When using the panel to recruit your participants, there are some settings to consider in order to increase the chances of getting interviews. Panel recruitment is a bit different compared to specialist recruitment, as the panelists are more used to quantitative surveys compared to qualitative think-out-loud interviews
It is important that your study is as simple as possible, otherwise you risk losing the interest of the panelists.
Do not have a lot of tasks where you ask the participants to go into detail or elaborate, think-out-loud or similar. Having a few of these tasks is alright, however, the more in-depth qualitative natured tasks used in your study, the more likely the panelists are to drop out.
Things to consider:
Your study should be as simple as possible
Shorter studies - keep amount of tasks to 5-8 tasks max.
Have an overweight of quantitative natured tasks (scale, radio button and checkbox questions)
Do not expect the panelists to think-out-loud or go in-depth
Desktop studies are preferred, as the Sonar Recorder app is required for mobile studies, adding an extra step to the flow which might cause an increase in dropouts
Do not use panel recruitment for native app mobile tests - this flow is an advanced flow, which requires a bit more dedication from the participants
No further screening is allowed besides defining your audience using audience criteria
We recommend to disable camera in study settings - the panelists often find the camera being invasive and enabling camera will dramatically increase the risk of panelist dropouts
We recommend to disable screen in study settings - although not considered as invasive by the panelists. Disabling camera will have a bigger impact.
Request more interviews than you actually need. The panel sends out invites to a larger group, the more participants are requested. You can always stop the recruitment when you are satisfied with the amount of interviews you have.
If you are looking to do a more in-depth qualitative analysis, we recommend that you choose to recruit through a specialist or recruit your own participants.