Acceptance Testing

Do dogs eat the dog food? We are testing first whether they accept our product...or don't.

Usually, Acceptance Testing involves asking audiences whether or not they'd like a given movie, or food preparation device...or at the corporate level, asking banks if they'd buy such and such a router. The problem with Acceptance Testing is that it presumes that the customer has enough creative vision to actually imagine the product as you intend it to be delivered.

Arguably the most famous Acceptance Testing failure was AOL's query of its audience as to whether or not they'd ever use chat. Some 90% said "NFW." Steve Case ignored the results and the rest is history.



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