Finding and Engaging User Research Participants

I’ve heard this statement from almost every product team I’ve spoken with: “Finding participants for our studies is the hardest part of user research.” And I agree with their sentiment. With so many distractions and priorities in our lives, it’s difficult to find qualified individuals who are willing to commit the time to participate in a 30- or 60-minute interview. In this post, we’ll explore strategies to help you effectively find, communicate, and engage with user research participants. Whether you're a seasoned expert in the field or just starting to dip your toes into user research, this blog is designed to give you practical advice to improve your research efforts.

I’ll share templates and examples of how to successfully reached out to your target user research participants. While our focus at Perceptional is AI-moderated user interviews, these strategies and examples are suitable for product teams regardless of your user research method. Let’s jump into this post's two main topics: 1) how to find user research participants, and 2) how to reach out to user research participants (with examples + templates).

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How to find user research participants?

As you begin creating your user research plan, one of the earliest steps is to consider who you will be reaching out to. The participants you want to recruit for your user research should have a clear persona - a specific demographic, have applicable life or work experience, etc. This set of participants should have unique insights (that you are seeking) which will allow you to dive deeper into your user research. 

It’s best to be as specific as possible when considering target participants for your user research. However, that will likely be dictated by the area you are researching. Some things to consider: 

• If you’re developing a B2C concept that targets a broad audience, you may need to drill down further into specific demographic or psychographic traits (i.e. people within a certain age that possess certain interests, values, etc.).
• If you are seeking feedback about your existing product, the target participants would have to be existing users of your product. This could include users of specific features, power-users, churned users, etc.
• If you are developing a B2B application, you are often targeting individuals with a certain job title that work at a company that has certain characteristics (i.e. Market Researchers in Consumer Packaged Goods companies with 500+ employees).

Finding participants for your user research can be a daunting task. However, I like to remind product teams that these participants could very well be future customers. So you can always think about this as a way to both conduct product research while planting the seed for future sales interactions.

Once you define your target participants, you can create a spreadsheet (or feel free to copy this Google Sheets template) to fill in their contact information. It’s important to keep track of the engagement with each contact - emailed, responded, scheduled interview, completed interview - as it will help you get a sense of your conversion rate at each stage. By tracking conversion at each step, you can identify areas where you can improve. For example, you may be scheduling interviews but not completing them due to no-shows; you would then be able to address this by creating a reminder email with the ability to reschedule that goes out before the interview or immediately after a missed appointment.

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Go-to platforms to find participants

For the purpose of this post, I’ll focus this section on B2B targeting (if you’re conducting user interviews that involve B2C targeting and want tips on finding participants, be sure to reach out). The three main ways I like to find participants are:

LinkedIn

Linkedin should be your first go-to platform for finding participants for your research. Linkedin has powerful filtering tools that allow you to search for people within and beyond your network based on job titles, education, keywords, and much more. I recommend contacting both individuals within your network (1st and 2nd degree connections) and those outside it (3rd+ degree connections). Reaching out to "cold" leads is crucial because they can offer unbiased and honest feedback during interviews. In contrast, your direct connections might be unconsciously biased, as they naturally want you to succeed and may avoid giving completely honest feedback.

When doing cold outreach on Linkedin, I suggest sending a custom note when making a connection request or having a message template ready for when the connection is accepted. Currently, the Linkedin free plan only allows you to send 5 custom notes per month when sending connection requests. You can subscribe to Premium to send an unlimited number of custom notes.

I’ve included a template in the next section for a custom note when sending Linkedin connection requests. I’ve had a solid 30-50% response rate from that message. The key is to keep the message meaningful and brief while explaining why you are reaching out to them in particular.

Consider using Copilot AI’s Chrome extension when identifying participants on Linkedin. It will give you insights on that contact’s communication style which may help you craft your outreach.

Sales Intelligence Platforms

Your next step is to use a sales intelligence platform like Apollo.io to find potential participants. Apollo has more advanced filtering options compared to Linkedin which allow you to get more granular with targeting. Even with their free plan, Apollo provides you with basic filtering and unlimited access to email addresses.

Participant Recruiting Platforms

If you’re feeling stuck or need to recruit participants quickly, you can rely on participant recruitment platforms. These platforms have hundreds of thousands of pre-vetted active participants. This ensures you can find the right participants and get responses quickly.

Depending on the platform and your audience, participant recruitment platforms could be quite costly. However, it’s often worthwhile if you were to consider all the manual effort needed to find participants outside of these platforms.

For B2B use cases, platforms like UserInterviews.com and Respondent.io are industry leaders. For broader audiences or B2C participants, you can explore platforms like Prolific. Our customers have had great success using participant recruitment platforms in conjunction with Perceptional. 

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How to reach out to user research participants? (with templates + examples)

Now that you’ve created a spreadsheet that includes all your target participants and their contact information, you can move on to creating your outreach. I’ve included a variety of examples and broken them down into different categories. This will give you an idea of how our customers at Perceptional easily fit it into their existing outreach flow.

1. Response Type: AI-moderated user interview; 1-on-1 user interview; online survey
2. Outreach Type: Email; Linkedin Message; Newsletter
3. Incentive: None; Incentive (cash or credit); Prize (draw); Other

Participant Outreach Templates & Examples

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LinkedIn Connection Note

Hi [name], I am a startup founder at the early stages of exploring an idea related to [1-sentence describing the problem space]. I would love to discuss the problem space with you and get your insights given your expertise in [industry].

