How Does a Trial Group Event Work?
Last Updated: August 28, 2026
1. What is a Trial Group Event?
A trial group event is an opportunity for supporters to try your reward early—during the “Launching Soon” (Pre-Launch) period—and then leave reviews in the Community or help drive participation in your project. Anyone can run a trial group event—you don’t need a large number of products or a large number of participants. If you’re able to offer even a small group the chance to try your reward ahead of launch, it’s worth doing.
2. Preparing and Running Your Trial Group
1) Preparing the trial group
- Run your trial group during the “Launching Soon” period.
- To ensure reviews start appearing in your Community as soon as your project goes live, you’ll want to complete the recruitment, selection, and shipping of trial products before your project opens to the public.
- Prepare a sample of your product forsupporters to try in advance.
- The scale and format of your trial group should match the nature of your reward.
- A small group works perfectly well—you don’t need to distribute large volumes of samples or recruit a large number of participants.
- Reviews should not be submitted as comments on a News Update. Structure your trial group so that participants post their reviews in the Community tab instead.
2) Announcing the trial group via a News Update
Publish your trial group recruitment as a News Update right after your “Launching Soon” page goes live.- It’s common practice to require backers to set up a notification as one of the conditions for participation.
- Consider designing a review incentive event to encourage thoughtful, detailed trial reviews.
When writing the News Update for trial group recruitment, be sure to include:
- The recruitment period
- The announcement date for selected participants (if you’re selecting by lottery or review)
- An approximate date for when trial rewards will be shipped
- What the trial reward includes
- The obligations expected of trial participants
3) Preparing a trial group application form
You’ll need to create your own application survey.- Clearly specify the information you’ll need to run the trial group (name, phone number, shipping address, etc.).
- Ensure that supporters do not post personal information in public spaces, such as in comments.
- Obtain consent for the use of personal data and marketing communications upfront (noting that the data may be used for future events).
- For any reward requiring age verification, be sure to include a date of birth field in both the News Update and the application form so you can verify each supporter’s age.
When creating your application form, keep the following points in mind:
- Confirm that all the information needed to ship the trial reward is included in the form.
- Request consent for the collection and use of personal information. A supporter’s name, phone number, and shipping address all qualify as personal data—collecting this information without consent may constitute improper use of personal information.
- Pay close attention to your privacy settings whenbuilding the form, as exposing personal data can result in legal penalties under applicable law.
- If you’re creating the form in Google Forms: turn off response viewing when accepting submissions.
- If building the form in Naver Forms: set response visibility to “Private.”
| Sample application form fields |
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3. Announcing Trial Group Selections
When announcing who has been selected, be careful not to disclose personal information such as names, phone numbers, or addresses.
If you have planned a review incentive event, be sure to let the selected participants know how to submit their reviews for it.
Example projects:
- "It's not skin, it's porcelain!" Han Go-eun Mask Pack (Beauty) — Trial Group Recruitment / Trial Group Selection Announcement
- Fully Quench Your Skin’s Thirst with Kombucha! (Beauty) — Trial Group Recruitment / Trial Group Selection Announcement
4. Applying for Wadiz Trial Group Marketing Benefits
Wadiz features a curated collection of projects that host trial group events. Applying for the Trial Group Event Marketing Benefit gets your project featured on Wadiz’s curated collection page, along with a range of additional marketing benefits.
How to apply for the marketing benefit
- Review the details and apply via the Trial Group Event Application Form.
- You’ll receive an email within one business day letting you know whether your project has been featured in the collection.
- Collection exposure runs from the day after you apply until the day before your main funding round opens.
- Only projects that meet the stated application conditions can be featured in the collection; projects that do not meet the conditions may not be able to proceed.
- Once you’ve applied, your project will be featured for the applicable period regardless of whether you’ve published a News Update for your trial group event.
5. FAQ (Frequently Asked Questions)
Q. How do I decide how many people to recruit for my trial group?
A. Wadiz does not specify a fixed number—we recommend starting small and scaling your trial group based on your budget and the unit cost of your reward.
Q. Can global makers also receive trial group marketing benefits?
A. Yes—global makers can run trial groups and access the same marketing benefits as Korean makers.
- A trial group is a maker-run event built on Wadiz’s existing features (News Updates, Community), so it is available regardless of whether you are a Korean or a global maker.
- For a global project, the same process applies: announce trial group recruitment as a News Update during your “Launching Soon” period, then direct participants to leave reviews in the Community.
- If your trial rewards need to be shipped internationally, be sure to clearly state the shipping conditions—including logistics costs and customs duties—in your trial group announcement.
Just Get Started on Wadiz.
Your step-by-step guide from preparation to funding success—available now at the Wadiz Maker Center.