Let’s say you’re working on developing a new pet food packed with delicious, nutritious ingredients. To perfect it, you launch a survey to understand pet owner preferences. But what if half the respondents don’t even have pets? The answers wouldn’t reflect the needs of your target audience, leading to misleading data and wasted resources.
That’s just one example that shows the critical role of recruiting the right people for your surveys. The people who can deliver in-depth insights and detailed feedback that can help improve your product or service.
In this guide, we’ve covered everything you need to know to make survey participant recruitment easier than ever!
What is survey participant recruitment?
Participant recruitment is the essential stage of any research, where you look for users whose behaviors match those of your existing and potential customers.
You identify, enlist, and reach out to these individuals to participate in a survey or research study. It’s the most crucial step, as the quality and relevance of the collected data heavily depend on the suitability and diversity of the participants.
Survey participant recruitment channels
Customer success teams, product teams, and marketers continue to use online surveys to improve their products or services. For example, 90% of marketers agreed to use them frequently to deliver what the audience desires.
To make these surveys happen and collect relevant data, using the right channels to recruit survey participants is crucial. And a blend of the following will help!
1. Existing customer panels
Customer panels refer to recruiting participants from your existing customer base. It’s one of the most straightforward ways of recruiting survey participants based entirely on the relationships you share with existing customers.
This method should be preferred, as customers who are already highly engaged with your brand will likely give insightful feedback to improve processes.
The feedback is not based on assumptions as they are the direct users of the product, and the given feedback can be directly applied to the brand’s product or service. Moreover, recruiting existing customers will cost you comparatively less than hiring new participants, and taking in their feedback will make them feel valued.
2. Survey user panels
User panels provide a pool of participants who you can recruit based on certain targeting criteria.
These survey panels consist of diverse and targeted participant groups, enhancing the scope and accuracy of survey results. And the best part? It’s not restricted to one country or region.
But how do you figure out the reliability of the collected responses? UXtweak’s post-study audits further test their authenticity and reliability. Therefore, investing in such survey panels ensures you extract the most reliable responses to bring some real change from your study.
3. Online communities
There are numerous online communities where individuals gather to share interests, experiences, and ideas. These active and engaged groups can provide valuable insights on various topics.
Platforms like Reddit, Facebook, LinkedIn, and others offer niche-specific discussions, making them ideal for recruiting survey participants interested in your particular area. You can try to reach out to the community members, post about your survey in the groups, and come up with other ways to engage these people in your research.
Don’t forget to mention that you offer incentives for their time, this will be a great motivation for them to give honest feedback.
4. Website pop-ups
If your target audience frequently visits your website, website pop-ups are an excellent channel for recruiting survey participants. Create pop-ups with a clear call-to-action button inviting visitors to share their views. Don’t bombard visitors with pop-ups the moment they enter.
Instead, design them to appear at appropriate times, such as after they’ve spent a certain amount of time on the site or engaged with specific content. This approach ensures that pop-ups are seen as helpful invitations rather than intrusive disruptions.
With the right incentive and perfect timing, you can increase the likelihood of participation. All you need to do is ask nicely.
UXtweak Onsite Recruiting Widget.
With UXtweak you can easily add such widget to your website and turn its visitors into survey participants. Learn more about Onsite Recruiting Widget and how to add it to your website.
5. Google Ads
Google ads are a great option if you need a highly specific audience that can provide valuable insights for your survey. You can create targeted ad campaigns aimed at users who are likely to be interested in your survey topic.
Ensure your ad copy is compelling and clearly highlights an incentive for users to participate in the survey. This way, you’ll attract the right participants and gather the insights you need.
6. Webinars
Hosting webinars related to your survey topic can be an effective way to recruit participants. You can introduce the survey during the webinar, explain its importance, and encourage attendees to participate. Moreover, you can provide a link to the survey in the webinar follow-up email for those who couldn’t attend live.
This way, you motivate the audience to participate in the survey while ensuring they learn something through the webinars. When followed by compelling incentives, this would ensure people can’t deny the offer of taking the survey.
Survey participant recruitment steps
Now that we know the right channels for survey participants recruitment, let’s look at the steps to begin the process:
1. Identify study objectives & scope
Start by defining the purpose of your survey and the specific insights you aim to gather. For instance, let’s say you want to start a fast-food restaurant. You conduct a survey to understand consumer preferences and purchase behaviors in the fast-food industry. That’s the objective of your survey.
