These tips apply to both Respondent and User Interviews studies. The details you set up in Rally are what the panel uses to find and screen participants, so a little care up front leads to better applicants and faster recruitment.

Setting up your study

• Write a clear external study name and description. Applicants should be able to tell at a glance whether they're a good fit, without the description giving away what answers will qualify them.

• Be honest about total time. Include screener time plus the session or test length. Very short estimates can backfire: participants, especially B2B professionals, often don't believe a "5-minute" study and may skip it.

• Set the participation limit high enough. It can't be increased after recruitment starts, but you can always close the study early and get unused funds back.

• Incentivize for your audience, time, and method. B2B audiences, specific job titles, and senior roles typically need higher incentives. Use the Incentive Calculator to find the right amount.

Example study names and descriptions

Targeting your audience

The Key Differences between B2B and B2C Market Research

• Choose B2C or B2B deliberately. General population (B2C) studies reach end consumers and are best for understanding personal experiences and purchase behavior. Industry professional (B2B) studies reach people in specific roles, industries, or company sizes and are best for business workflows and decision-making.

• Start broad, then narrow with your screener. Overly specific audience criteria can shrink your pool fast. Use audience criteria for must-haves and let screener questions handle the finer qualifications.

• Check the panels. View more detailed panel information in the Respondent panel book or the User Interviews research panel before you build.

Writing your screener

• Aim for about 6 to 10 questions. Enough to qualify confidently, but short enough to avoid drop-off. External panel screeners require at least 2.

• Start broad and get more specific. Use conditional logic to screen people out early, before the more detailed questions.

• Include at least one open-ended question to see how clearly someone expresses themselves on your topic, but keep open-ended questions to a minimum.

• Avoid leading questions. Applicants shouldn't be able to tell which answer qualifies them. Adding extra answer options to single- and multiple-choice questions helps.

• Ask everything you need up front. You can't ask follow-up questions before deciding who to invite.

• Make questions required so every applicant answers everything you need to make a decision.

• Use question templates to stay consistent across your team, and save new questions as templates as you go.

• Test your screener before launching to make sure conditional logic works as expected.

Learn how to create a screener.

Reviewing applicants

• Review applicants promptly. Panels move fast, and qualified applicants may lose interest if they wait.

• Look beyond the match label. Partial matches can still be great fits; check screener responses and profiles before rejecting.

• Keep an eye on the 24-hour window. Participants are paid automatically 24 hours after completing a session or test, so mark no-shows and reject poor submissions before then.

Resources

• Incentive Calculator: Calculate the right incentive for your audience and method.

• Rally blog: Recruitment best practices: Decide when to recruit from your own users vs. an external panel.

• Respondent's screener survey guide: How to screen for unmoderated studies.

FAQs

Am I charged for applicants I don't invite?

No. You're only charged for participants you invite who complete the study. Rejected applicants and participants marked as no-shows in time aren't charged.

Are external panel participants added to my People database?

No. External participants have a person profile in Rally, but it's only accessible from the study they joined.

Can I contact applicants before inviting them?

No. Make sure your screener asks everything you need to decide. After inviting, you can chat with Respondent participants in Rally; chat isn't available for User Interviews studies.