---------------------------------- OFFER LIVE CUSTOMER SUPPORT ----------------------------------

E-mail has become an acceptable form of communication. But, live customer support is still necessary. The plethora of information available online can be overwhelming to customers, especially those new to Internet!

Single your company out from crowd by providing customers with a real person to talk to. Live phone support is an invaluable way to foster trust. When your customer has reached end of his Internet rope, and just needs *help*, your toll free number is answer he's looking for.

---------------------------------- MAKE SURE YOUR SUPPORT REPS HAVE ALL THE ANSWERS ----------------------------------

The presence of phone support will do no good if your staff doesn't know your product! Customer support reps should be warm and friendly, and willing to help with any aspect of your product.

What a good feeling it is to talk to someone who feels confident in his product. It's even better if he's knowledgeable enough to solve your problem without transferring you all around company!

---------------------------------- PROVIDE STAND-OUT SERVICE; GAIN LIFELONG CUSTOMERS ----------------------------------

Too many e-businesses skimp on customer service, hiding behind web sites and message boards. Customer support is an integral part of every company, even those operating solely online. Be one of few to offer stellar service, and gain customers for life!

Beta testers are generally just a number of users who, in exchange for a reduced fee or a free copy of software, agree to install program (or system) and use them. They are to report any errors, and understand that program may have bugs, can crash and might corrupt data.

A program or system might go through one, two or even three rounds of beta testing. The developers would be in constant communication with testers so as to produce best possible product.

This is way it worked, and this is method better product managers still employ. I've been a beta tester many times, most seriously a dozen years ago with operating systems such as RSX, RT11, RSTS/E and OpenVMS. One of major reasons why Digital Equipment Corporation operating systems were so good (and in many ways are still unsurpassed) - they really knew how to run a solid series of beta tests.

The original concept was very simple, but large companies such as Microsoft have corrupted it until now Beta testing is not really testing. You see, Microsoft has changed Beta testing to really be a "pre-release" or "public preview". What does this mean? It means Microsoft has option to deliver unfinished or inadequately tested code to tens of thousands of users.

Microsoft does not tend to go through a lot of trouble to get feedback from this vast army of beta testers. Oh yes, they do surveys and send forms, but to do a real beta test you need to be in firm control and be sure your testers are doing something useful.

You see, beta testing is supposed to be part of development process, not marketing and promotional process. And, truthfully, that's one of primary reasons why Microsoft (and other large companies) have had such poor quality assurance in past few years.

So, basically, beta testing helps ensure that a product is more reliable and works in environments outside of lab. And that's all it is supposed to do.