How do you feel about offering money to test a product?
Product Hunt was created specifically to showcase what you do. But let’s face it, with the progress of AI, there are more and more products and you don’t have time to test them all (respect to @gabe , who does this job brilliantly).
I noticed that as my following grew throughout social media, more people contacted me wanting to test products. Of course, I don’t have room for everyone, and what’s even more shocking is that to get to me, they want to compensate me for testing.
I have a question for people who create products:
• Why is offering money to people with a large following so valuable to you? Wouldn’t it be more rational to offer that money to companies that have a professional team of testers?
I would like to hear the thoughts of the PH community.
Replies
The idea is entirely to take advantage of the person’s audience. If you have followers, such an authentic ad/mention is a serious plus for those companies. The audience has a price, while QA isn’t what really matters in this case.
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@byalexai I expected that it would be more reliable "social proof" when they place your pf in their web. The question is whether it is legit to receive money for such testing.
@busmark_w_nika In my opinion, if you test the product first and you like it, then you can write a review.
If you don’t like their product, don’t take money and give misleading information.
But if the product is genuinely good and meets your requirements, then I don’t see a problem. After all, you’re sharing something valuable that could help someone in your audience, and for them it’s a way to improve their product (every dollar invested in their product helps with salaries/advertising).
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@byalexai The most dishonest practice was when they wanted from me to post review written by them :D that is no go :D
@busmark_w_nika I agree, but there are influencers who take money from anyone and just post directly.
I also find it annoying when companies want someone to write a review, but then it has to follow their guidelines. At the end of the day, either you work with them because you believe that this person writes to their audience in a certain way and you approve of it, or you don’t tell them how to write. But then again, there are lazy influencers who don’t even want to write at all.
I think it depends on what you’re testing for. Paying an influencer to ‘test’ feels more like paying for reach or validation than actual testing. If you want structured, unbiased feedback, you’d go to a proper testing platform or solution designed for that purpose. Influencer testing can give some surface-level signal, but it’s definitely not a replacement for real product/user testing
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@atique_bandukwala1 That's what I want to hear more about. Like it can give some credit of "being tested but a recognisable person" (marketing), but I am not so sure whether it adds some real value in terms of professional feedback.
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We all have professional testers finding bugs. However, the mind is restricted as the creator of the tool. Therefore we would love to know the voice of common users and real users. Also, to contact people with a following to test is more kind of kol marketing. They may want more than a test feedback, but a post on social media platforms.
@charlenechen_123 great. Real thoughts are important
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@charlenechen_123 @lee_april2 yep, it is a promotion for them – pure business.
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@lee_april2 @busmark_w_nika exactly
As a PR Specialist, I would say that offering money for testing may lead to certain reputational risks. If it's not a professional organisation with clear pricing for its services, with professional approach and unified feedback, then it's better to think about possible risks.
@anastasiia_kiosieva Paying an influencer for product testing is a standard practice in marketing.
However, for it to be acceptable, both the company and the influencer must ensure the relationship is fully and transparently disclosed to the public.
If this isn't done, it can harm the reputation of both parties.
The biggest risk, however, comes when the product is defective, harmful, or even illegal.
In these cases, promoting a bad product can severely damage an influencer's reputation, ruin the trust they've built with their audience, and permanently harm their credibility, which is the foundation of their entire business.
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@anastasiia_kiosieva @tetianavoronina TBH, now, I more trust brands/people who admit that there is a collaboration aspect. It feels more honest. :) + agree what you said with bold text :)
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@anastasiia_kiosieva IMO, the product should be somehow related to the activities/personality of that person. Because alignment feels more authentic.
Maybe it’s because of the reach you have. You’re one of the most visible people on this platform, and given your strong presence in the marketing space, it makes sense that some founders see extra exposure as part of the value.
That said, I don’t think it’s the best way to test a product. Why rely on one person when you could get feedback from 100 early adopters—or at least a broader group of people genuinely interested in what you’re building?
Instead of paying a single influencer, founders could offer premium subscriptions (or other perks) to early testers. That way, you attract people who are actually curious about your product, reward them for their contribution, and get more authentic feedback in return.
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@viktorgems More early testers is more reasonable (of course, the best outcome would be to have influencer(s) + early testers + qualified testers) to have the best results.
@busmark_w_nika Agree, the more people test it, the better the outcome!
@busmark_w_nika Do you often receive such request?
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@viktorgems Practically everyday, more than 2 or 3 times per day.
