In-app intercepts, a smart screener and a synced calendar now recruit and book twelve user interviews every week — with WhatsApp reminders, automatic gift-card incentives and instant waitlist backfill when someone cancels. Researchers just show up and ask questions.
Typical results
7%
No-show rate, down from 28%
Under 1 hr
Weekly recruiting admin
Same day
Incentives paid after sessions
Figures reflect typical results for this kind of automation.
The challenge
Recruiting participants swallowed the research itself: emailing users one by one, screening replies manually, playing calendar tennis across time zones and mailing gift cards weeks late. The team managed four interviews a week on a good one, no-shows ran near 30%, and every cancellation meant an empty slot.
Before and after
Interviews per week
3×No-show rate
−75%Recruiting hours per week
−89%The automation
We connected in-app intercepts to a screener form that scores each response against the study's criteria. Qualified participants see the research team's synced calendar and book their own slot; WhatsApp confirmations and reminders follow automatically. After a completed session, the gift-card incentive sends itself within minutes. When someone cancels or no-shows, Make instantly invites the next matching person from the waitlist to fill the slot.
How it works
- 01
Intercept finds candidates
In-app prompts target users matching the study profile while they use the product.
- 02
Screener qualifies
Responses are scored against the study criteria; only qualified participants move forward.
- 03
Self-serve booking
Participants pick a slot on the research team's synced calendar and get instant confirmation.
- 04
Reminders and rewards
WhatsApp reminders protect attendance, and gift cards send automatically after each session.
- 05
Instant backfill
A cancellation or no-show triggers an immediate invite to the next person on the waitlist.
Starts from
- In-app intercept invites
- Screener responses
Delivers
- Self-serve booked slots
- WhatsApp reminders
- Automatic gift cards
The impact
The team went from four interviews a week to a steady twelve, with no-shows down from 28% to 7% thanks to WhatsApp reminders and instant backfill. Recruiting admin fell from nine hours a week to under one, and incentives now arrive the same day — participants noticed.
Questions about this automation
How does the screener decide who qualifies?
Each answer in the screener form carries a score based on the study criteria, such as role, product usage or account type. Respondents above the threshold see the booking calendar right away, and the rest join a waitlist or receive a polite decline. Criteria change per study without rebuilding the flow.
What happens when a participant cancels or does not show up?
A cancellation or a missed session frees the slot and triggers an invite to the next qualified person on the waitlist, with a link to book that time or another open one. WhatsApp reminders the day before and an hour before each session keep no-shows low in the first place.
How are incentives sent after the interview?
When the researcher marks a session as completed in the calendar or tracker, the automation issues a digital gift card through the incentive provider's API and sends it to the participant by email or WhatsApp. Each payout is logged against the study, which keeps the budget and receipts in one place.