External Panel Recruitment Overview
External panel recruitment lets you find research participants outside your own customer base, without leaving Rally. Rally integrates with two panel providers, Respondent and User Interviews, so you can build your study, screen and approve applicants, schedule sessions, and pay incentives all in one place. No separate provider account is needed.
Starting recruitment requires the Recruit from external panels for studies permission and being an owner of the study. By default, this permission is included in the Admin, Ops Manager, and Researcher roles.
When to use an external panel
Your own panel and an external panel answer different kinds of questions. Many teams use both.
Your own panel (in-house recruitment) | External panel | |
|---|---|---|
Who you reach | Current customers and users you already know | Non-users, prospects, competitors' users, and hard-to-reach professional audiences |
Cost | Only the incentives you choose to offer | A per-participant recruitment fee plus a required incentive |
Data | Participants are added to your People database and build history over time | Participants stay attached to the study and aren't added to your People database |
Best when | You need context from people with an existing relationship to your product | You need fresh perspectives, your audience is outside your customer base, or your own panel is exhausted or on cooldown |
Choosing between Respondent and User Interviews
There's no single right answer for which external panel provider to select. Each panel has different strengths, and an audience that's hard to find in one may be easy to find in the other. Review each provider's panel book to see which better matches who you want to reach:
The two integrations also work a little differently in Rally:
Respondent | User Interviews | |
|---|---|---|
Panel size | 3+ million | 6+ million |
Study types | Interview, Group Interview, Unmoderated Test | Interview, Group Interview, Unmoderated Test |
Consent forms | Supported | Not supported |
Rolling date ranges | Supported | Not supported |
Reschedule or cancel from Rally | Supported | Not supported |
Chat with participants in Rally | Supported | Not supported |
Screener auto-qualify/disqualify labels | Supported (labels only; you still invite or reject) | Not supported |
Participant email/calendar visible in Rally | Yes | No |
How external panel recruitment works
Create your study in Rally, choose a provider, and set your audience, screener, and incentive.
Publish the study, then start recruitment. Rally reserves the total estimated cost from your selected budget.
The provider matches your study with likely participants, who apply by completing your screener.
Review applicants in Rally and invite the best fits.
Run your sessions or tests. Participants are paid automatically 24 hours after completion, or when you send payment.
Close the study to stop recruitment, finalize payment, and release unused reserved funds.
Pricing
Rally uses a pay-as-you-go pricing model for external recruitment. Once funds are loaded into a Rally budget, you can recruit from either provider at the following rates, plus the incentive amount you set for each participant. You're only charged for participants you invite who complete the study.
Audience/study type | Pricing |
|---|---|
Moderated B2B | $65 |
Unmoderated B2B | $43 |
Moderated B2C | $39 |
Unmoderated B2C | $26 |
Get started
Recruiting with Respondent: Set up, launch, and manage a Respondent study.
Recruiting with User Interviews: Set up, launch, and manage a User Interviews study.
External Recruitment Best Practices & FAQs: Write effective study descriptions and screeners, set the right incentive, and get answers to common questions.