Importance of beta testers

I’ve been writing different programs/services in Perl for maybe 2-3 years. I’m pretty handy with it: built a few affiliate programs, 2 shopping carts, multiple websites & services: pretty much everything I write is in perl nowdays. The thing is, everything I’ve created didn’t need to be installed by someone else. My programs were either for my personal use or are not meant for the end user to mess with the code itself, they only see the function of it.

I’m now working on my first “official” commercial script, and I am so glad I let some people who are not as technically proficient as I am try it out. Finding some people who have no clue about how to install your software & getting their feedback on the pitfalls, problems they ran into, questions they have: this is priceless info. The last thing I want on the initial release of something is to have a bunch of angry people standing in line for a refund because they couldn’t get it to work.

My advice? If you’re looking to release a program/service/script to the public that they have to pay for: get someone who has no clue how to use it & have them take it for a spin. You will get valuable information on how to improve your service so that it is as “newbie friendly” as possible. This can save you a lot of headaches: both with support issues and refunds.