How To Recruit Consumers For Interviews

Written by PortMA

How To Recruit Consumers For Interviews

http://flic.kr/p/83Myb2Clients sometimes ask us how we recruit folks to participate in in-depth or follow-up interviews.  I was asked recently to provide a top-line overview of what I believe is the best way to recruit people from the general public to get their opinion about a particular brand through an in-depth interview.
The Client wanted their own internal team to do the interviews.  They just wanted us to find the people.  This is how I answered that questions…

Hi <Client> –
We’d look at the project as something like the following:

  1. Develop a screener telephone survey
  2. Purchase a targeted consumer list
  3. Recruit for Interviews
  4. Send recruit a “welcome packet” (PDF by Email with details)
  5. Complete confirmation calls 24 to 48 hours before interview
  6. Work to fill any cancellations
  7. Send you an “interview profile sheet” prior to each interview

Buying a targeted list is usually $0.15 to $0.25 per number based on volume, availability, and targeting.  I’d expect the following conversion
rates for planning purposes:

  • 90% Active Line
  • 44% Person Answers
  • 25% Complete Script
  • 20% Qualified (This is a total guess)
  • 25% Agree to Participate

This gives us a multiplier of 0.5% or 200 numbers for each recruit. If you’re looking to complete 30 interviews I’d suggest you over-recuit by 33%
or recruit 40 people.

Qualitative, in-depth interviews are a great way to discover what you don’t know.  To uncover that variety of ways a consumer perceives a brand.  It’s a process of exploration that, when done right, can open a brand team’s eyes to things they never thought of before.
 Photo Source: http://flic.kr/p/83Myb2