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I’ve had success using this LinkedIn connection note with a 30-50% response rate after accepting the connection.

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Survey

Company: FinTech, Type: Newsletter, Incentive: Prize

Thanks for being part of the online community who help to build a better business banking experience with [company name].

As a business leader and our client, we value your thoughts on the solutions we’re working on for Business clients.

Share your opinion through this survey; it should take approximately 3 minutes and will be available until [time, date].

* In appreciation of you taking the time to participate in this study, you will have the opportunity to be entered in quarterly draws for a chance to win 1 of 3 cash prizes worth a total of $1,500.

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1:1 User Interview

Company: Research Software, Type: Email, Incentive: None

Hi [name],

Thank you for using [product]! I love our product and company so much, and I’m so appreciative to users like you for helping us grow.

On that note, would you be up for a short 1:1 conversation with me?
I’m curious how you found [product] and what sort of problems we help you solve. If you’re open to it, you can schedule time directly on my calendar. Excited to connect!

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Survey to Qualify 1:1 User Interview

Company: Sales Enablement, Type: Email, Incentive: Incentive (cash or credit)

Hi [name],

We're working to improve [platform feature], and we want to learn about your experience with it so far. If you would like to share your feedback with us, please click here or use the link below to complete a quick, 2-minute survey.

We also want to hear from you directly! After completing the survey, you will be invited to participate in a paid ($100 e-gift card), 30-minute Zoom interview. Thank you for being a [company name] user, and we hope to hear from you!

PS. We will close the survey after a set number of responses. If you can no longer take the survey, it’s likely because our fielding has ended. We will keep you in mind for future studies!

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1:1 Conversation or Online Survey

Company: Marketplace SaaS, Type: Email, Incentive: Incentive (cash or credit); Prize (draw)

Hi there,

I’m [name], Founder at [company] - a platform that [company description]. First off, thank you for signing up on our website to learn more about our product!

I am reaching out to a select number of people to get their first impressions. It would be super helpful for us if you can provide some insights about [product area].

Option 1. Schedule a 15-minute call to answer some questions about [product area]. Reward 🎁: You will receive a $15 Starbucks or Amazon gift card after the call.

• Link to schedule a call

Option 2. Complete this online survey at your convenience (5 minutes). Reward 🎁: You will be entered into a draw to win a $15 gift card (Starbucks or Amazon). 

• Link to complete survey

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AI-moderated user interview in welcome email

Company: Research Software, Type: Welcome Email, Incentive: None

Hi there,

[your name] here, the Founder of [company] - and I'm thrilled to have you onboard!

[company] is designed to help you [value proposition].

I'd love to hear from you directly! If you have any feedback, questions, feature suggestions, or require support, please respond to this email.

And if you have 2 minutes, I invite you to participate in an AI-moderated interview. It's a quick and engaging way to share your experience with us so far.

Thank you,

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AI-moderated user interview OR Survey

Company: CPG, Type: Newsletter, Incentive: Other (discount code)

We’ve created a survey and an AI-moderated user interview that you can take by yourself, no microphone or camera needed… just a keyboard to type out your answers. The survey and interview take approximately 8 minutes to complete. Plus, there’s a discount code for 30% OFF your next order at the end. We recommend only completing one of the two options below.

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1-on-1 Interview OR AI-moderated User Interview

Company: Marketplace, Type: Email, Incentive: Incentive (cash or credit); Other (access to industry research and results summary)

Hi [name],

It’s a pleasure connecting with you! I'm a Vancouver-based venture founder in the early stages of conducting research to develop innovative solutions for [industry]. Given your expertise in the industry, your insights would be incredibly valuable to our study.

We're offering two ways for you to participate:

Schedule a call: [link to calendar]

• This is a 30 minute call; receive $30 for your time for the first 15 participants

Complete an AI-powered conversational survey: [link to Perceptional]

• This is a ~7 minute online questionnaire; complete at your own time

As a thank you for participating, you'll receive a summary of the study results, providing valuable insights into the state of [industry].

Thank you in advance for your time and input.

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Conclusion

Mastering the art of finding and reaching out to the right participants is more than just a step in the research process; it's a critical component of your overall strategy to build products that people love. Remember, each interaction with a potential respondent is not just about gathering data; it’s an opportunity to build a relationship that could convert participants into customers or passionate advocates for your company. 

By leveraging the tools and platforms mentioned, such as LinkedIn, Apollo.io, and various participant recruiting platforms, you can equip yourself with the resources needed to streamline your outreach and improve response rates. Keep these tips and templates in mind as you head off on your journey of user research and discovery, and never underestimate the power of well-executed user research to inform and inspire your product decisions.

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As you work on your research plan, consider the benefits of incorporating AI-moderated user interviews into your research strategy. Perceptional not only enhances efficiency but also ensures no critical insight is overlooked. Our customers have been able to speed up their product research by 10x with automated conversations and results analysis while collecting 5x more in-depth insights than online surveys. Want to learn more? Visit the Perceptional homepage to learn more and give it a try.