MESH01 Product Testing Community

The Big Change You Can Make in Your Product Testing to Get Ahead of the Competition with Exceptional Product Experiences

The word “community” signifies people coming together in a familiar way, often with a shared purpose. For example, there’s a big difference between the experience you would have at a neighborhood gathering with your actual neighbors versus a group of strangers.

We encourage you to think of your organization’s product testing process in a similar way. Your product development process will get far more benefit from a community of testers than a generic panel.

What’s the Big Difference Between Generic Panels and a Community?

Product user communities aren’t like a rainbow, only occurring under the right conditions. These communities are comprised of everyday individuals who also happen to represent your target customer.

If you want to know how your hiking boot will perform in a real-life situation, you will benefit more from product testers who are your specific target customers. This would be more effective than a generic group of people not representative of your target audience.

Whether you’re looking to test a product designed for elite runners or casual joggers, professional cyclists, or bike commuters, a more targeted audience can provide the most relevant and reliable feedback for your specific product.

Why a Generic Panel Alone Won’t Cut it for Quality Product Testing

Product research and testing are critical phases in the development process. It requires high-quality, detailed, and relevant feedback so you can make changes to your product. This will ensure its success in the market.

So, who do you currently use to test your products?

Entrusting your product testing to a generic panel is like asking your doctor what’s wrong with your car.

The end-user has to like your final product in order for your product to be successful. Even better, you want them to love it. Every time you leverage a generic panel for product testing instead of a community of actual users, you’re infusing your product with feedback that may be missing the mark.

The Clear Benefits of Leveraging a Community For Your Product Testing

There are several overarching benefits of engaging a community of relevant product testers. Far more than generic panels.

  1. Your Product Testing Community Plays in Your Space. A huge benefit of using a community of product testers is that it supplies you with people who have specific backgrounds, interests, and lifestyles that match your product’s purpose. After all, wouldn’t you rather test your ultra-wicking base layer with someone who loves winter hiking rather than someone who loves collecting cozy cold-weather clothing? Testing with a generic or rented panel can be a significant waste of time and resources. Though you’ll obtain information, that type of info can invalidate your results. You want more quality than quantity.
  1. Your Product Testing Community Can Bring Your Product Into Their Lives. Beyond the backgrounds and interests of your community of users, another great benefit is that they can test in their natural environment. This could be in their kitchen, at the job site, on a hike, or the playing field. Ideally, wherever the use of your product is most applicable and appropriate. Allowing your product testers to test your product in their everyday lives enables them to give genuine, accurate feedback.
  1. Your Product Testers Know What They’re Doing. Because these product testers have elected to be part of a community and feedback process, you get the peace of mind that they will provide useful, valuable information. Additionally, they are comfortable and engaged with the feedback process, and won’t fatigue during longer or highly-specific product surveys.
  1. You’ll Get the Full Story. By leveraging a purpose-built product development and testing platform like MESH01 for your product research and field testing, you’ll be able to leverage a community of real users. You’ll also get their complete feedback story. Participants in a generic user survey or a rented panel can answer the specific questions you ask, but there’s often much more to the story.

    Using a community of actual users through a purpose-built product testing platform takes advantage of numerous feedback channels. This includes images, videos, activity logs, performance zone heat-mapping, mark-ups, and more. This all provides deeper details than a generic survey or panel can elicit.

Product Testing Isn’t Optional, So Make it Count

In today’s customer climate, demands and expectations for quality and an exceptional user experience are higher than ever. There is little room for failures, so testing is a must.

A testing-informed product development process drastically increases the chances you’ll meet your customers’ already high expectations. You can knock it out of the park with a testing process that leverages a true community of real users.

Get relevant, reliable insights you can act on immediately and effectively by using a community of users that occupy a product development platform purpose-built for product testing. You’ll get the best information possible about your product from users who already play in your space and are part of a pre-formed product testing community.

Make your product testing count so your customers can count on your product.

Learn more about the purpose-built product testing platform and community at www.mesh01.com.