Based on this objective, you will define the scope of the survey and gain clarity on your target audience, survey questions, duration of the survey, and other such aspects.
In this example, the scope could be:
Target participants: Adults aged 18-45 who frequently consume fast food.
Survey Questions: questions related to favorite fast-food chains, preferred menu items, frequency of visits, factors influencing restaurant choice, and satisfaction levels with customer service.
Duration: conducted over a period of four weeks to capture seasonal variations and trends.
Geographic scope: a nationwide survey conducted across major cities of the United States.
Insights: identify market trends, consumer preferences, and areas of improvement for fast-food chains to enhance customer satisfaction and loyalty.
Clarity on these aspects will ensure you target the right participants and extract insights that help in further decisions.
2. Define a target participant
Now that you have the insights you need to extract, the next step is to define the ideal survey participant. It’s crucial to define the ideal participant to maximize participation.
Studies have shown that even when the participant pool was large, only 3-20% of participants chose to participate. This happens when they can barely find the survey relevant to their interests.
That’s where you need to create a UX persona that defines everything about your ideal participant, from demographics, behaviors, goals, and pain points related to your survey topic. It should answer the following questions:
- Who is the participant? (demographics such as age, gender, location, occupation, and education level)
- What are the participant’s behaviors? (understanding their typical actions, routines, habits, and how they interact with products or services)
- What goals does the participant have? (knowing what the participant aims to achieve both generally and in relation to the survey)
- What challenges or pain points does the participant face? (the problems, frustrations, or obstacles relevant to your survey topic)
- What motivates the participant? (understanding the interests, values, and reasons for engaging with certain topics)
When you understand your participants’ backgrounds and motivations, you can design questions that resonate with them and elicit more detailed answers.
As these questions are highly relevant, the response rates increase significantly. Therefore, you gain a deep understanding of different subgroups in your target audience.
3. Select recruitment channels
Based on your study objectives and user persona, choose recruitment channels where you will most likely find your participants. This could include website pop-ups, google ads, email newsletters, webinars, etc.
For instance, if you are conducting a UX survey, tapping into your existing customer database will help.
Consider each channel’s reach, relevance, and cost-effectiveness in reaching your target audience. With the right mix of recruitment channels, you can maximize your chances of gathering meaningful data for your survey.
4. Ask for survey feedback
Once you’ve launched the survey and collected responses, ask participants for feedback on their survey experience. This step can provide valuable insights into how well the survey was received and identify areas for improvement. Here are some questions you can ask:
- Was the survey too long, too short, or just right in terms of length?
- Were there any questions that you found confusing or unclear?
- Did you encounter any difficulties while completing the survey?
- How would you rate your overall experience of taking the survey?
- Is there anything specific you would recommend changing or enhancing in future surveys?
Consider the answers and ensure you make the necessary improvements in the next survey. When you show your audience that you take their feedback seriously, they are likelier to engage with you in the future.
Common survey recruitment struggles
Let’s now address some common struggles faced while recruiting survey participants.
Failure to identify the target participants
It’s common for businesses to face challenges in finding the right participants for surveys. Sometimes, they also miss the mark on providing incentives that really grab people’s attention. When it comes to incentives, everyone’s got their own preferences.
Some folks love getting monetary rewards like gift cards, cash, or PayPal payments. Others find discounts on products or services pretty enticing, especially if they’re already fans of what you offer.
And if you’re introducing a new product or service, handing out free samples can be a real winner. It allows customers to try things out firsthand, creating an exclusive experience that’s hard to resist.
Privacy and data protection concerns
Privacy and data protection are crucial when it comes to any type of research, not just surveys. Some participants might be a bit wary about sharing personal information or opinions because they’re worried about how their data will be handled.
Before running a survey, take the time to choose a survey tool that takes privacy seriously and adheres to all the security standards, protecting the personal data of your participants.
UXtweak takes privacy concerns seriously and is always transparent about how the data is collected, stored, and used. The collected data is also stored securely using encryption and other advanced security measures to prevent unauthorized access or data breaches.
Participation fatigue
Participation fatigue happens when people get bombarded with too many survey requests, leading them to either ignore them or rush through, giving unreliable answers.
The survey needs to be straight to the point and only as long as absolutely necessary; otherwise, the data becomes less reliable because respondents are less likely to give thoughtful answers if they’re tired of a lengthy survey.
