Researchers often ask us what their participants will experience when taking part in a study on Recruit. In a Recruit project, your participants are recruited from User Interviews' audience. Anyone who completes your screener survey will be available for your consideration. Here’s what the participant experience looks like from start to finish, from initial sign up and approval all the way through to redeeming incentives.
The following example walks through a moderated study from the point of view of your participants. If you’re interested in seeing what an unmoderated study looks like, scroll to the bottom of this support guide for a quick overview of key differences.
Step 1: 💌 Getting invited to the study
Participants who match your characteristic requirements may receive an invitation via email to apply to your study. Participants may also apply through our browse active studies page, links shared with them by friends/family, or through our marketing campaigns, email newsletters, or any type of customer communication. Keep in mind this is the first interaction participants will have with your study. Below is an example of what one of those emails might look like.
Step 2: 📝 Filling out the screener survey
Once a user clicks on the link to apply to your study, they will be required to complete your screener survey. This will provide more specific information about whether or not the participant is a good fit for your study. The following example is short and sweet, but you can add as many questions, pages and as much logic as you need.
After completing the screener, participants will arrive at a page confirming that their responses have been submitted.
They will also receive an email letting them know that their application was completed, which looks like this:
Step 3: 📆 Getting approved and scheduling a session
As you review candidates in your workspace, you’ll be asked to click 'Approve & invite' for each participant you want to invite to confirm a spot in your study. The candidate will receive an email inviting them to sign up. Keep in mind that an approved candidate is not a confirmed participant. They must follow the steps provided to them to confirm their spot.
Here’s what the email for approved participants looks like:
From the approval email, candidates will be walked through the scheduling process, during which they must reconfirm they understand important study details. To confirm a specific time for a 1:1 interview, focus group, or multi-day study, they can choose time slots that they are available to participate.
Participants can choose from any of the open sessions available, or indicate that none of the times work for them. For 1:1 interviews, participants who select "None of these times work" will be able to propose up to 5 alternate session times.
For any project type, participants who select "None of these times work" will be automatically notified if you add new sessions or another participant drops out. Once they select a time, they’ll arrive at a page confirming their booking—and you’ll receive an email with their details.
Step 4: 🔔 Receiving confirmations and reminders
Once a participant has elected to be part of your study by confirming their spot, they will receive a confirmation email that includes any additional details you have provided. For online studies, participants will also see the online meeting link if you provided one in the "Default location" field, added a custom location to the session, or have Zoom generating unique links on the project.
It's important that, as a researcher, you update your instructions for confirmed participants within your workspace before approving people to ensure they are receiving the most accurate information at the time of signup.
24 hours before their scheduled session, participants will also receive a reminder email reiterating the key information they need to know to successfully participate in the study.
Step 5: 💰 Redeeming an incentive upon completion
The final step, of course, is participating in your study! After a session is completed, you’ll be prompted to mark participation in the system. At this point, if you have asked us to distribute incentives, these will be sent out automatically once you mark a participant 'Completed'. In this case, we’ll handle any questions about payment as we record all gift codes we send on the participant profile. If you are distributing incentive payments, be sure to send them within 10 business days of each session you held. Any questions about payment will be directed to your team via email.
🙋 Read why people like participating on User Interviews.
How does the participant experience differ for an unmoderated study?
Our unmoderated study experience has been adapted to be simple for participants and hands-off for researchers. We call it “smart flow”, because regardless of how you set up your study, the participant experience will automatically flex to accommodate the customizations you’ve selected!
Some unmoderated studies are simple. Others need manual reviews, careful screening, or document signing. Let's walk through a couple of examples.
Simple unmoderated flow
In a simple study where you have only the required screener, your participants can go directly from invite to screener, and go straight to the task as soon as they are approved.
More complex unmoderated flow
In a more complex study where you have a screener survey, you’re doing manual approvals, and you require a document to be signed, we can handle that too! Simply make your selections in the project builder, and our participant communication will flex up to accommodate.
