Customer preview programs are where great enterprise products are forged—not launched. In this post, I share lessons from Microsoft, AWS, and early-stage companies on how to design and run high-impact private previews. From selecting the right customers to building feedback loops and institutionalizing learning, this is a guide for product teams who want to build with customers, not just for them. If you’re serious about derisking launches, accelerating product-market fit, and turning early users into advocates, start here.
If you’ve worked in enterprise software long enough, you’ve likely come across some version of a customer preview program. Whether it’s Microsoft’s Early Adopter Program (EAP), Google Cloud’s Early Access Program, or AWS’s Private Preview, the intent is the same: let a small group of trusted customers behind the curtain — not to validate a launch-ready product, but to shape what it becomes.
Done well, a private preview is more than a test drive. It’s a co-development loop between product teams and real-world users. Done poorly, it becomes a checkbox exercise, full of polite feedback and little actionable learning.
Having helped run and advise preview programs at Microsoft, AWS, Xero, and other SaaS businesses, I’ve seen the full spectrum. The best programs are structured, intentional, and deeply customer-centric. Here’s how to do it right — and what the best in tech have figured out.
Before inviting a single customer, it’s important to define exactly what the team hopes to learn. A private preview is not the same as a beta program. It’s not simply about finding bugs or validating that the system scales. It’s an opportunity to identify usability gaps, test assumptions about workflows, expose integration pain points, and gather early signals on market fit.
These programs only work if the goals are clearly articulated upfront. What are the key questions the preview must answer? Where is the product still flexible enough to change? What decisions will be influenced by the learning that comes from this group of customers? Without clarity, a preview devolves into a feel-good exercise that generates little of lasting value.
Not every customer is a good preview partner. The best preview participants are those who are technically adept, motivated to help shape the product, aligned with the strategic direction of the roadmap, and willing to devote time to providing meaningful feedback. At Microsoft, account teams had to nominate customers for the Corporate Preview Program, treating participation not as a perk, but as a responsibility.
In my experience, ten deeply engaged and opinionated customers are more valuable than fifty passive users who provide little input. The preview isn’t about scale — it’s about insight.
Transparency is key to building trust with preview customers. Before shipping anything, set clear expectations. The product is not finished. Features may change, evolve, or disappear. Support will likely be limited. Most importantly, feedback is expected, not optional.
Some companies, like AWS and Google, formalize participation through NDAs and Preview Participation Agreements. These often include “Success Plans” that outline what each customer will test, how progress will be measured, and how feedback will be handled. The most successful previews operate with the same professionalism and clarity as any high-touch customer success engagement.
A preview should never be treated as a side project. If you’re serious about learning, then a predictable operating rhythm is non-negotiable. Weekly or biweekly check-ins with customers, a central place for sharing feedback and support (be it Slack, Teams, or Jira), and a process for real-time triage of issues all ensure that previews run like product sprints rather than chaotic test beds.
The best teams assign someone inside the product organization — a Customer Champion — who deeply understands the customer’s context and serves as their advocate in roadmap discussions. This person becomes the connective tissue between field insights and product decisions.
Feedback must be treated as a core output of the preview, not a nice-to-have. It should be captured in structured ways, categorized intelligently, and acted on quickly. When gathering input, it’s important to understand the nature of the feedback (is it a bug, a usability issue, a missing feature, or a blocker?), its severity, and whether it’s a one-off concern or a pattern repeated across accounts.
While tools like Airtable and Jira help with managing the flow of feedback, what matters most is having someone synthesize it into actionable insights. The product team should emerge from the preview with a clear understanding of what was learned, what was changed as a result, and what decisions were made to stay the course despite objections.
Customers who participate in private previews are investing something incredibly valuable: their time. When the preview concludes, they should be thanked — not just with a polite note, but with recognition of their contribution. It helps to show them how their feedback shaped specific product features, and to invite them to participate in early roadmap briefings or case studies.
At Microsoft, I’ve seen teams send handwritten notes and early previews of product plans to key preview customers. At AWS, we shared “You Shaped This” slides during general availability briefings to show how early adopters directly influenced what launched. These gestures build advocacy and long-term loyalty.
The conclusion of the preview is not the end of the learning cycle. This is when the insights need to be documented and shared across the company. A strong wrap-up includes a “Lessons from Preview” memo, a list of the top issues and how they were resolved (or not), an internal launch readiness document, and a set of takeaways for go-to-market and customer-facing teams.
Amazon formalized this step through the Launch Readiness Review, a mandatory checkpoint summarizing findings, risks, and customer feedback before a product could transition to general availability. This helped ensure that the preview wasn’t just a box-checking exercise, but a meaningful phase in product development.
Customer private previews are more than a tactic — they represent a mindset. They signal that a team is building with users, not just for them. That they’re open to feedback, to being wrong, and to adapting before the stakes get higher.
The best product teams use private previews as strategic instruments. They bring the same focus and executional rigor to a preview as they would to a full product launch. In a world where enterprise customers expect transparency, partnership, and influence, a well-run preview program is more than good hygiene — it’s a competitive advantage.
If you’re serious about building great products, don’t wait for launch to start learning. Start in private. Build from there.