Recruitment costs
Recruitment costs can also be a major headache. Traditional methods of finding survey participants, such as hiring specialized agencies or using paid advertising, can be quite pricey and often don’t provide a good return on investment.
These methods can quickly drain your budget, especially when targeting a specific demographic or needing many respondents. That’s where platforms like UXtweak come in handy.
With UXtweak, you’re guaranteed the best price-to-value ratio for recruiting participants. You get a range of tools to make the process smooth, efficient, and budget-friendly.
Also read: UX Research Recruiting Tips from 19 UX Experts [+ Checklist] | UXtweak
5 tips to improve survey participant recruitment
If you face difficulty in increasing the number of participants in your survey, here are some tips that will help:
1. Combine recruitment channels
Using multiple recruitment channels is an excellent way to reach a broad and diverse participant group. Start by tapping into social media networks like Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, and Instagram to connect with different demographics.
Remember to use email campaigns to reach out to your existing customers or subscribers—they already have a relationship with your brand and are more likely to participate.
Here’s an example of how to send emails with enticing offers and compelling visuals. The 25% off on the next order will likely drive customers to take action.
You can also add website pop-ups and banners to catch the attention of visitors to your site. Online communities and forums relevant to your industry are another goldmine for finding relevant participants.
If working on everything manually seems like a hassle, you can also check our list of best research recruiting tools that will help!
2. Collaborate with influencers to promote the survey
Partner with influencers with a decent following within your target demographics. They already have the trust and attention of their audience, making them powerful allies in promoting your survey.
Once you identify influencers in your niche, reach out to them with a clear pitch about your survey and how it benefits their audience. They can also share the survey link in their posts, stories, or videos, adding a personal touch by explaining why the survey is important and encouraging their followers to participate.
Moreover, influencers can create engaging content around the survey topic to spark interest.
3. Use QR codes
When you want the maximum number of participants for your survey, convenience is the key. QR codes are an easy and convenient way for participants to access your survey using their smartphones.
Using a reliable QR code generator, generate a unique QR code for your survey. Then, strategically place these QR codes in various locations to maximize exposure.
For example, you can include QR codes on in-store posters, flyers, or product packaging to reach customers during their shopping experience. You can also print QR codes on receipts or business cards handed out at events or in physical stores.
Moreover, consider placing QR codes in high-traffic areas such as cafes, libraries, or public transportation hubs, where people have some downtime and might be more willing to participate.
4. Leverage customer service
Your customer service team interacts with your clients daily and can be a valuable resource for survey recruitment. They can inform customers about the survey during their interactions and encourage participation, particularly if they frame it as a way to improve customer service.
For example, when a customer calls in with a question or issue, the customer service representative can mention the survey at the end of the call. They might say something like,
“We really value your feedback and are always looking to improve. We have a short survey that takes just a few minutes, and we’d love to hear your thoughts. And there’s a chance to win a gift card towards the end!”
This approach feels personal and relevant because it’s coming from a trusted source during a genuine interaction. It also allows the representative to explain the purpose of the survey and any incentives directly, making it more likely that the customer will take the time to participate.
5. Use survey links in transactional emails
Transactional emails generally have high open rates as these are emails regarding order confirmations, shipping notifications, and post-purchase follow-ups. Remember that these emails are sent to customers who actively engage with your brand. Embedding a survey link here ensures that your survey reaches an audience that is already invested and likely to respond.
For example, in an order confirmation email, you could add a section at the bottom that says,
“We value your feedback! Please take a moment to complete our quick survey and let us know about your shopping experience. As a thank you, you’ll receive a discount on your next purchase.”
Such incentives will interest users in participating, especially if they are your regular shoppers.
Ready to recruit your survey participants?
Now that you are equipped with all the right strategies to boost your survey participant recruitment, it’s time to use tools that ease the process. If recruiting respondents is too hectic, you can easily access respondents from over 130 countries with UXtweak User Panel.
UXtweak’s User Panel delivers the exact number of respondents you request, with experts handling the quality of recruitment. The best part is that it comes with niche targeting, where they create a super-specific audience base according to your given criteria.
That’s not all; we also provide you with a Survey Tool to run your surveys and analyze data with ease.
Intrigued by the amount of workload you can delegate? Contact our sales team to know more! Or go ahead and give it a try right away ⬇️
