Find participants for market research
Find participants for market research
1. Determine the goal of the market research study.
Starting with the main goal in mind will help you search for the right participants to conduct the market research. For example, if the goal of the market research is to test the demand for a new product among your current customer base, then you can see how the goal influences the specific participants that will be needed to represent it accurately.
2. Define a target audience that aligns with your market research goal, specifying characteristics like gender, age range, personal or professional interests, location, and occupation.
Your target audience will act as a blueprint for the representative participants you need to find for your market research to be as accurate as possible.
3. Begin your search for participants in your personal network.
If there are friends or family in your personal network that align with the target audience you’re looking to recruit, this can be a good place to start. Be cautious with adding too many people you know personally to a research study because it can bias your results.
4. Search for participants on online forums and communities.
Websites like Reddit can be a great place to find niche groups of people because their site is already organized by Subreddit categories, where you can find people who are interested in a certain thing, relate to a specific topic, work in a particular industry, relate to a similar experience, and more. Be sure to check each forum’s specific rules or terms of use to make sure you’re not violating any by trying to recruit research participants.
5. Search for participants on social media platforms and groups.
Facebook and LinkedIn groups are another great example of places to find specific types of people online. Consider joining a few groups and engaging with the other members organically before mentioning your market research study.
6. Use paid social media ads to reach the demographic you're looking for and attract interested participants.
You can narrow down who will see the ad based on certain qualities such as age, gender, location, occupation, and even interests and hobbies. Include a link to a form so that you can pre-screen the participants before reaching out to them directly.
7. Reach out to your email subscribers to find interested and qualified recruits.
People who are already customers of your brand or have visited your website in the past can offer valuable insights into the overall goal of your market research study. Using segmented lists can be a good way to go about this, because you can get more specific with the group you’re reaching out to.
8. Add an attractive incentive such as a gift card or discount on the customer’s next purchase to reward their participation in your research.
This can be an effective method for recruiting participants because it gives people a reason to participate that directly benefits them. Another example for this would be hosting a contest or giveaway, where the only requirement to enter is completing the survey.
9. Recruit more participants than you think you need in case some are not able to attend your study or complete your survey on the day.
You don’t want to end up with too few participants for your market research, so it’s a good idea to over-recruit just to be safe. Suddenly being short a few people on the day because not all of your recruits showed up can skew the results of your research.