The Beta is an attractive concept for Startups, launch an exclusive invite only product, get coverage on an influential tech blog, and watch as droves of tech enthusiasts flock to sign up.  The spike in traffic followed by an astounding number of names and email addresses captured feels great, but then what?  For most, the surge is not sustainable, and most likely retention will be minimal.  Here is a few things to keep in mind while in startup beta mode.

Build out your measurement tools prior to Beta:

Qualitative:  Setup measures for support and qualitative feedback, you’ll know your application is really getting rough tested when you can barely keep up with all the support tickets.  Take advantage of the opportunity and fix bugs/issues as they arise.

KissMetrics, Zendesk, Uservoice, and survey.io are all great tools for accomplishing this.

Quantitative: Google Event tracking will be your best friend, sit down with your team and find out what types of actions users will take that are important to track and setup necessary events for those actions.  If you’re looking to get the most out of your metrics tracking, see this post by Dan Martell on cohort metrics, or a suggested read is the Lean Startup by Eric Ries, specifically his chapter on “Innovation Accounting”.

Be authentic about the state of your application:

There will undoubtedly be issues with the state of your application, be honest about the hiccups, and share your progress with users. If you can instill a sense of ownership on your users, then they will follow you to the grave.  There is no better example of this than in the indie video game development scene.

Focus on Retention:

Some of your early adopters love your product and are willing to keep at it! Congratulations, you’re making it happen, but don’t stop there. Reward these beautiful people with discounted product, and free swag!  They will spread the gospel that is your brand, and be there with you every step of the way. We LOVE @rileyct.

Listen to feedback: (sometimes)

This one comes from the great mind of Mr. Steve Blank, customer development is an important aspect of any startup.  However listening to customers is a tactic, while learning is the real strategy.  Take everything with a grain of salt and keep in mind your running a business, not a mickey mouse club.

There will be Blood:

And sweat, and maybe some tears, but roll with the punches and keep each other motivated. When you’re feeling down on yourself, you can always visit this beauty of a post on maning up to set you straight. (thanks to the recent Canadian Supreme Court ruling on hyperlinks, this doesn’t constitue defamation)