5 Ways To Improve Your Participant Profile

How can you optimize your profile for maximum engagement and success? Our team shares the best ways you can improve your participant profile to land more studies.

Jose Gallegos
Jul 28, 2022

Are you struggling to get chosen to participate in research studies? Or are you a newbie to Respondent and just got accepted? Or maybe your profile is complete, but you’re not landing the projects you’d like? 

Having an optimized participant profile is crucial to getting matched with the perfect research studies. And here’s why:

More information equals better matches

Having a complete and accurate profile will allow the algorithm to find the perfect matches for you. This will save you time and prevent wasteful applications as you’ll only be matched with studies you’re 100% suitable for. 

Reliability and legitimacy for researchers 

Researchers look for honesty and transparency when choosing their participants. Respondent, and the researchers, expect your profile to be a true representation of who you claim to be. Providing misleading information will hurt your rating and might even get you banned from the platform. 

Boost your authority and stand out! 

Having a complete and engaging profile will get you more studies – and more studies means better ratings. The higher your rating, the more authority you will gain and be picked for even more studies. This does take time, but boosting your authority with honesty and hard work will help you long-term. 

The way researchers find research participants is not so different from how employers look for potential hires. Keep this in mind, think strategically about what you put on your profile, and think, ‘What would a potential employer want to see?’ or don’t want to see, for that matter. 

So how can you optimize your profile for maximum engagement and success? Here, we’ve come up with five ways you can improve your participant profile to land more studies. 

Let’s dive in. 

5 Ways To Improve Your Participant Profile

1. Keep It Fresh and Stay Proactive

Expand and revise your profile accurately on an ongoing basis. Consistently update your personal, employment, and demographic information because that’s the information the Respondent algorithm will use to match you to studies. 

Add projects you’re working on, new skills and software you’ve learnt pre and post sign-up and revise your personal section to reflect your current situation. 

Also think about updating your profile when you see changes in the industry that you are trying to land research projects – showing researchers you’re up-to-date with industry developments and trends will help you stand out. 

Once you’ve completed a research study, add that to your profile too. This helps new researchers see that you’re a proactive and trustworthy participant. 

And don’t forget to keep your PayPal details up to date – we wouldn’t want you to miss out on incentives and payments. If you’re ever in doubt, just reach out to our Customer Success team and they will help you in no time.

2. Add a Video Introduction 

Adding a personal, professional and honest video introduction will increase your chances of getting picked for research studies. It shows researchers what you’re like without having to go through the long process of interviewing. It also gives people an idea of what it might be like to have you in their studies. 

Video Introduction Do’s:

  • Dress professionally, use a neutral background, and sit in quiet surroundings.
  • Speak slowly and clearly – a smile is encouraged but not essential ;) 
  • Reference your work experience and skills – you can mention your main responsibilities, software, and tools used, environment, etc. 
  • Talk about your passions – this can help you stand out from the crowd and connect with your audience – keep it professional, of course.
  • Sell yourself! – what makes you different? What can you do well? Try to keep a balance of confidence and humility here, you don’t want to come off arrogant or unapproachable. 
  • Behave as you would in a job interview – just imagine you are interviewing for your dream job, and you’ll nail it! 

Video Introduction Don’ts:

  • Come unprepared – try to have your talking points ready, so you’re not figuring it out as you go along. 
  • Use ‘fun’ backgrounds or filters – we know they’re funny, but your researchers might not enjoy watching a potato introducing themselves. It’s unprofessional and sends the wrong message.
  • Talk about your failures, even if they’re not your fault.
  • Rush your introduction – make sure you’re not busy, ensure enough time, and do some practice takes, just in case. 
  • Fidget and lose focus – you only get 1 minute, so make every second count!

Adding a great video introduction will really up your game. You will show a meaningful and persuasive review of your unique characteristics, giving researchers a glimpse of your articulation and presentation skills and what it would be like to work with you. Present yourself in a way that everyone will want to work with you!

3. Connect Your Social Media 

Nowadays, social media presence is everything. So much so that up to 70% of employers – therefore also researchers – screen your social media before making a hiring decision. On top of that, a huge 47% of employers won’t even give you a chance if you have 0 social media presence. 

To be successful on Respondent, you must consider researchers as employers – because they are hiring you for a short amount of time and will be looking for the same things. 

Keep your social media professional. Ideally, you will connect your optimized LinkedIn account. This should show relevant and up-to-date work information, education, skill endorsements, and testimonials. 

You can also boost your LinkedIn and participant profile by sharing relevant and interesting industry content.

Feel free to also add your other pages such as Facebook, Instagram (if it’s professional), GitHub, and your website, if you have one. When doing this, make sure you have a professional display picture and review your past posts to delete anything that might hurt your credibility. 

4. Verify Your Work Email 

It might seem like an unnecessary step in the process, but adding and verifying your work email to your participant profile will land you more studies. This is because it proves to researchers that you’re a credible, professional, and reliable participant. 

Another reason to verify your work email is that industry professionals get paid more for their valuable insights. You will, therefore, be able to participate in exclusive industry studies. So in order to land those high-paying gigs, you must verify!

If you’re not sure how to do this, here are the step-by-step instructions. 

5. Honesty is Respondent's Policy

Honesty is one of the most important things in user research, which we take very seriously here at Respondent. 

To successfully land research studies and complete them, you must be 100% transparent on your participant profile. Here are some crucial things to remember to keep honest throughout Respondent:

  • Always provide truthful information upon signing up and when updating your profile.
  • Be forthright when answering every screener question. 
  • Only apply to projects that match your background, skills, and employment history – never Google answers to the screener questions! 
  • Be upfront about the quality of your technology – do you have a working, compatible, and up-to-date webcam, wifi, phone, mic, etc.? 

With this formula, landing your ideal research studies will become second nature. And because you will be matched to projects you’re 100% suitable for, the entire process will become easy. Enjoy creating an impact on companies and their products. Be a part of the bigger story with Respondent. 

 

Recommend Resources:



 

Read next