Our top tips to recruit participants over the holidays

If you are planning to recruit people for user research in the coming weeks, here are some tips from the PFR team.

In the lead-up to the end-of-the-year festive period, the workload at People for Research ramps up as some clients rush to get user research done before the holidays or fully recruited and ready to go in the new year. Although people are more receptive than ever to the idea of receiving an incentive for their feedback at this time of the year, this doesn’t mean that recruiting participants around the holidays comes without its challenges.

It is essential to remember that, during this period, participants’ workloads and personal lives are likely to be busier than usual, and a lot of people will take time off at this time of the year to focus on their family or plan the festivities.

If you are planning to recruit participants in the coming weeks, here are some tips from the PFR team to ensure that you have the best chance of testing your product or service with the most suitable participants.

📋 He’s making a list, he’s checking it twice

Generally speaking, the week of Christmas is a no-go, and the same goes for the week between Christmas and New Year. Unsurprisingly, we have found in past years that people stop answering their phones and don’t return calls after the 22nd/23rd December. So take note, and make sure you steer clear of these dates.

If it is essential to your project’s deadlines to conduct research before the festive period, then take a look at the calendar and check your dates don’t fall too close to this period.

😈 He’s going to find out who’s been naughty and nice

If you choose to run testing or research after the 20th December, then just remember that you will be restricted to the smaller group of people that are willing to give up their valuable time so close to the holidays.

Not only will the participant recruitment be trickier, but there is a higher chance of people dropping out on the day of the research.

Although there are some people who will be happy to get a little extra cash just before Christmas, be prepared for the drop-outs. Our suggestion is to over-recruit by 10% if it is essential to speak to a specific number of participants.

🎅🏽 Santa Claus is coming to town

After Christmas day has happened, celebrations tend to continue up until New Year’s Eve, so, in a way, it is like Santa Claus stays in town for a week. If you are planning to run your user research sessions after the festive period, we recommend waiting until at least the second week of the new year.

This gives you enough time to reengage your participants (if you recruited them before the holidays) and make sure they can still attend the research, replace any drop-outs as there is a chance people’s availability may change after the festive period, and do some final user recruitment or preparation work.

🎁 Extra tips

We asked our team what other advice they could share to help make user recruitment and user research easier during this time of the year. Here are some additional tips:

• If possible, run your research remotely instead of in-person, as this will definitely boost your engagement and keep your drop-out rate lower.
• Try and offer as much flexibility as possible to your participants around dates and session times.
• If running in-person research and you are running your sessions in a central location, remind your participants to allow for additional travel time because town centres and shopping areas will be busier than normal.
• Offer a slightly higher incentive than normal, if you can. At such an expensive time of the year, this could make the difference. If you are unsure how much to offer to your participants, we recently published an article with useful advice.
• Adjust your recruitment content and lead with the incentive as a way to make extra money for the holidays.

If you need help with user recruitment around the holidays (or at any other time of the year) or need advice on how to plan your research around the holidays, get in touch with the People for Research team.