Success Story: Whubi’s Productivity Tool
Whubi is a productivity tool powered by psychology, technology, and design. Last month, Whubi’s CEO, Igor Kuzmenko, announced his product on Betabound. Since then, Igor says he received a host of valuable feedback that has made a huge impact on his product thanks to Betabound’s, “fantastic and lively community of beta testers.” In this post, we take a look at Whubi and how Betabounders have helped improve this platform.
Whubi is a software platform that is reinventing task management. As a software engineer, Igor spent five years using other task management tools like Wunderlist and Todoist before creating Whubi. According to Igor, “People, like myself, hate managing their lists. The only thing people care about is to remember what they need to do and when. So I wanted to create a system that learns about users and helps them develop their to-do lists so people would actually enjoy using without adding additional friction to their lives.” After validating the idea with peers and discussing it with psychologists — Whubi was born.
Q: Why was it important for you to launch a beta test for Whubi?
A: I’m a software engineer, so I understand the value of beta testing. Based on my personal experience, I wasn’t comfortable releasing untested software. I wanted to launch the highest-quality “perfect 10” product that I could. I knew beta testing would help me validate my product among other enterprise-level productivity tool users, as well as leverage the power of enthusiastic testers to make it easier to launch with confidence. I care most about the quality of Whubi, and beta testing would only improve that.
Q: What was the process of announcing your product on Betabound, and how has it helped improve Whubi overall?
A: Creating a beta test was a huge project, and I didn’t know where to start. What I did know is that I wanted to focus on improving Whubi’s quality and to be able to quickly validate ideas. I read several reviews talking about Betabound, and decided it could be beneficial for getting the word out about my product — and it was! The amount of Betabounders that provided valuable feedback has been huge. Eighty percent of Betabound testers that clicked to my site applied to my test, 50% converted to official testers, and 30% of those users have since provided really helpful information like bug reports and screenshots. There are 10 Betabound users in particular that have really been going above and beyond in sending helpful feedback my way!
Q: How is Betabound different than other websites you announced Whubi on?
A: I posted on other platforms and found Betabound was the best based on the amount of useful feedback I’ve received from this community alone. You can tell Betabound’s community really cares about sharing high-quality feedback. The value of Betabound has been the highest in terms of information we’ve received from this community’s testers.
Q: How have you been managing Whubi’s beta test?
A: I’ve been managing my beta test manually and by myself. Testers will apply to my test, and I’ll select the applicants that stand out the most. In doing so, I have direct contact with the people I select — which is an interaction I really value as a product developer. In general, I prefer to keep things as personal as possible, but I definitely want to explore using some type of software (like Centercode) in the future as Whubi grows.
Q: What do you look for in all-star beta testers?
A: There are three things I look at in testers: 1) their application email 2) if they used their referral link and 3) their activity level. Part of applying to Whubi involves the sending of a personalized email stating why testers would want to be selected.
Most of the time the emails read something like, “I’m Jon Doe. I’ve been using X product for X number of years and it isn’t working for me. I’d love to try Whubi instead.” That’s fine, but the emails that stood out the most in making me happiest were when applicants said Whubi could be a life changer for them and why. The testers that prove their current solutions aren’t working for them are the most helpful to me in making my product better.
Second, when I saw that testers had shared their referral link, that showed me they were motivated and genuinely interested in my product. Lastly, I look for testers whose activity levels stay continuous throughout the test. It’s important for me to know if testers are actually using the product on a daily basis, like it’s intended, rather than them dropping off. If they’re dropping off, the product isn’t working like it should.
Q: What’s some of the most helpful feedback you’ve received from your testers?
A: Feedback has helped me get a clearer direction for my product, and I’ve especially loved all the crazy ideas about different integrations for Whubi. For example, I recently shared mockups of new product features to testers. A lot of them said things like, “No way! Don’t do this!” But then I send them a working implementation of these “bad” features so they actually work, and the feedback can become a lot more positive. It’s interesting to tinker and be able to go back and forth with testers on what ideas I think could work versus the ideas they would actually want as users.
Q: What are some goals you’d like to achieve during your beta test?
A: The main goal of Whubi’s beta test is to catch as many bugs as possible and to pick and polish the must-have features. To do this, I need testers’ feedback. At the end of the day the goal is to receive feedback, so it’d be great if the ratio between the amount of people that were accepted to my beta test and the amount of feedback I received from them was one-to-one. Right now, 30% of accepted Betabound testers have provided feedback, so I’m hoping to reach 100% as this test continues.
Q: What’s in the future for Whubi?
A: I have a lot of goals, plans, and ambitions for this product. For starters, I want to work on building new desktop integrations for Whubi. Then, I’m hoping to officially launch Whubi at the middle of 2017!
Whubi’s private beta test is still accepting applications! If you’re interested in joining, you can toss your hat in the ring or email hello@whubi.com with any questions or concerns. We’ll be sharing more case studies of product developers who have successfully recruited for their beta test by announcing their product on Betabound, as well as gathering a boatload of helpful feedback from our awesome testers — so stay tuned!