Free Ways to Recruit UX Research Participants

Not every card sort needs a paid recruitment panel. For many projects — especially early-stage validation, internal tools, or studies with broad audiences — free recruitment methods work just as well.

Here are the most effective ones, roughly in order of how reliably they produce results.

1. Your Existing User Base

If you have an existing product, service, or email list, this is your best free recruitment source. These people already have a relationship with what you're researching.

How to do it:

Send a short email to your user list:

Subject: Quick 5-minute study — help us improve [product name]

Hi [name],

We're improving [specific thing] and would love your input. It takes about 5 minutes and doesn't require any login.

[Study link]

Thank you!

What to expect: Response rates vary widely, but 2–5% of your list is typical without an incentive. A small incentive (discount, gift card) can push this to 10–20%.

When it works best: When you're researching something directly relevant to why people use your product.

2. Slack / Teams Channels

Posting to an internal Slack channel is the fastest way to get colleagues or community members to take your study.

For team-based studies: Post in #general, #product, or a relevant team channel with a direct ask and a time estimate.

For community-based studies: If you're part of a professional Slack community (UX research groups, industry communities, product communities), posting there can get you 10–30 responses from people in your target domain.

What to say:

"Running a quick research study — 5 minutes, no login needed. Would love responses from anyone who [uses this product / works in this field / fits this description]. [link]"

3. LinkedIn

LinkedIn works well for professional or B2B card sorts. Your connections are often a reasonably relevant audience, and a public post asking for study participants regularly gets genuine responses.

Tips for better results:

• Include the study link directly in the post (don't ask people to DM you for it)
• Mention what you're researching ("improving the navigation for a project management tool")
• Post mid-week, mid-morning (Tuesday–Thursday, 9–11am)
• Engage with early comments — LinkedIn's algorithm surfaces engaged posts to more people

What to expect: 10–30 responses from a post with ~500 connections. Varies significantly based on how relevant your network is to your research topic.

4. Twitter / X

More unpredictable than LinkedIn but can produce fast spikes. Works best for consumer-facing products with broad audiences.

What helps: Including the study link, being honest about what you're studying, and keeping the ask simple. Longer threads explaining your research context can drive curiosity and clicks.

What to expect: 5–25 responses, heavily dependent on your following size and whether the tweet gets shared.

5. Reddit

Reddit can be highly effective if you post to the right subreddit. The key is matching your research topic to a community where members are genuinely interested in the domain.

Good subreddits for general UX studies:

• r/userexperience
• r/webdesign
• r/design

Domain-specific examples:

• r/personalfinance — for fintech or banking apps
• r/learnprogramming — for developer tools
• r/cooking — for recipe or food apps
• r/photography — for camera or editing software

How to post: Be transparent. Introduce yourself, explain what you're researching, and frame the ask clearly. Most research-related subreddits allow this; check the rules first.

What to expect: 20–80 responses from a well-placed post on a relevant subreddit. Highly variable.

6. Facebook Groups

Domain-specific Facebook groups can be surprisingly effective, especially for consumer products and older demographics.

Search for groups related to your research topic. Most groups allow occasional research requests if framed politely. A well-placed post in a relevant group of 5,000–20,000 members can generate 20–50 responses.

7. University Research Participant Pools

If you're affiliated with a university or have a relationship with one, many departments maintain participant pools for research studies. Ethics approval may be required, but the participants are often motivated and reliable.

Contact the psychology or UX/HCI department directly.

8. Your Personal Network

Don't underestimate direct outreach. Messaging 20 people individually — with a short personal note — typically gets a higher response rate than any broadcast post. The personal ask is harder to ignore.

"Hey [name], I'm working on a quick UX study and you'd be a really useful perspective — would you have 5 minutes? [link]"

This doesn't scale, but for a pilot study or when you need 5–10 specific responses, it works reliably.

Making Free Recruitment Work Better

Add a time estimate. "Takes about 5 minutes" consistently outperforms just sharing a link. People need to know what they're committing to.

Make participation effortless. FreeCardSort studies require no login, no download, and work on any device. Your share link works immediately — the fewer steps, the higher your completion rate.

Follow up once. A single reminder 3–5 days after your initial ask typically doubles your response count. More than one follow-up starts to feel pushy.

Use AI responses to test first. Before recruiting real participants, use FreeCardSort's built-in AI response generation to populate your study with test data. This helps you catch issues with your cards and instructions before spending time on recruitment.

When Free Methods Aren't Enough

Free recruitment has real limits: it's slower, less targeted, and can skew toward people who know you personally. If you need:

• Specific demographics (age, location, employment)
• Strangers (participants who don't know you or your product)
• Speed (responses within hours)

...then a paid panel like Prolific is worth considering. At ~$1.50/response, a 20-person study costs ~$40. Learn more about using Prolific →

Ready to start your study? Create your card sort for free →