TCL is a global leader in television manufacturing. With new models being released every year, TCL needed a partner to help ensure their new products worked flawlessly in unique environments in real homes around the world. BetaTesting helped power a robust In-Home Usage Testing program to uncover bugs and technical issues, and collect user experience feedback to understand what real users like and dislike about their products.
Televisions manufactured for different geographic markets often have very different technology needs, including cutting edge hardware, memory, graphics cards, and processors to provide the best picture, sound, and UI for customers. Additionally, each country has its own unique mix of cable providers, cable boxes, speakers, gaming systems, and other hardware that must be thoroughly tested and seamlessly integrated to provide high quality user experiences.
BetaTesting and TCL first worked together on a single test in the United States. The BetaTesting test experts worked hand-in-hand with the TCL team to design a thorough testing process on the BetaTesting platform, starting with recruiting and screening the right users and having them complete a series of specific tasks, instructions, and surveys during the month-long test.
First, BetaTesting designed screening surveys to find and select over 100 testers, focused on which streaming services they watched, and what external products they had connected to their TVs – such as soundbars, gaming devices, streaming boxes, and more. Participants were recruited through the existing BetaTesting community of 400,000 testers and supplemented with custom recruiting through partner networks.
TCLs Product and User Research teams worked closely with BetaTesting to design multiple test flows for testers to complete. After TVs were shipped to qualified and vetted testers, the test process included testing and recording the unboxing and first impressions of the TV, followed by specific tasks each week, such as connecting and testing all external devices, playing games, testing screencasting and other functionality from phones, and more.
Testers also collected log files from the TV and shared them via detailed bug reports, and completed in-depth surveys about each feature. In the end, TCL received hundreds of bug reports and a wide mix of quantitative and qualitative survey responses to improve their TVs before launch.
Following the success of the US Test, TCL began similar tests in Italy and France, and ran additional tests in the US – often expanding the test process over multiple months to continue collecting in-depth feedback about specific issues, advanced TV settings, external devices, and more.
TCL is now expanding the testing relationship with BetaTesting to begin testing in Asia, as well as continuing their testing in the US and Europe as new products are ready for launch.
The TCL hardware tests are a comprehensive testing process that underscores the robust capabilities of BetaTesting platform and managed services. The BetaTesting team coordinated with different departments and stakeholders within the TCL team, and the test design focused on everything from onboarding to back-end data collection. Finally, testers provided hundreds of bug reports and qualitative and quantitative data to make this test – and the new product launch – a success for TCL.
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