixes for Tester Communication Breakdown

Developing a solid communication strategy is as much about building trust and respect with your testers as it is about setting clear expectations. It’s important to remember that they’re volunteering their time and energy to help you improve your product, so it’s in your best interest to ensure they have the tools, training, and support to do so. Extra care should be taken to make sure your messaging — from your project space to your emails to question follow-ups — promotes a positive tester experience.

Here are some quick fixes for the warning signs listed above.

• Check Your Messaging. If your testers are unresponsive, look at how you’re interacting with them. Are you friendly and approachable, even when testers show anger, frustration, or indifference? Are you offering clear communication channels when they need to reach out? Are you quick to follow up on their questions and comments? Are you showing gratitude for the time and effort they’re contributing to your project?
• Check Your Emails. If feedback is dropping off, look at your email. Do you have a regular cadence for sending out weekly activities and surveys? Are you giving your testers clear and concise directions on what to do? Are you sending gentle reminders with survey and activity due dates so your testers have a timeline to follow?
• Check Your Topics. If you’re missing key product feedback, look at how you’ve mapped out your topics. Do you have specific activities for testers to complete in relation to that feature experience or product area?

Exploring Your Testers’ Ideal Engagement Journey

Now that you have the tools to identify this common obstacle to high participation, take it further with a step-by-step guide to maintaining enthusiasm at each phase of your CV project. Get a journey map for ideal tester engagement and tips for troubleshooting related challenges in our brand new ebook.

Get Started with the Tester Engagement Pocket Map

The post Engagement Workshop: Identifying Tester Communication Problems appeared first on Centercode.

With the 2020 Customer Validation Industry Report drawing focus to how test managers are spending their time and where they’re encountering obstacles, we asked our account executive team to share a little bit about themselves and what they’ve learned from working in the field.

Tim Savant

VP of Sales

How long have you worked at Centercode?

I’ve been with Centercode for just over a year.

What’s a piece of outdated technology that you miss from back in the day?

My old Panasonic boombox (with dual cassette and CD player!). I saved up for months to buy that thing and I loved it.

What’s your favorite album to listen to while you’re working?

I’m usually tuned into a channel on Pandora or Spotify. Recently, I’ve been listening to the Avett Brothers. I’m also a big Audible guy. I’m currently halfway through Malcolm Gladwell’s Talking to Strangers.

What’s the best HBO series, current or past?

The first season of True Detective was stellar — suspense, drama, excellent acting, taut writing, and a fantastic ending.

What’s something you learned from speaking to CV professionals that surprised you about the industry?

While there are many folks who run Customer Validation tests, I learned that the ones who love performing that work are generally the most successful. For some people, the products they’re bringing to market are like their children. Those are also the people who are the most passionate about pre-release customer feedback. Ensuring the success of their products in the open market fuels their daily fire.

What do you think would surprise people to hear is a common challenge for people trying to start or run a CV program?

Getting buy-in to centralize the Customer Validation process within their company. Consistent and repeatable processes are key to getting customers to provide fantastic, ongoing feedback. But it’s not uncommon for companies to decentralize their CV efforts, letting those programs live with individual stakeholders or product managers. This makes it challenging to truly maximize the value a high-quality customer testing program brings to a company.

Many of our most successful customers have been able to carve out a dedicated team within their organization to handle these processes. Because of this, they’ve been able to truly streamline their efforts and become experts in the field.

Tell me something you heard on the job that’s changed the way you think.

More than once, customers have told us that Centercode was the first call they made when they started a position at a new company — after they set up their work computer but before they filled out their HR profile. Seeing repeat customers come back as they grow in their careers has definitely impacted how I speak to new potential customers. It feels good to know that we’ve become so integral to the daily work that people perform.

Connor Mills

Account Executive

How long have you worked at Centercode?

6 months

What’s a piece of outdated technology that you miss from back in the day?

My Nokia brick phone. Specifically for playing Snake.

What’s your favorite album to listen to while you’re working?

Nightsky by Tracey Chattaway. I can only listen to instrumental music while I’m working.

What’s the best HBO series, current or past?

I loved Entourage, but Game of Thrones united people around the world. It was great having something to bond over with strangers. Also, dragons.

