As is the case with our unmoderated tests, once you've set up your moderated study you have the option to either recruit participants from the Lyssna panel or invite participants from your own audience. You can also do both on the same study!
This article dives into recruiting participants from the Lyssna panel; if you have your own audience with whom you will be conducting Interviews, check out this article for steps on how to do that.
From within your study, you can either click Recruit from the progress bar at the top of the page or the green Next button to move to the recruitment stage:
From your dashboard, you can navigate directly to the recruitment page by clicking the Recruit button on the desired study:
Placing an order
Once you've landed on the Recruit page, select Place an order to recruit from the Lyssna panel:
On the order page
The process for recruiting participants from the Lyssna panel is similar to ordering for an unmoderated test, with one additional step aimed at determining how you will select the applicants you choose to interview:
Specify the number of participants you need
Optionally, select the demographic attributes for the type of participant you'd like to target with your Interview—see targeting tips below
Select Automatic or Handpick method for participant selection—see participant selection method below
Review and submit your order
Participant selection method
Automatic
By default, the order form is set to Automatic selection. With automatic selection, eligible participants will immediately be able to book sessions based on the availability you've set in your calendar. This is recommended for studies with single or multiple-choice screener questions, or no screener questions at all. Participants who qualify through the screener will immediately see booking options. If there are no screeners, the participants who receive an invitation to your study will immediately be able to book.
Handpick
Handpick selection doesn't allow participants to immediately book after completing the screener questions. Rather, participants will see a thank you screen with a message that they'll be notified if they're successful in proceeding through the study. Handpick selection is there for studies with short or long text screeners, as you will need to review the answers to see if they match your requirements. You can also use this option if you simply prefer to manually select and send invitations to specific participants.
You can manually send invitations from the Applicants page of your study.
Canceling your order
Once an order has been placed it will begin recruiting. If you need to cancel your order at anytime during this process, select the Recruit tab then navigation to your currently recruiting order. Select the flashing recruiting button to have the option to cancel your order:
Note: If you have an upcoming scheduled session, cancelling your order will not cancel your upcoming session. If you would like to cancel an upcoming session you can check out our detailed instructions here.
Targeting your preferred audience
There are two modes of targeting your preferred audience with the Lyssna panel that you can use either in conjunction or on their own—screener questions and demographic attributes. Screener questions are created during the setup of your study, while demographic attributes are selected on the order form when recruiting from the panel.
Demographic targeting
From the order form, you can add any demographic attributes that you might for an unmoderated test. Check out our article on Demographic targeting to see which categories we offer, or you can explore the options from the order form once you've created your study. If we do not offer the demographic attribute(s) you require on our order form, consider using a screener question to target for that category instead.
While we generally have an expansive panel and plenty of demographic attributes to choose from, we cannot guarantee fulfillment for every combination of targeting options. In general, the more specific your requirements, the slower the order may be to fill. If we expect that we won't be able to fill your order based on your targeting criteria, the estimated turnaround time will disappear and you won't be able to submit your order. Removing criteria may help.
Screener questions
When recruiting from the Lyssna panel, screener questions are helpful if you want to qualify participants by targeting criteria that is not offered on our order form or if you want participants to submit a free-written response for you to review. However, as is the case with demographic targeting, screener questions will reduce the pool of eligible participants; we cannot accurately predict when the order will be filled.
We recommend the following best practices when using screeners:
Try to keep screeners brief — 8 (or preferably fewer) screener questions is our recommendation.
Avoid revealing too much about what the study is about or the type of participant you’re trying to recruit.
For short text or long text questions, ask open-ended questions about behaviors, feelings, and past experiences.
Don’t ask leading questions that hint at what the ‘correct’ answer might be.
Try to avoid ‘yes’ or ‘no’ questions.
Provide an ‘other’ option on multiple choice questions.
Language targeting
While you can target panelists from any country you like, our interface is currently only setup to create your study in English. Additional language translations may be available in the future; if you need this, send us a message and let us know which one so we can consider it for future improvements to the Interviews feature.
Estimating turnaround time for study completion
Our estimated turnaround time refers to when we expect to have all of your requested sessions booked with Lyssna panelists. Actual completion of your study relies on your availability, the dates/times panelists book with you, and whether any sessions end up being rescheduled or canceled.
We are currently working on a way to accurately estimate the turnaround time for when we expect to get your requested sessions booked with panelists, but for now, the system is hard-coded to show 3 days. Your order may be much faster to fill if your targeting requirements are broad.
As mentioned above, the more demographic targeting criteria you add, the slower the order may be to fill. We will let you know in real time if we cannot fulfill your order based on the demographic attributes selected, and you will be unable to submit your order:
However, we are unable to accurately predict fulfillment or turnaround time when a screener question is used as we cannot predict when a participant will qualify, so you may still be able to place your order even if your screener question is very specific. If for some reason your order is slower to fill than we expect, or we expect that we won't be able to fufill it at all, we will be in touch to help.
In the unlikely event you are able to submit your order but we are unable to fulfill it after the fact, you will be refunded for all incomplete sessions.
Panel pricing for Interviews
You can recruit an unlimited amount of Lyssna panelists for Interviews on all of our plans. We charge a fixed amount per session, based on session duration. The total cost includes the incentive paid to the participant, so you don't have to manage that separately—the total cost you see when you submit your order is your total cost!
The following table shows the price you can expect to pay for each session held with a member of the Lyssna panel:
Duration (in minutes) | Cost per session |
15 | 60 credits |
30 | 75 credits |
45 | 90 credits |
60 | 105 credits |
75 | 120 credits |
90 | 135 credits |
105 | 150 credits |
120 | 165 credits |
Once you've submitted your order, all you need to do is wait for applications to come in! Head to our Managing participant applications article to check out next steps.
If you chose Automatic selection mode, you will start to see booked sessions come in as well—head to our Managing sessions for Interviews article to check out next steps from there.