Recruiting difficult users
How to recruit difficult users — busy professionals, specific or sensitive users — more smoothly, on a tight budget and time constraint. Based on my experience recruiting users for design sprints.
I used to work at a design agency called AJ&Smart where I typically led user research on Sprints. I joined workshops to share my ideas, conduct user tests, gather feedback, summarise findings, present insights back to the group. But sometimes the hardest part of my job was finding users to test with on such a tight time frame. Particularly, when I had a user group of very busy experts or users who have sensitive characteristics like a medical condition.
Invisible until it’s going badly, is recruiting users can be stressful. Without much experience or anyone to give me advice, I really struggled the first time I had a difficult user group. Here’s how I approach recruiting users after learning the hard way!
Sprints we did at AJ&Smart were adapted from Google Ventures’ Design Sprints. I found Michael Margolis’s articles also extremely helpful to get started (he’s from Google Ventures). Also, the book Just enough research by Erika Hall.
1. Figure out your user and begin recruiting early!
Seek to understand, who am I recruiting and why? Start by talking to your client early on about who they want as their user to test with. Don’t hesitate to be pushy about finding this out early, as recruiting can take longer than expected. For example, Facebook ads can take hours to set up, because of the back and forth to get ads “approved”. And Facebook ads also tend to take 2–3 days to “warm-up” before you start getting results or know if they’re working. As with platforms like userinterviews.com, it takes a few days until you get users.
I recommend creating a pre-created database of questions ready to go. This allows you to build on past questions, rather than starting from scratch every time. You can set this up on google sheets or notion. There are two categories of information you will need from potential users. 1st) Customer Fit and 2nd) Logistic Info. As soon as you’ve contacted your client and have a rough idea of who your users could be — get started! You can narrow your recruits down later and adjust your screener. I said before it can take longer than expected; you’ll need as much time as you can get.
Here’s an example:
Say you’re testing an app for swimmers that will launch in Germany:
Customer Fit — what specific characteristics are we looking for?
I have set this up with questions I would like to know about the users I’m recruiting for, and the client's answers.
- Only swimmers?
Yes. - Does it matter how frequently they swim?
Yes, they need to swim a minimum of 2 times a week. - Are they part of a (swimming) club?
Yes, actively. - Do they swim for fun or competitively?
Doesn’t matter. - Track swimming using an app/device already?
They need to use something currently to track, like a FitBit or Smartwatch, we want to talk to at least two people who already do, and others who have considered it. - Gender?
Mixed, if possible. - Any other key characteristics?
Willing to pay for an app, own a smartphone. We want to talk to at least 2 “experts” who teach or run swimming classes.
Logistical info — How might I contact this user etc? (These tend to be standard and can be copied)
Age. Occupation. Contact number — (make this optional and specify this is only for contacting them for technical issues, not marketing). Email address. Access to a laptop/webcam (for the test). Any legal disclaimers, NDAs. Availability for the day. Timezone/Location. Etc.
Clients may not really have thought about why they’re recruiting for these people as users, so don’t hesitate to ask if you think it’s not clear. It will make more sense once you’ve started the sprint workshops, but remember — use all the time you’ve got and get started beforehand. Also, communicate back to the client who you’re recruiting and that you’ve started the process.
If you don’t recruit a truly representative sample that means you’ll be studying the wrong people. Studying the wrong people is a colossal waste of time and money that leads to useless conclusions and terrible decisions. And yet, many organizations study the wrong people because crappy recruiting seems easier than good recruiting.
Of the characteristics you’ve identified, decide what you need for the first screener (usually a survey) and what you can narrow down later. Maybe on a short 5 min call. You don’t want to make the screener too long in case you put people off completing it. Also, be up-front with how long the screener will be. e.g. 3 minutes (Typeform does this automatically but include it in the ad/description)
2. Now that we know who, let’s build a screener!
Start with a friendly but professional-looking info page. The page should outline what the project is about, make this approachable and upfront without making it obvious who you’re after. E.g. we’re looking for people who take part in sports. Again, I would recommend reading Just Enough Research by Erica Hall if you haven’t already, for further guidance.
Also, include a data disclaimer if this is relevant for your country.
Then on the next page get into the screener:
Say you’re testing an app for swimmers that will launch in Germany:
✅ In a typical month which of the following sports do you participate in?
Running | Cycling | Swimming | Walking/Hiking | Golf | Boxing | Skiing | Ice-hockey | Tennis | Basketball | Football | Other
Compared with a less great question:
⛔️ How often do you swim per month?
This is way too obvious we’re after swimmers! (unless this is better hidden within other questions, like how often do you run per month too)
(Doing a quick google will give you a list of sports common in Germany, but add in more believable options you think are missing.)
Continue with all of the characteristics you’re after.
Other tips on screeners
Think about visible pages and questions.
The first page of the screener should only include high-level questions, then if they are qualified on those you can add more specific, in-depth questions on other pages.
Ensure to connect the screener to Google Sheets (for better collaboration).
You can do this on most survey sites, including Typeform, Google Forms, and others. Having a spreadsheet means you can quickly see an overview of the people who have responded to your survey, and share this with other team members if necessary. Test it works before sharing your link.
