Recruitment

Recruitment is a numbers game that most teams dramatically underestimate. You don't need enthusiasm, you need volume and a system.

The Response Rate Reality

The math is sobering. For 6 qualified interviews per audience segment:

• Reach out to ~90 people per group
• Expect ~10% response rate (9 responses)
• Of those, roughly one-third won't fit screening criteria (6 qualified)
• Net: ~6% conversion from outreach to qualified interview

These numbers vary by product type, incentive level, and channel, but the order of magnitude holds. Sending 10 emails and complaining about "low response rates" means you never started at the right volume.

Tactics That Improve Response

1. Compensation: Even a $25 gift card signals respect for the participant's time. It differentiates your request from the dozens of unpaid feedback requests users receive daily.

2. Personalization: A message that mentions their specific usage pattern ("I noticed you've been using our reporting feature heavily") and explains why their perspective is valuable performs far better than a generic broadcast.

3. Warm introductions: Ask customer success managers, account managers, or community managers to make introductions. This dramatically increases response rates because the request comes with implicit social proof.