Tell me something you heard on the job that’s changed the way you think.

I recently spoke to a CV professional about Centercode’s ability to create your own community of test candidates. They saw a lot of value in recruiting testers within their own implementation, rather than their current method of sending out disorganized invites to individuals through siloed emails or Facebook groups. Since then, I always make it a point to drive home Centercode’s community functions.

What do you think would surprise people to hear is a common challenge for people trying to start or run a CV program?

Deriving high-priority feedback is a struggle I often hear about from CV professionals. Many test managers are operating their CV programs out of their inboxes without realizing how it sabotages their efficiency. At a certain point, organizing and triaging feedback via email makes it hard for even seasoned test managers to form actionable recommendations.

What’s something you learned from speaking to CV professionals that surprised you about the industry?

One customer opened my eyes to how comfortable companies are with the status quo. It made me realize that I need to help professionals become agents of change in order to show their stakeholders there are more effective and fruitful ways to approach Customer Validation.

Andrew Parker

Account Executive

How long have you worked at Centercode?

1 year

What’s a piece of outdated technology that you miss from back in the day?

T-Mobile Sidekick II

What’s your favorite album to listen to while you’re working?

Rolling Stones Radio on Spotify

What’s the best HBO series, current or past?

The Sopranos. It really stresses the importance of a healthy work-life balance.

What’s something you learned from speaking to CV professionals that surprised you about the industry?

A lot of Customer Validation programs spring up in response to something like negative product reviews. I’m always looking for ways to help shift the narrative from reactive to proactive so that the conversation is less about reviews and more about long-lasting benefits, like ensuring quality and satisfaction.

What do you think would surprise people to hear is a common challenge for people trying to start or run a CV program?

Company-wide support and the funding that comes with it. I see a lot of programs pulling budget from other departments just to get their CV program off the ground — even when the product is the face of their organization.

Tell me something you heard on the job that’s changed the way you think.

Someone on a call told me, “I am the product of my product’s success or failure.” Successful products aren’t just important to the company — they’re a milestone in a product manager’s career. Recognizing the effect a product has on someone’s personal success or failure motivates me to explore every way that Centercode can positively impact what they do.

Brandon Rego

Account Executive

How long have you worked at Centercode?

4 years and 4 months.

What’s a piece of outdated technology that you miss from back in the day?

I miss handheld analog tape recorders.

What’s your favorite album to listen to while you’re working?

Gustav Holst’s The Planets. Butters and I listen to it on a regular basis.

What’s the best HBO series, current or past?

Game of Thrones, but only seasons one through four. It really changed how people watched and talked about TV, and what they thought was possible for twists and turns in a show.

What’s something you learned from speaking to CV professionals that surprised you about the industry?

One thing that’s always stuck with me is how most people realize the importance of Customer Validation, yet have little understanding of any proven process for achieving success in this field. Of course, that’s why Centercode exists. Our team here is always developing and testing best-practice methodologies for collecting useful feedback. We just need to spread the word!

Tell me something you heard on the job that’s changed the way you think.

I hear over and over again how difficult it is to set aside time for testing in a world so focused on hitting go-to-market deadlines. As a result, I’ve changed the way I help companies strategize and plan for CV by offering a more proactive approach based on their end-goals. Instead of simply working backward from a release date, I focus on building a step-by-step plan based on how ready the product is for launch.

What do you think would surprise people to hear is a common challenge for people trying to start or run a CV program?

Understanding and properly addressing how important their testers’ experiences are inside of their overall CV program. I think it’s easy for some companies to forget that a targeted group of testers are also customers (or prospective customers) and that their experiences within the beta community are an important part of nurturing that relationship.

Get Up-Close and Personal with the Industry

Centercode’s account executive team is up-close and personal with the industry. You can deepen your understanding of the challenges facing CV programs with a thorough exploration of the field, straight from the words of the professionals shaping it. See how tools and processes affect time management and get insights for driving program improvement by reading the full 2020 Customer Validation Industry Report.

Read the 2020 Customer Validation Industry Report

The post Meet the Centercode Account Executive Team appeared first on Centercode.