In market research, the people you talk to can shape – or skew – your results. While many teams focus on what questions to ask, it’s equally important to consider who you’re asking. Especially on platforms like Respondent.io, where recruiting is self-directed, clearly defining your audience is a crucial first step.

Understanding the Different Participant Roles

In most purchasing journeys, there are three distinct player types involved:

• Buyers – These are the decision-makers who approve or make the purchase. They may be budget holders, parents, team leads, or executives.
• End Users – These are the people who actually use the product or service. They may not make the purchase decision, but they experience the product day-to-day.
• Influencers – Individuals who offer input or sway the final decision. They might be children requesting a toy, employees recommending a tool, or friends influencing a brand decision.

Each of these voices offers unique – and often conflicting – perspectives. Talking only to users might lead you to optimize features, while ignoring the business needs of buyers. On the other hand, only speaking to decision-makers might surface price sensitivity, while missing usability blockers faced by end users.

Why This Matters in DIY Research Tools

When using a user research platform like Respondent.io, it’s easy to default to whoever is easiest to recruit. For example, a study on accounting software may unintentionally target junior users instead of financial decision-makers. The result? A dataset filled with usability feedback, but limited insight into buying criteria.

Here’s what happens when you don’t clearly define participant types in your screeners:

• Recommendations may not align with business realities
• Products get optimized for users, not buyers – or vice versa
• Insights feel confusing, contradictory, or un-actionable

To avoid this, start with a clear understanding of your objective. Are you solving for adoption? Purchase? Retention? Then map the participant type that aligns with that goal – and filter accordingly during recruitment.

Pro Tip:

If you're unsure how to balance perspectives, a mix of buyers, users, and influencers often yields the most complete picture. Teams supported by On Demand Talent often bring in the expertise to design these balanced samples, helping ensure every angle of the customer journey is represented objectively and clearly.

DIY research platforms like Respondent.io make it easier than ever to launch studies quickly – but they also place more responsibility on you to get the recruitment right. And without the guardrails that come with full-service agencies or experienced researchers, missteps during the recruitment phase can quietly derail your entire project.

Top Sampling Mistakes Teams Make on DIY Research Platforms

1. Recruiting users when you need buyers – or vice versa
This is the most common issue. For example, a team evaluating a new subscription pricing model may accidentally recruit only end users, missing critical input from those who actually approve the spend. On the flip side, a usability study may include only buyers, who are less familiar with how the product actually works.

2. Over-filtering or under-filtering screeners
Screeners that are too strict can eliminate great candidates; those that are too broad let in people who aren’t a fit. DIY platforms often rely on self-reported answers, so crafting razor-sharp screener questions – without ambiguity – is key.

3. Not accounting for influencers
Influential voices like spouses, coworkers, or children are often ignored in participant targeting. Yet they're frequently the tie-breakers in buying decisions. Including influencers in exploratory work uncovers decision-making dynamics you might otherwise miss.

4. Choosing speed over sample quality
Tight deadlines can lead teams to select the first available participants, rather than refining the sample. While it may feel productive, the resulting insights can mislead teams or cause them to revisit the research later – costing more time overall.

5. Misalignment between research objective and participant role
If the goal is to understand churn, but you only speak to current users, you’re missing the perspective of those who actively chose to leave. Matching participant type to the research question is vital to avoid these blind spots.

How to Improve Recruitment on Respondent.io

Improving your sampling strategy doesn’t require abandoning DIY tools – it’s about using them with expertise. Here’s how to get better outcomes:

• Clarify roles during screener design – Use precise language to filter for decision-makers versus users
• Balance your mix – Include a representative sample of buyers, users and influencers, when appropriate
• Validate screeners with expert input – On Demand Talent professionals can help fine-tune recruitment so you avoid costly misfires
• Pre-test participants – A quick pilot with 2–3 respondents can catch red flags early

Many teams are now investing in DIY research tools, but lack in-house expertise on participant selection. That’s where SIVO's On Demand Talent becomes a powerful asset – pairing your tools with seasoned professionals who know how to recruit the right people, elevate study design, and translate feedback into action. Instead of burning time on repeat studies or unclear results, teams unlock sharper insights faster – without the need for full-time hires.

One of the most common pitfalls for teams using DIY research tools like Respondent.io is collecting feedback from the wrong participant mix. If you're only hearing from end users – or only from decision makers – you're likely missing important perspectives. Worse, you may end up with incomplete or even conflicting insights that don't truly reflect the market reality or customer journey.

