How to recruit user research participants?
Hubble has continued to acquire new customers in the past months and one of the core topics that continues to come up when we help them get started on their user research projects is participant recruitment. Regardless of what research you are running, teams need to ideate on effective strategies to recruit study participant so that the research results can be valuable and effective to establish the strategic direction of a product.
However, recruiting participants for research can be a daunting task, especially if you don’t know where to start. Based on some of the insights that we have gathered through our community members, we put together a blog post to summarize some of the best tips for recruiting UX research participants.
Define your target audience
Before you start recruiting participants, it’s essential to define your target audience. Who are the users you want to study? What are their demographic and psychographic characteristics? What are their needs, goals, and pain points? Answering these questions will help you create a screening questionnaire that will help you find the right participants for your research study. The better your screener survey, the more impactful your results and responses can be.
Determine your recruitment method
There are many ways to recruit participants for UX research, including online and offline methods. Some of these methods can be more effective for certain product categories than others but here are a few widely used options:
- Social media: You can post your research study on social media platforms such as Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn. You can also use hashtags to make it easier for people to find your study.
- User research platforms: There are many online platforms that help you recruit participants for UX research. Some popular options include UserTesting, UserZoom, and User Interviews. If you are a Hubble user, you can recruit participants through our integrations with User Interviews and Repondent.io.
- Internal user pools: If you have an email list of potential participants, you can send them a recruitment email asking if they’re interested in participating in your study.
- In-person recruitment: You can also recruit participants in person by going to events, conferences, and other gatherings where your target audience is likely to be. This can be more time consuming than other methodologies but works nicely if you are looking to engage in deeper conversational research.
Use a screening questionnaire
Once you’ve determined your recruitment method, it’s time to create a screening questionnaire. This questionnaire should ask participants about their demographic and psychographic characteristics, as well as their experience with your product or similar products. You should also ask them about their availability, their motivation for participating, and any incentives they would like to receive. If you will require screen recording or any specific device testing, make sure you ask the right questions to determine if the participant has the right access to the required hardware.
Offer incentives to maximize velocity
Offering incentives is a great way to motivate people to participate in your UX research study. Incentives can include gift cards, discounts, or other rewards. Make sure that the incentive you offer is appropriate for the amount of time and effort required for the participant. The incentive amounts can vary depending on the market or the product you are working on, if you’re asking participants to complete a one-hour interview, a $50 gift card will likely be close to industry average. We cannot emphasize enough that offering the right incentives can create much more powerful engagement and completion rates from your target users.
Be transparent about the research process
It’s essential to be transparent about the research process with your participants. This means explaining what the study is about, how their data will be used, and how long the study will take. You should also explain any risks or discomfort that participants may experience during the study. Being transparent helps build trust with your participants and encourages them to be honest and open during the research process.
Use a consent form or an NDA as needed
If you are going to display unreleased designs or proprietary data to your testers, you should have participants sign a consent form. This form should explain the purpose of the study, what participants will be asked to do, and how their data will be used. It should also explain any risks or discomfort that participants may experience during the study. Having participants sign a consent form ensures that they understand what they’re getting into and that they’re comfortable with the research process. Please consult your legal team and check if there are any templates and context that is used as a standard.
Keep track of your participants
Once you’ve recruited participants for your UX research study, it’s important to keep track of them. This means keeping a record of their contact information, their availability, and any incentives they’re due to receive. It’s also important to follow up with participants before and after the study to ensure that they’re still able to participate and that they’ve received their incentive.
Respect your participants’ time
Finally, it’s important to respect your participants’ time. This means making sure that the study is scheduled at a time that is reasonable for the tester. At the end of the day, no one likes to interact with rude people. Your participants will provide you their best insights if you treat them with respect and gratitude.
There is plenty more that we haven’t covered, but this post should serve as a great foundation for anyone to get started with their participant recruitment for their projects. If you run into any trouble or feel lost during this process, our team is more than happy to assist whether it be on the recruitment operations or crafting screening surveys or unmoderated tests. If you have any questions on the above feel free to post it up on our community or contact us as hello@hubble.team
