Summary
Oftentimes companies rely on recruiting agencies to handle finding participants for their research. While there are some advantages to this approach, and cases where outsourcing is the best option, nowadays bringing research in-house can be simple, flexible, cost-effective, and fast. Learn more about how and why to bring your recruiting in-house.
Key Insights
-
•
Recruitment agencies typically require a two-week quoting and setup process before starting data collection.
-
•
User Interviews allows immediate project launch with a median first participant arrival time of just three hours.
-
•
Researchers gain full transparency on who applied, qualified, and confirmed directly via a dashboard with User Interviews.
-
•
User Interviews includes built-in fraud detection to prevent professional testers and scammers from skewing data.
-
•
Recruitment fees via agencies can range from $100 to $400 per participant plus administration fees; User Interviews fees range from $40 to $80 without upfront costs.
-
•
User Interviews enables direct messaging with participants throughout the recruitment and study process, reducing no-shows and enhancing troubleshooting.
-
•
Researchers can flex screening criteria on participants in real-time within User Interviews when necessary.
-
•
Scheduling integrates with Google and Outlook calendars, allowing researchers to set availability and avoid double bookings.
-
•
User Interviews supports various study types: 1-on-1 interviews, focus groups, diary studies, moderated and unmoderated research.
-
•
Pilot studies are recommended and easy to conduct on User Interviews to test screener questions and study protocols before full launch.
Notable Quotes
"When working with an agency, the quoting process takes about two weeks before recruitment even starts."
"With User Interviews, you can launch a project immediately and get your first qualified participant as fast as three hours."
"You get a dashboard that shows who applied, who qualified, and even who didn’t qualify—all in real time."
"Professional testers are very crafty; one even changed her name repeatedly to get recruited multiple times."
"You only pay for successfully completed sessions on User Interviews—no upfront cost, no fees for no-shows or cancellations."
"I message participants regularly during studies to reduce no-shows and troubleshoot any issues immediately."
"If I forgot a critical screener question, I just messaged all qualified participants to confirm they meet the criteria before approval."
"Scheduling syncs with your Google or Outlook calendar so you only book participants at times that work for you."
"User Interviews offers multi-country recruitment at the same price, supporting Canada, UK, Germany, Australia, and South Africa."
"Pilot studies are a must; I always run a pilot session the day before full launch to refine my discussion guide."
Or choose a question:
More Videos
"Practical ops is about getting stuff done because it’s our job to scale the organizational ability to design and amplify the work of designers."
Bria AlexanderTheme Two Intro
October 3, 2023
"I wish I had had a better understanding of how many non-UX people know so little about UX practices."
Brad Peters Anne MamaghaniShort Take #1: UX/Product Lessons from Your Industry Peers
December 6, 2022
"The final panel will be grounded in your input from this summit — we want to hear from you in the FigJam link."
Bria AlexanderOpening Remarks
September 9, 2022
"We all want to design for scale, but empathy alone is sometimes a shortcoming when thinking about scale."
Nancy DouyonWe'll Figure That Out in the Next Launch: Enterprise Tech's Nobility Complex
June 15, 2018
"Collaboration helps you look at problems from different angles, which makes your work more robust and nuanced."
Roberta Dombrowski Sam Duong WoloszynskiMaking Research a Team Sport
March 11, 2022
"The focus is on helping teams take better decisions, not handholding them through every step."
Prayag Narula Abhinav KrishnaDialing for Research: How to Reach the Unreachable
March 10, 2022
"Some AI companies charge for services even when their datasets are limited and can misrepresent certain populations."
Tom Armitage Carla Diana Kanene Ayo HolderDay 2 Panel: Looking ahead: Designing with AI in 2026
June 11, 2025
"Eye tracking helps to generate instant new hypotheses by revealing what a user noticed or missed."
Jeff Ephraim Bander Ariane Rahn Philipp ReiterEye Tracking Gamechanger: Why Smartphone Eye Tracking will Revolutionize Your UX Research
March 11, 2022
"Community is not a monolith; we must engage a broad intersection of voices, not just one perspective."
Amy Paris Danielle ThierryDelivering Equity: Government Services for All Ages, Languages, Sexual Orientations, and Gender Identities
December 9, 2021
Latest Books All books
Dig deeper with the Rosenbot
How do shared ‘watch parties’ or team review sessions enhance understanding of accessibility challenges?
What mindset shifts are needed to work effectively with complexity instead of trying to simplify or control it?
How can a repeatable market entry framework help reduce launch delays in multi-country B2B expansions?