The Beauty of Beta

We just completed our first Skypecast leading up to the 2006 Innovative Marketing Conference being help in New York June 8-9. This was made possible through the BETA version of Skype (v. 2.5). The Skypecast was coordinated in part through gmail, a BETA offering from Google (even though it’s been around for quite some time).

Google seems to be the king of beta, but the term beta is showing up all over the web these days. And why not? There are several great advantages to releasing a beta version of software, or other products, services, or even ideas for that matter.

Being involved in something during its beta phase makes people feel like they are “in the know” – part of that special group of early adopters. This benefits the organization by creating a larger group of early adopters who are more likely to tell their friends about their “discovery.”

Beta takes advantage of co-creation. Customers are able to give their input to actually improve new products. And perhaps more importantly, they feel like they are making a difference.

Beta accelerates the process of implementing new ideas while at the some time providing cover for the organization for imperfect elements of a product offering. In the current issue of Wired magazine, the head of Google Video responded to reviewers who called it “chaotic and frustrating” by saying

“We tend to ship products earlier than other companies because we want to see how people use them. We were very keen to find out what would sell. We’ve made changes in response. I think users see us as a group that has a living product and cares what people think.”

How's that for customer-centric?