How to get people to take your survey
Who are we?
This is Alexandria.
She really likes sour beers and wants you like em too. Also, she’s been doing concept validation and development last 5+ years.
(She goes by Ali)
This is Tzeying.
She can’t stand sour beers. Also, she been doing UX strategy, design and research for the last decade. 👵🏻
Together they built Bellini Slushie, a survey design toolkit.
It is important you know how we feel about sour beers because Bellini Slushie is named after a sour beer.
How to get people to take your survey
So, you built a survey...
Now what?
I have like
50 followers…
You have 50 followers and they include your dog and your mum. They’ll definitely do your survey… but you need to hear from the actual market.
Obviously you just need to gain 50,000+ followers overnight. Each of which will be the perfect target market for your survey. Duh!
So how can we get people to take our survey :(
Pay some money,
make it rain
💵 Pay some money, make it rain
There are millions out there, from boutique research firms to the large players. They can recruit participants down to the specific length of hair.
But if that was a highly available option for you, you’d probably won't be here. It can take time to find the right recruiting firm, and paying for recruitment can be costly.
So we’re going to spend the next ~45 minutes speaking to you about how to recruit survey participants.
Pay an agency to recruit participants for you
💵 Pay some money, make it rain
Most people do not enjoy taking surveys.
You should always pay your participants, one way or another.
Let’s talk about
recruiting
Let’s talk about recruiting
Where do I find me some survey takers?
Unfortunately, you can’t just pick any random bloke off the streets to take your survey.
You can’t answer a survey about driving if you don’t even have a driving license.
(You could, but the answers would not be useful by any stretch.)
Also, just because a person is willing to take your survey, it doesn’t mean they’re the right person to.
You need to identify your target audience (for your survey).
Once you know who you’re looking for, it’s just about brainstorming where they hang out:
To figure where you should be recruiting, think through the following questions:
The ‘why’ is really important here. Biased sampling is a big big problem when it comes to recruiting.
Inferences from a biased sample are not as trustworthy as conclusions from a truly random sample.
A sampling method is called biased if it systematically favors some outcomes over others.
A random sample of landline numbers would inherently exclude consumers who don’t have landlines. �
Depending on your niche, the answers to those questions could be very, very different.
Let’s talk about recruiting
It’s definitely not going to be easy.
Two keys to scrappy recruiting: persistence and diversification.
You need to post in multiple places at once and continuously monitor and interact with each of your posts. If you’re not seeing responses, then you need to find new channels to target. This process will repeat until you’re done.
Imagine yourself as a door-to-door salesman
You can’t just stop after the first rejection, or even the tenth. At least in this scenario, no one is slamming doors on you or chasing you off with a broom. At worst, your post is deleted or you’re ignored. At best, you get way too many responses.
If it’s extremely difficult to recruit, it could definitely be a sign of poor PMF.
Let’s talk about recruiting
Let’s talk about recruiting
Always try to integrate and provide value to communities.
Follow the rules
When joining any communities, read the rules. Private communities take them very seriously.
Many places may even have a “no soliciting or survey posting” rule. If you try and just post a survey in these places, your post will be deleted.
It’s not all a loss. Having proper conversations with these communities can still be incredibly insightful.
Become part of the community
In most cases, if you just post a link with something like “I’m doing X, fill out my survey” - you’re going to be ignored or kicked out. Reddit is a prime example of this - people get downvoted to hell because they aren’t bringing any value.
Instead, assimilate. Speak their language. Make them feel like they’re part of the journey.
Just don’t be an asshole
Seems like common sense, but it's not. Be respectful of other people’s communities - you are the intruder here, and they have no reason to interact with you if you don’t offer the same courtesy.
So where �should I recruit?
In most cases, you can find participants online.
So where should I recruit?
So where should I recruit online?
Forums
In certain niches, forums may look like 1999 internet. But these old school communities are great places to look for people who are “fanatic” about a topic.
Looking for amateur beekeepers? There are definitely forums where communities are built around helping each other out with the intricacies of running a beehive from your apartment.
Looking for gamers? There are many game specific forums and general gaming forums for you to choose from.
How should I act in forums?
Examples of forums:
These are often tight-knit communities. They don’t like outsiders to pop in just to make money off them or make them take a survey.
Regardless of how the shape of the forum looks, walks, talks like, the logic is the same.
The only way you’re getting anything out of them, is to become part of the community. Socialize and understand what makes them tick, then and only then would your request for taking a survey not seem random and exploitative.
Follow the rules of the forum. If they say no surveys - don’t post surveys! Interact and chat instead..
So where should I recruit online?
Social Media
Short term: hunt for people on social media.
Find your participants on various social media platforms and interact with them there.
Join a social media community create a post, reply to people posting about your topic, etc.
Long term: build a following on social media
This takes A LOT of time and effort obviously. But if you are building a product and this is a long-term project for you, there is no harm.
There are many examples of “building a community” as a marketing strategy. NomadList is a seminal example.
How should I act on social media?
Examples of social media:
Not all social media is the same, and not everyone on social media is the same. For example, Facebook vs Twitter and Discord vs Slack tend to skewer towards slightly different demographics.
Find the best social media for your community and mirror their interactions. What is the posting cadence of groups, how do people interact with others, how do people post surveys, etc.?
On some social media, you can post a survey right away. In others you may need to post a more generic question first, interact with the respondents a bit and then ask about taking the survey.
Beware of trolls (or seeming like one!) on social media.
So where should I recruit online?
Paid ads
If socializing is not your cup of tea or you simply don’t have the time to do that, you can try out paid ads.
If you are hunting a micro-niche, ads can be your best friend. Their ability to hyper-target and create lookalike audiences is unparalleled.
(If you don’t know what we’re talking about, we can point you to some really good Netflix docs.)
How should I create paid ads?
Examples of paid ads:
Even with a great hunting tool, you’ll still need the right bait.
You’ll need to invest time into researching keywords, demographics, channels, adjacent interests. Once you nail that, most social media platforms have super power tools called lookalike audiences.
You’ll have to tailor your hunting effort for different networks because as you can imagine, the TikTok world looks very different from Linkedin.
Pay attention to how your ads are performing and continuously make adjustments to audiences, wording, etc.
Sometimes your target audience can’t be found online.
So where should I recruit?
Sometimes, participants can’t and shouldn’t be found on the internet.
You may need to recruit for your survey in-person.
“Offline” surveys often become more qualitative conversations (which can be very nerve wracking 🤢).
Don’t just go up to someone and and just like “hey take my survey!!!”
It is more natural to have a conversation with someone:
So where should I recruit offline?
So where should I recruit offline?
Places of interest
Find places of interest where your target audience hang out.
For example, your target audience is seniors above 70.
So where should I recruit offline?
On the job
Find places of interest where your targeting audience is performing the task or job you are researching
For example, your target audience is rideshare drivers.
So where should I recruit offline?
In the wild
If all else fails, you can look for your target audience in common places like the street, on the train, grocery store, etc. �
For example, your target audience is drivers in rural Vietnam
Questions???
Next steps
Thank you!