{"id":7545,"date":"2018-03-26T16:58:40","date_gmt":"2018-03-26T20:58:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/digital.hbs.edu\/platform-digit\/submission\/applause-crowdsourced-user-experience-testing\/"},"modified":"2018-03-26T16:58:40","modified_gmt":"2018-03-26T20:58:40","slug":"applause-crowdsourced-user-experience-testing","status":"publish","type":"hck-submission","link":"https:\/\/d3.harvard.edu\/platform-digit\/submission\/applause-crowdsourced-user-experience-testing\/","title":{"rendered":"Applause: Crowdsourced User Experience Testing"},"content":{"rendered":"

Founded in 2007 and based in Framingham, Massachusetts, Applause is the world\u2019s largest \u201cIn-The-Wild\u201d testing service which allows companies to test their user experiences before officially launching their applications, websites, or connected devices.\u00a0 The testing and analytics industry has long-time been dominated by large players such as IBM, Hewlett-Packard, and CA Technologies.\u00a0 However, unlike these incumbents, Applause crowdsources its testers from around the world.\u00a0 Applause crowdsources 300,000+ testers located in 200+ countries and territories who get paid for testing digital products and provide user experience feedback and report glitches. \u00a0As Applause CEO and co-founder Doron Reuveni states, \u201cMore and more, customer-facing digital experiences are the front door to brands, and the ability to research, test, and aggregate user feedback from people who mirror a company\u2019s customers is a major competitive advantage for our customers.\u201d[1]<\/a>\u00a0 Over the last decade Applause has generated quite an impressive customer base which includes tech giants such as Google, Amazon, Microsoft, Facebook, Uber, PayPal, eBay as well as consumer brands such as McDonald\u2019s, Nike, Starbucks, Coca-Cola, Ford, BMW, Rolex, Adidas, and Disney.<\/p>\n

One main challenge for Applause is managing its growth while maintaining control over its expanding community of testers.\u00a0 As Applause\u2019s future relies on the integrity and value created by its crowdsourced testers, the company makes sure each tester is vetted before interacting with the company\u2019s clients.\u00a0 Each tester must create a profile, complete training, and sign an NDA.\u00a0 Security is key and testers are banned from talking or blogging about any current projects with violation resulting in a lifetime ban from the network.\u00a0 Once on a project, testers evaluate products based on 10 attributes: content, elegance, interoperability, performance, pricing, privacy, satisfaction, security, stability, and usability.\u00a0 Testers are constantly evaluated themselves by Applause\u2019s customers based on the volume and quality of their work.\u00a0 Applause\u2019s customers have ultimate approval on how much testers get paid based on the value-add of the tester\u2019s feedback and how many glitches and failures the tester identifies.[2]<\/a>\u00a0 “Only by creating a great deal of value for customers do you rise up the ranks; if you’re not creating value for customers, you’re not invited to future projects,” says Matt Johnston, Applause\u2019s Chief Strategist.[3]<\/a> \u00a0Last year, Applause paid its network of testers ~$25 million of the ~$100 million the company made in revenue.[4]<\/a><\/p>\n

I believe the growth potential is huge for Applause.\u00a0 The value of real-time, pre-launch customer feedback cannot be understated.\u00a0 For years the testing industry has been extremely antiquated with testers going to labs in order for companies to receive pre-launch feedback.\u00a0 I personally oversaw the testing of a new product while I was at MasterCard.\u00a0 I spent two days at a testing lab behind a one-way mirror observing testers interactions with the product.\u00a0 It was a very time-consuming project and ultimately did not give us very valuable insight.\u00a0 Applause solves the problem by allowing companies to real-time test with a community of crowdsourced diverse testers providing valuable feedback.<\/p>\n

[1]<\/a> https:\/\/www.xconomy.com\/boston\/2016\/09\/14\/accenture-backed-applause-takes-35m-bow-expands-app-testing-service\/<\/a><\/p>\n

[2]<\/a> https:\/\/www.applause.com\/community\/<\/p>\n

[3]<\/a> https:\/\/www.forbes.com\/sites\/karstenstrauss\/2014\/07\/02\/an-international-army-of-tech-applause\/#720ddcba1b18<\/a><\/p>\n

[4]<\/a> https:\/\/www.xconomy.com\/boston\/2017\/08\/23\/vista-equity-to-acquire-applause-as-app-testing-firm-eyes-profits\/<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Applause crowdsources 300,000+ testers located in 200+ countries and territories who get paid for testing digital products and provide user experience feedback and report glitches<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2517,"featured_media":7546,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","categories":[],"class_list":["post-7545","hck-submission","type-hck-submission","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"connected_submission_link":"https:\/\/d3.harvard.edu\/platform-digit\/assignment\/competing-with-or-against-crowds\/","yoast_head":"\nApplause: Crowdsourced User Experience Testing - Digital Innovation and Transformation<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/d3.harvard.edu\/platform-digit\/submission\/applause-crowdsourced-user-experience-testing\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Applause: Crowdsourced User Experience Testing - 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