When sourcing participants for market research and usability testing there are a number of avenues you can take throughout the recruitment process. One of them is the famous customer list.

If working in usability and recruiting yourself for a small project, you may call upon friends or family to test your user experience (UX). However, most projects have specific briefs and strict criteria; no doubt your pool of contacts will run out very quickly. Further, you’ll also want fresh and relevant participants to validate your work.

“Friends and family can be great if you want a second pair of eyes, but for more serious testing it is best practice to recruit participants who have no relation to the tester or the study.”

So chances are, if you conduct research regularly (usability / fieldwork agency / market research), you will probably turn to a professional recruiter. They will have either a database of respondents at their disposal or a team of recruiters who approach members of the public.

Other methods at your disposal include social networks (LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook, etc.), forums, online advertising (e.g. Gumtree, Facebook), networking with community groups, support groups, social clubs. The methods employed will often depend on your criteria and the type of participant you need, as well as if you get a customer list to recruit from. A good recruiter will discuss their proposed methods with you when they receive the brief.

Recruiting from a customer list

Clients may also offer customer data (list of customers, enquirers, potential customers). Customer lists can be a great resource when recruiting a niche market or to a specific brief, but successful recruitment relies heavily on the quality of the list itself and how you handle it.

☑️  Pros | The major benefit in getting your hands on list data is that you have a relevant pool of potential participants from which to recruit – this can save a project from near death if you are hunting down an elusive “golden fleece”. If a list is good, you should be able to hit quota easily.

☑️  Cons | List recruitment is a huge time thief. The process is often laborious and you have to work hard to get results. Data supplied can be poor – missing mobile numbers, email addresses with missing letters, etc. Data can be old and no longer relevant, or the lists supplied may be too large or too small.

☑️  What makes list work easy | A good list should include names, telephone numbers, email addresses and as much relevant information to your criteria as possible (e.g. previous customer, potential customer, products purchased, etc.). This allows you to get in touch with the more relevant participants easily.

☑️  How big should a list be | In terms of numbers, you really want as a minimum 30:1. 60:1 would be ideal. A list with only 100 names may not glean results if you need 10 participants. Conversely, a list of 5,000 is overkill. That said, the topic of discussion, incentive offered and time slots available all have a bearing on the recruitment success.

☑️  Keep control of your list | You need to handle your list well to make the most of it. Decide before you begin recruiting which approach you are going to take. Call, email or post? Today, it is rare to get lists with B2C home addresses on – emails are far more common and much more useful, especially if trying to get a quick turnaround. At People for Research, we opt for an email invite in the first instance and then call all the warm responses. If this fails, we’ll cold call as a second approach. We’d advise to always push for mobile numbers and email addresses in customer lists.

☑️  Be methodical | Analyse your data, where possible filter the results and work through the list methodically. Annotate your list document. Mark on it clearly who you have tried to call (include date and or time), who you have recruited and who has said no. If you need to pass the list to a colleague, the notes will allow them to pick up the baton easily. Clients often ask for progress reports, so if you annotate as you go along, the data is ready and waiting. Still, customer list recruitment can be boring! Try and cover the ground quickly. Call or leave a message; if not available, move on to the next number.

☑️  Make your calls count | Think about what you want to say before you pick up the phone. A rigid script is likely to sound robotic and will no doubt put people off. Write a rough outline of how you are going to pitch the research and use it as a guide. This is not a sales call – be yourself, professional, friendly and relaxed. Be clear and concise in your introduction (a good introduction should be no more than a minute), you need to grab their attention in the first 20-30 seconds. Always ask to the participant if it is ok for them to talk – you don’t know where they are or what they are doing. A small courtesy goes a long way when trying to secure someone’s air time.

☑️  Email invites | Getting in touch by email first is a good way of collecting warm (interested) participants. Like your calls, make the email count. Introduce yourself, be clear how you obtained their details, provide full and accurate information about the research (date, time, type of research, topic of discussion incentive offered, call to action). Keep it professional and to the point; use first names where possible. If emailing an invite, it is good practice to get your client to sign it off and if possible the end client too, when you have one. That way everyone is aware of the information you are circulating and if a customer queries it with the end client, everyone is in the loop.

☑️  Verification | In your introduction make sure you clearly inform the customer who you are, who you are calling on behalf of, brief detail about the research and what benefits there are to the customer (incentive, contributing to a project, etc.) People may query who you are and how you got their number. If possible, it is useful to have a representative of the end client who can be contacted directly by those on the list to verify the research is kosher.

☑️  Follow up | Once you have booked a participant, ensure you send them an email confirmation with all the details (we also send a reminder email and give them a call on the day to confirm they are still ok to attend).

☑️  Data protection | It goes without saying that you should handle the data in your customer list in accordance to the Data Protection Act (like we do at People for Research). If unsure about anything, check this link.

If you follow these guidelines, your customer list work should not only be easier, but successful. Happy recruiting!

If you would like to find out more about our in-house participant recruitment service for user testing or market research get in touch on 0117 921 0008 or info@peopleforresearch.co.uk.

At People for Research, we recruit participants for UX and usability testing and market research. We work with award winning UX agencies across the UK and partner up with a number of end clients who are leading the way with in-house user experience and insight.