How do I run a beta with people from my waitlist?
19 September 2026 · by Nordva, who make Nordva Launch
The short answer
Invite a small batch first (ten to twenty people, the ones who look most like your target users), watch what they do in the first week, fix what stops them, then invite the next batch. Each batch should start on a slightly better product than the last. Ask every group the same few questions so you can compare, and open to everyone once a batch gets through without help.
Why batches
Your waitlist can only try the product for the first time once. If everyone arrives on the same day and hits the same broken step, most of them leave and don’t come back. Small batches let the first people find the problems, so the rest arrive after you’ve fixed them.
Who goes first
Pick the people who look most like the users you built it for. Where they came from is a good guide: someone who joined from a thread about the exact problem is a better first tester than someone from a general launch site. The earliest signups are also a good group, because they’ve waited longest.
Ten to twenty people is enough for a first batch. You’re looking for the step where people get stuck, and that shows up with a handful.
What to watch in each batch
- Did they finish setup? The most common place a beta loses people.
- Did they reach the first useful moment? The thing the product exists for.
- Did they come back on a later day without a reminder?
- What did they write to you? Bugs, confusion, requests.
Ask each batch the same three or four questions after their first week, so the answers are comparable from batch to batch.
When to invite the next batch
When you’ve fixed the biggest problem the last batch found. Not on a calendar: a batch that starts on the same broken product as the previous one teaches you nothing new. As batches get through setup without writing to you, make them bigger.
Opening up
Open to everyone when a batch gets through the first week without help. Then tell the rest of the list in one email: what it does, what’s new since they joined, one link. People who were in the beta are your first testimonials; ask them.
With Nordva Launch
The waitlist keeps each signup’s source and position, so choosing the first batch is a sort, not a guess. On Indie, select the next batch on the Waitlist page (or send invites through the API) and Launch emails their invitations. Feedback from inside the app arrives tied to each tester (50 messages a month on Free, 1,000 on Indie), and the launch announcement goes to everyone who hasn’t unsubscribed, with a report of who paid afterwards.
When Launch is the wrong tool
If your product only works once many people use it at the same time (a marketplace, a multiplayer game), small batches can make it look empty; invite by group or by location instead, so each batch has enough people to meet.
- How do I do a soft launch?
- How many beta testers do I need?
- Should I let everyone on my waitlist in at once?