3. How could you find them? What are their habits?
The basic ones that you should always set up (in top-down order):
- Ask your client.
If they have existing customers or a marketing list they can share with you — be sure to ask if you should approach them anonymously or say you’re working with your client. - A recruitment agency.
Provided it’s free or cheap to set up and have running in the background, you should always have this as a backup option. I like userinterviews.com. - Facebook ads.
You can target for interests, location, and more making your recruited users generally more organically the right fit. I would recommend asking someone in your network who’s familiar with Facebook ads how to set these up, as the setup and approval process is hard to navigate and changes frequently. (Hence why I didn’t include a how-to) - Posting on Facebook Groups and Meetups.
Make your post friendly, look at other posts that have high engagement, and try to replicate the same language and tone of image and post (even if they’re not aesthetically pleasing). Always include an image. Check the link works before posting. - Tap into your own network (as last resort), but ensure to avoid people who may give a bias.
Other more time-consuming ones which may be fruitful:
- ‘Snowballing’.
If you’re really desperate to find more people and you already have a good fit, you can ask them if they know someone else who is a good fit. - Calling organizations, professional associations, or support groups.
Cold calling organizations and asking for users or advice on how to find users have helped me find sensitive users, thanks to a support group organization I joined an intimate Facebook group and found 4/10 strong users from there. - Forums, or Reddit if relevant.
This is less relevant and more difficult to post on for example Reddit threads but you can try your luck or maybe find useful links on here. - LinkedIn Groups.
Depending on how active your group is on LinkedIn you could also try your luck here. I don’t recommend LinkedIn ads unless they are really relevant to you as these are expensive to set up. - Contacting directly people on LinkedIn.
It’s worth upgrading to premium if you are doing this but this tends to be extra time-consuming depending on how active your user group is on LinkedIn.
Other tips
Communicate with the client before you finalize the user.
So many times I had last-minute changes from the client on the users I recruited. Communicate early on any recruitment decisions you’ve made because last-minute changes are counterproductive. Create a paper trail (email updates or slack etc.) so you cut any mishaps, and advocate for yourself.
Use Skype’s phone number service.
If you’re calling from another country for technical issues or screening users use Skype phone number to call, it’s cheap and easy if you download the app to your phone.
You have a huge marketing list but don’t know what to do with it?
Write personalized messages to popular names — for example if there are 35 Marks, send them a personalized message with “Hi Mark,” to start off with, even add it in the subject line. BUT watch out to BCC everyone else so they can’t see this message was sent out all Marks on the list. You’re more likely to get a response if it’s personal and people are less creeped out if you give an explanation on how you found their email and who you’re interested in talking to.
Have backup users. Have backup users. Have backup users.
It’s very likely that users, especially sensitive users or experts may have to change or cancel their session. Expect this and be prepared, have backups (I have 2 generally if I’m after 5), and other allocated time slots available. Other things that might happen are noise issues, internet, or bad market fit.
Automate where you can.
Decide on an automatic streamlined booking system, by this I mean Calendly or You can book me. This isn’t always needed or necessary but it can save a lot of time and back and forth for you once you have a link set up. Include other times that might work, you can also automate other aspects of recruiting and scheduling like sending out NDAs.
Have a quick screening call.
A few days before the interview, try to have a 5–10 minute phone call (you can use a Skype phone number) or video call with each user to ensure they have a good connection, understand how the call will work, answer any questions, etc. This also gives you a chance to ask any further screening questions you may have and build rapport. The users are a lot more likely to show up if you’ve already talked to them before the call. Also, they will feel more comfortable, and if they’re busy people, more likely to not cancel on you. Sometimes it might be tempting to skip this call but it really helps to minimize mishaps that may happen on the day.
Build context and rapport before getting into the prototype.
At the start of the interview, spend 5–10 minutes gathering contextual information and building rapport with the user. You want to client and you to understand and hear in their own words what the user’s experience/background is. Also, how they are currently solving problems that your product might explore. Google Ventures has a really good YouTube video on this.
In the room, you’re just the researcher.
Even if you were the designer on this project or led it, when you are in the room it’s important to tell the user you’re only the researcher. ‘I’ve only been brought into the project as an external researcher, I had nothing to do with the design… you will not be hurting my feelings… I’m after honest feedback… don’t hold back’.
Research questions are not interview questions.
For further guidance read this!
Set expectations, incentives, and be honest-ish!
Before you start getting participants, you’ll need to make some things clear; incentives and disclaimers.
We offered a $60 gift card for customers or a $100 gift card for professional customer interviews. Be sure to also frame the ‘chat’ as a sneak peek at new technology and an opportunity to voice their opinions to better their industry. Or ask if there’s some other payment which would be more relevant to them, maybe donations.
Customers and professionals are cautious about sharing confidential or personal information with you. Make it clear you’re not selling them anything and not going to use their information for personal gain. Mentioning how this research or product might better their experience or their industry in the future helps too. Explain your goals and the things you’re interested in. Say that your job is to better understand the user group and improve experiences.
Good luck, and get started!
User recruitment and testing can be tedious and time-consuming, but getting feedback is completely worth it. It can be painful to find the right professionals or sensitive users but their insights are often the most helpful and rewarding. You can do it, it gets easier by practice, and trust me — start early and communicate with your team!
