6 effective ways to find survey participants

Surveys are an excellent way to gather insights from a target market. However, finding the right group of survey participants can be challenging.

For one thing, it’s important to have the right number of people. Too small a sample size won’t reveal trends, while too large a sample size will make the data difficult to analyze. It’s also important to survey the right type of people. Asking your target market — the people most affected by the topic of your research — to answer some questions for you will produce better results than surveying a group of random people.

So how can you find survey participants in the right quantity and category? Check out the helpful tips in this article and then take a look at an easy way to get started.

When you would need to find survey participants

There are many reasons to use surveys, all of which require finding the right participants. For example, many businesses conduct surveys for market research. In this case, they need people who fit the profile of the company’s ideal buyer to learn how they think and what they need.

Surveys work well in other settings too.  Higher-education students often conduct surveys as part of their coursework or thesis. They need people who can contribute specific data about their area of study. Political parties also frequently use them to ask their members about their concerns and plans for voting in future elections.

How to find survey participants for your research

In most cases, surveyors have to branch out from their immediate circle to find participants who fit a specific demographic and/or meet the criteria for the target market. This can make finding survey participants challenging.

To locate the right people, consider these suggestions:

• Ask your network. Reach out via social media, phone, and email as well as in person to share your survey request. While your network may not be your target market, they may know people who fit the bill.
• Reach out to business partners, vendors, suppliers, colleagues, and other people with whom you have professional relationships. They may be willing to share your survey request with their contacts.
• Purchase a panel respondent list. These lists contain the names of people who’ve agreed to participate in research. The lists are typically of a specific demographic, so you can find one that most closely relates to your target market.
• Consider in-person surveying at a location that your target audience frequents. For example, you could set up a survey station on a tablet or laptop at a local grocery store or sporting event.
• Post an online, audio, or print ad requesting survey participants. Be sure to specify the demographic you’re looking for and publish the ad where your target audience is likely to see it.
• Publish the survey on a website. Use relevant SEO terms on the page in order to organically attract survey respondents online.

How to launch your survey with Jotform

When you’ve found the ideal group of survey participants and are ready to start gathering data, Jotform is here to help. This survey maker is ideal for any industry, including business, education, or politics, and it’s easy to use, no matter your level of surveying knowledge.

Jotform offers over 1,000 survey templates, each one easy to customize using the drag-and-drop builder. And once your survey is complete, you can share it with your survey participants via email or QR code, or you can embed the survey into a website.

Jotform ensures all of your survey data remains secure — both the survey and the responses — so neither you nor your survey participants need to worry about confidential information getting into the wrong hands. Plus, it also comes with additional tools, such as Jotform Report Builder, which you can use to create visual representations of your collected data in order to draw conclusions more easily.

No matter what kind of survey you’re creating or who you’re creating it for, Jotform can help you do it.

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