How do you get feedback from your beta users ? Sample of questionnaires?

I am seeking for information in order to build a beta program feedback questionnaire.

What do you recommend ? Which question are the most important ones ?

Do you have some questionnaire samples ?

I found some
here: http://www.xaware.org/forums/beta-testing-and-samples/beta-test-questionnaire/view-2.html and here: http://www.supermemo.com/archive/beta/Beta_q.htm I particularly like the questions to measure the difference between what the customer expected and what he actually get when he uses the software.

Beyond the questionnaire, what are your advices to get a high rate of feedback ?

Thanks

There are different aspects of the feedback that you need. There are also different times that you would like to get this feedback. For each of these there are different methods that will be more or less effective.

In order to make your beta period useful you should set up the systems for getting this feedback on a regular basis.

Aspects of Feedback

• The User Interface: What is the customers experience of how easy it is to use the site
• The Satisfaction:
  What is their emotional experience of
  using the site. Do they feel satisfied.
• The Value Proposition: What is it worth? Do they understand and agree with the value proposition?
• The Business: How much will they pay? Really -- beyond the value proposition -- how much value will they put on it now.

Times After signup before they start using: Say thank you and take the time to learn a little about them. You want to know why they chose to participate, how they found out about you. This will be important baseline -- and correlative data.

During Use: Collect data during the use. People will find things and report things while they are using your product that will impact their reflections later-- but the critically important source details will be lost.

If they discontinue or stop using: The exit interview for people who chose not to use it. Make sure you approach with an open mind. You are mineing for gold for your startup.

When they upgrade or "re-up": Obviously you want their stories and testimonials. Listen to the decision making process they went through. That will help you improve your CRM.

Methods Questionnaire are great and lots of links and samples will soon appear on here. But questionaires are not enough.

Try using some of the online usability tests (here is a sample called Verify we have had good experienced with. )

Email people direct and solicit feedback directly.

Pick up the phone and talk to folks. A real conversation will always be worth the time.

Meet for coffee. If you can a conversation in person will always get you the best response. Allocate a set of Starbuck gift cards or something to "pay" people for their time.

Set up a focus group. Don't worry -- think of it as group coffee. But do take the time to read and learn a lot about how to do it so that you get valuable feedback. (Here is a nice little blog post that has some great tips )

Recommendation I strongly recommended that you "contract with" your beta customers to receive feedback from them. Make it part of what they agree up front. And then take them up on the offer as soon as possible. Make it an expectation. This will make it easier for you to feel comfortable asking. And it will reinforce the beta nature of your product/service.

Conclusion Remember that beta users are doing you a HUGE favor. Treat them like royalty. Complement. Acknowledge. Appreciate. Pay. Bonus. Whatever you need to do to ensure that you are able to get the critical information you need to make your product/service connect with the market.

Another thing you can do is build user usage tracking directly withing the beta program. That way you get to see how the software is actually being used. Of course for this to work, you need the user to Opt-in to the program, and in exchange you need give assurance that their privacy is being preserved. You can also offer incentives for this, such as future software upgrades.

We've used Wufoo in the past to develop our questionnaires and it's worked really well. It's extremely easy to use and learn, and there's a free account too.

We sent it to very computer illiterate customers, and they managed to make it through and give great feedback.

I had to send personal emails to about 5 of the customers to get them to fill out the form (initially sent a blast to about 20).

As for the most important questions -> It is whatever you need to find out to make more informed decisions and gain more traction.