Again, that’s a “depends” question. It really depends on the product timeline and the context you are in. For me, having a professional test run is pretty necessary, especially for PLGs and startups. I’ve been in this situation before, when I felt it was the right time to bring in some pros to test our product and give us outside feedback. That helped us sharpen the product to fit the marketplace better. But some people on my team were against me. They felt that since they had already done the testing, they didn’t want to hear outside opinions and just wanted to meet their target users sooner, even before the basics were fully ready.
That experience taught me a few things:
Open your eyes and be hungry to bring voices from different groups. Your job is to gauge these voices, not block them all. Yes, your team can test, but they are still insiders. They cannot fully step into buyers’ and outside pros’ shoes.
Diversity, diversity, diversity. A thousand readers will give you a thousand Hamlets. How can you assume or limit your market without testing it more widely? You may know who you want to reach, but that doesn’t mean they are all the same, even if they share some common traits.
If you want to do grocery shopping in Costco, you’re going to have that small sip or bite before making a decision. So offering your “sip and bite” to testers sounds more reasonable now, right? If you don’t want to pay for outside testing, it’s like accepting a part-time job where the employer refuses to compensate you.
That’s just my take, and I’m happy to discuss and test run some products. Well, I’m nobody, but just a potential user.
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@mellodiii_59 The point No2 is pretty valid. Question: Would you take money as an influencer for testing?
@busmark_w_nika I will. More than that, I’ll create a package if this type of inquiry comes up alot. In the meantime, I’ll need to manage my calendar and time slots carefully if I had a full-time duty.
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@mellodiii_59 Probably, I need to rethink my approach! :D
Professional testers bring expertise and structured testing, while a large group of people provides diverse feedback and real world use cases. Both are valuable, but combining them gives the best results.
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@moeez_ur_rehman1 But what about offering money to big creators for testing?
@busmark_w_nika Maybe they want large creators to showcase their products and services to a broader audience. (Haha, I hope you’re not tired of handling these requests. 🙂)
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@moeez_ur_rehman1 Sometimes I am :D but I take only those I am interested in :)
@busmark_w_nika Yeah, maybe those in which you're interested are the only ones best for your audience.
It really depends on your stage and budget. If you do have the resources, then compensating testers can be worthwhile because it lets you observe in real time how people actually interact with your product. At a previous company, we would bring in users from the business, record their screen clicks, and even capture facial reactions while they worked through tasks. That kind of insight was incredibly valuable for improving the product based on real behavior instead of assumptions.
But if it’s your first app launch or a smaller product, I wouldn’t jump straight to paying testers. Start with friends and family who will provide you with honest feedback, and then conduct a soft launch to gather input from people you don’t know. That’s often the most invaluable free feedback you can get—and it gives you enough direction to refine things before considering a paid testing program.
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@stellarcarto47 "capture facial reactions while they worked" – how did you take it? Any specific software solution?
From POV of a creator who is offered money for testing – do you find it legit?
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@stellarcarto47 aaa, interesting, I know UX Tweak (they are the Slovak company), but I didn't know they do it to such an extent. Good to know. Thank you for explaining that :)
With a huge potential budget in hands, can be done with professional testers. Rather, I would select a way where becoming a part of founder's' community and giving them subscription to help me with bold feedback would work better.
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@bhargav5394 So you would rather offer the PRO plan for free in exchange, right? But in that case, you need to reach out to the relevant target audience and not random people.
@busmark_w_nika that's the reason that I would reach out to founder communities or local networks of users that would give me honest feedback and are my potential paid users!
You cannot giveaway a random software to a random group of people.
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@bhargav5394 Yep, I think it is more honest work to do research and find a few folks who genuinely would use your software in the work, because they are the sample of your ICP.
That's an option worth considering.
Although, for obvious ethical reasons, the non organic nature of the test should be disclosed by the influencer
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@mayashaddad What do you mean by that statement?
@busmark_w_nika I think the audience expects the tester not to be affiliated with the product they're testing
Unbiased feedback is generally the main added value of such content.
However, that's ok to be paid to test as long as the audience is aware of that.
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@mayashaddad yes, but when you are an unknown company, you see it like a benefit, like: Hey, my product was tested by Emma Watson. It is a kind of prominence.
@busmark_w_nika I totally agree with you on that.
I guess the type of influencer matters here, I was thinking more about the MKBHD type of influencers. The type of folks who are known to do tech tests and reviews