So the beta model in Ultimaker blue is looking clean and strong. But since this is the beta, it will have to get through the users brave enough to volunteer.
Watching viewer reaction was a beta test in itself. One which bears out many of the crowd dynamics research people have made for decades.
People will watch things sheepishly but paying great attention until some breaking point is reached and they make up their minds to participate.
I initially formed the beta program by asking very simply – who is interested. No reaction.
Then I offered users the chance to KEEP the model. A trickle of volunteers.
Then I started to close the program, and I filled the remaining spots in seconds. I had to turn some people away because of production capacity issues.
See a problem? I do. You can say it’s because I should have just jumped to that last step, but it’s a consistent problem of fear and credibility that marketers deal with all the time.
I don’t want a mass market, I simply can’t make that many products right now. But the measures you have to go through, no matter your skill level to break though the collective fear of a crowd when you are making something, anything, is truly an exercise in stoicism.