How to Get Participants for Your Study
This guide outlines the range of options available for getting respondents on Conjointly to help you choose the best one for your experiment.
Use a specific Predefined panel of respondents (including those who are pre-defined for your company). Data collection is managed by the Conjointly fieldwork team.
Automatically and urgently invite respondents from global panel networks. Target them by location, demographics, and profiling data. Set your own price per complete and manage your own quotas.
Send survey invitations and reminders via Conjointly to your own contacts.
Use a list of your customers or leads, or source respondents from elsewhere.
How to choose the source of participants
The Choose participants tab, located within your experiment setup page, allows you to select your desired source of respondents. Both the bring your own respondents and send an email campaign options offer convenient ways to distribute surveys to your existing contacts or mailing lists.
For high-quality responses from sources outside your current contacts, Conjointly delivers quality respondents directly into your survey via the Predefined panel or Self-serve sample options.
How to add multiple sources of participants
To include multiple participant sources in your experiments:
- Click on Want to add multiple sources of participants? Switch to advanced mode.
- Select .
- Add your desired sources of participants accordingly.
All participant sources will be shown in the left panel in the advanced mode. Click on a participant source to manage or edit its settings.
How Conjointly sources respondents for your surveys
With an extensive global network of sample providers, Conjointly grants you access to over 100 million panellists in 150 countries, ranging from the general population to deeply profiled audiences. If you have additional requirements for your panel, please reach out to the support team.
The Conjointly fieldwork team works diligently with global panel networks to deliver quality respondents straight into your survey through the following process:
- Respondents sign up to one of our panel networks, who asks them an extensive list of profiling questions, including but not limited to demographics, shopping / spending habits, and the nature of the household.
- We determine feasibility and cost by analysing respondent profiles to achieve time and cost efficiencies. For example, if you need 100 iPhone users, we will send 100 survey invitations to people who have already identified themselves as iPhone users instead of inviting a larger generic sample size (e.g. 200 adults) in the hope of meeting the criteria. Furthermore, the more profiling we do, the more cost-effective the sample becomes, resulting in more accurate feasibility estimates.
- Once you launch an experiment with a Predefined panel, we inform our panel providers to start inviting respondents from their panels to our survey link, using profiling where possible. Aside from receiving a survey link via email from the supplier, respondents may also find surveys on websites/apps the supplier operates.
- Respondents access the experiment through the survey link, which directs them to our screening questions. Respondents who do not meet the survey criteria (e.g. an Android phone user) are redirected back to the supplier. Qualifying respondents are redirected to Conjointly to complete your experiment. If our system detects that they are providing low-quality responses, they will be redirected to the supplier and identified as a “low-quality response”.
- Respondents are redirected to the supplier upon survey completion to claim their incentive. Subsequently, we may review the actual observed cost and feasibility of the Predefined panel and make price or sample size adjustments as necessary.
How panel costs are calculated
Panel costs are calculated per respondent and vary based on country, age, and other characteristics. The Conjointly platform quotes costs in real time as you complete the panel selection process. Once you launch your experiment, we will confirm the feasibility and immediately start data collection, which is normally completed in less than two days.
How respondents are compensated
Our panel networks manage and provide incentives for the panellists, which may include monetary payouts, coupons, points, vouchers, charity donations, and lottery draws. Respondent participation is voluntary, and recruitment involves a double opt-in procedure and confirmation of personal information. We monitor the quality of managed sample, and you will only pay for complete, quality responses.
How to track your fieldwork progress
When you select a Predefined panel, Conjointly fully manages the fieldwork process. You can monitor the fieldwork progress through the visual workflow displayed under the Participant sources tab, where completed steps appear in green.
Here’s what happens at each stage of the fieldwork process:
| Icon | Step name | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Setup | The panel source is being configured according to your specified respondent criteria and quotas. | |
| Data collection launched | Your study is being prepared and awaiting payment confirmation before collecting responses. | |
| Paid | Payment for your respondents has been received, and data collection is beginning. | |
| Pre-launch testing | The Conjointly team is conducting pre-launch testing to verify survey logic, display, and redirects. | |
| Soft launch | A small initial sample (50-100 respondents) is being invited to verify feasibility and data quality. | |
| Soft launch checked | The Conjointly team is reviewing the initial responses collected during soft launch for quality and consistency. | |
| Fully launched | The remaining respondent sample is being invited and data is actively being collected. | |
| Quotas not closed yet | Most data is collected, but remaining demographic or profile quotas are being filled. | |
| Pending checks | The required number of responses has been reached and data is now pending quality checks. | |
| Checked | Final quality checks are being conducted, with poor-quality responses being removed and replaced. | |
| Uploading variables | Profiling data are being uploaded as external variables. | |
| Complete | Your fieldwork is complete, and your report is ready. |
FAQs
How many respondents do I need?
The system will automatically provide a recommended minimum sample size based on the settings of your experiment. This minimum sample size is acceptable for exploratory research. It is recommended to aim for a higher sample size if:
- You need to achieve higher confidence in the findings (e.g. when significant policy or managerial implications are attached).
- You are aiming to explore segments. For example, if you are looking to explore two or three pre-defined segments in your experiment (e.g. people split by age: under 20 years old, 21 to 40 years old, 41 and over), apply the recommended sample size to each of the three pre-defined segments.
It is fine to oversample if you keep the proportions of your groups (e.g. if you are aiming at a 50/50 female/male split, your sample should remain 50/50). In fact, the more respondents, the better for statistical robustness.
Does survey length affect the cost of the panel?
What is the optimal survey length?
We recommend keeping the survey length under 15 minutes to avoid respondent fatigue, which can affect result quality.
In the case of a conjoint study, conjoint questions typically take 4–7 minutes. For optimal results, we suggest incorporating any additional questions thoughtfully to keep the survey within the 15-minute threshold.
Can I use the results from screening questions for analysis in my report?
Yes, when you source respondents through Conjointly’s Self-serve sample. The results for all screening questions based on your selected targeting filters are automatically included in your respondent data once data collection is complete.
For Predefined panel, our team will upload the results for all screening questions to your survey as external variables after data collection is completed. These variables can be used for segmentation and to include or exclude respondents in your analysis.
What do I need to consider before launching a panel?
When launching your survey using a Predefined panel, we recommend considering the following points:
- We will oversee all screening logic, quotas, survey redirects, and low-quality termination criteria. You can get in touch with us to ensure that your criteria are taken into account through your panel, rather than your experiment.
- We do not support external links when launching through a panel. For example, asking respondents to click on an external link to check out your product’s web page during the survey, is not supported.
- Once data collection is complete, our team will upload the screening question results, which means you do not have to repeat screening questions in your survey so that respondents don’t have to answer the same question twice.