Why a lopsided sample muddies your findings

In market research sampling, each type of participant – buyers, users, and influencers – brings a unique lens. Relying too heavily on one group skews your results. For example, an enthusiastic user might love a product’s functionality, but if the purchasing decision-maker sees it as too costly or complex to implement, that product won’t get traction internally.

Conversely, decision makers may approve a product because it aligns with strategic goals – but if end users find it clunky or hard to adopt, usage might lag or lead to dissatisfaction.

Real-world example (fictional for illustration):

Imagine a SaaS startup testing a new project management tool. They recruit 100 users via a platform like Respondent.io, mostly project coordinators and junior staff. Feedback is positive – the tool is intuitive and speeds up collaboration. But the launch fails to gain traction. Why? Procurement leaders and IT decision makers weren’t consulted, and the tool didn’t meet required data security protocols. Ultimately, the project stalls because critical buying criteria were never surfaced.

The bottom line

In research recruiting, who you talk to influences what you learn – and what decisions follow. A sample too narrow in role or context leads to:

• Biased or overly favorable responses
• Missed barriers to adoption
• Internal pushback during implementation
• Misguidance in product or marketing strategy

To avoid these issues, it’s essential to balance your respondent pool with the right participant types. The next section explores how to do that effectively on DIY platforms like Respondent.io.

Striking the right balance between different participant types in your research sample is critical – especially when using user research platforms like Respondent.io. Whether you're running product testing, pricing research, or message validation, success starts with defining and sourcing a participant group that reflects real-world dynamics.

Clarify roles before defining your quotas

Before you begin selecting participants, map out who influences, uses, and makes the purchase decisions for your product or service. In B2B settings, these participant types may span multiple departments. In consumer research, a parent may be the buyer, while their teenager is the user. Knowing these roles lets you set recruitment quotas beyond just job title or demographics.

Tips for better participant recruitment on Respondent.io

• Use screener questions wisely: Go beyond role titles. Ask about pain points, usage frequency, purchase authority, or decision-making processes.
• Layer buyer AND user segments: For example, if you’re testing a health app, include both the people who pay for it and those who use it daily.
• Include diverse perspectives: Even within a participant type, vary geography, company size, or experience level to avoid echo chambers.
• Pilot your screener: Run a small soft launch with your participant filters to catch gaps or misaligned screening logic.

Designing for reality, not just simplicity

DIY research tools can make it tempting to simplify recruitment – but ease shouldn’t replace rigor. If your product depends on cross-functional adoption, your sampling should reflect that. If your marketing message has to land with both gatekeepers and end users, recruit inputs from both groups.

In short, refining participant types in research is all about mapping to how decisions are actually made and experienced in your customer’s world. That’s how you get high-quality, actionable insights – especially when using self-serve research platforms.

Even the most intuitive DIY research tools can’t replace strategic sampling expertise. If you’re struggling to recruit the right participants on Respondent.io – or just unsure how to balance users vs. buyers effectively – it may be time to bring in On Demand Talent.

Common signs you need expert support

Many teams realize too late that their research sample was skewed. Here are signs you could benefit from experienced insights professionals:

• You only hear from one type of participant but need broader perspectives
• You're launching with speed, but confidence in your findings is low
• Screener questions aren't delivering the intended personas
• You’re getting conflicting feedback and unsure how to weigh it
• You need help translating participant feedback into clear direction

Why On Demand Talent is a smarter solution

Unlike consultants or freelancers who often work independently, SIVO’s On Demand Talent integrates with your team and research objectives. These experts understand both the technical side of user research platforms and the human dynamics behind strategic sampling. They don’t just execute – they elevate.

Whether it’s helping your team define key participant roles, revise recruitment screeners, or layer insights with context, On Demand Talent provides support where it matters most. And unlike traditional hiring, you can gain access to experienced professionals in days or weeks – without long-term commitments.

Build long-term capability, not quick fixes

One of the biggest values isn’t just the immediate project lift – it’s what your team learns in the process. With SIVO’s On Demand Talent, you're not just augmenting capacity. You're growing smarter about research execution, tool usage, and participant type alignment over time.

So when timelines shrink and expectations surge, having flexible expertise on hand can help you avoid common recruitment mistakes, strengthen your strategy, and ensure your research drives real business impact.