Denon’s HEOS Beta Testing Success Story

WARNING: Some of you may have been involved in the HEOS Wireless Home Audio System beta test. We must insist that you keep your identity and involvement with this product secret (that means no talking about it in the comments below). Honor thy NDA, please.

Beta testing can be a tricky thing to handle. Several variables must all come together to make the end result most effective and beneficial to a product. This is especially true for products that rely heavily on integration with other products. Denon found themselves in this situation. At the time, they already had a robust internal QA and alpha testing process in place for their products, however they had not yet implemented a beta testing process for their product development cycle. They knew this was something that would be tremendously helpful for their new HEOS wireless home audio system.

With a handful of products in their HEOS wireless home audio system line in need of testing, Denon looked to our Betabound community to handle the job. Betabound testers were carefully selected and tasked with putting six products from the HEOS ecosystem through a real-world testing experience. Denon knew that the only way to get a good look at how these products integrated with each other (as well as with other technology that their target market may already own), was to get their products into the homes of real users.

After nearly a year, the testing had come to a close. The results (which came from 30 dedicated and diligent beta testers) included hundreds of surveys and journals completed, 150 bugs reported, and over 1,000 forum posts. Needless to say, the Denon HEOS team received the feedback that they needed.

Through all of this feedback, our Betabound testers provided valuable insight on many of the products’ elements, as well as the overall user experience. Testers gave a fresh perspective to the HEOS product development team on the setup process for all of the products in the HEOS line, which allowed the Denon team to make significant product improvements before launch.

This is only one example of a handful of integrated products getting the full testing experience that they need, thanks to our Betabound community. It really boils down to the quality of testers involved with tests like this. Great testers help release great products, and ensure that customers and enthusiasts are not disappointed when they bring one of these products home.

Well done, Betabound community members!

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