Approach

When we founded Saros in 2000, it was clear the industry needed a new approach - so we started by doing our own research, and building a service to match the needs of our clients, rather than modelling what already existed. Since then we have developed and perfected our method for online recruitment services.

Project Management

Our team of dedicated project managers work with the utmost integrity to match those hard and soft criteria. We have worked with many brands, retailers and charities. It is our broad participant base from our database and our project management skills that keep clients coming back.

Your project manager will work with you to understand your business, your project and your requirements. They take a thorough recruitment approach selecting participants based on quality and suitablity in relation to your project and the soft and hard criteria. Throughout the process your Project Manager is easily contactable, rapidly responsive, and aligned with your project objectives.

We established our register of market research participants 18 years ago and we have hundreds of thousands of potential respondents already registered, with an active programme of recruiting new people. With strict controls about frequency of participation, plus the constant influx of new members, we provide a stream of fresh research recruits.

We recruit accurately through:

Initial online screener sent to those respondents identified as potentials from our database Expert Project Managers managing the process throughout, communicating with you and ensuring a timely turnaround of your recruitment requirements.
Experienced and thorough research bookers screening every respondent thoroughly by phone, to check accuracy of responses and to ensure that they understand what is expected of them in the research.

Research Methodologies

Saros Research is comfortable and experienced with recruiting for any research methodology you can dream up - whether you want one to one depth interviews, a series of group discussions, workshops with hundreds of participants or surveys with thousands.

Whatever you need them to do, we can find people who are engaged and ready to contribute valuable insights. We can find respondents who are happy to participate in very high disclosure research such as lengthy in-home observations, or to talk about highly sensitive areas from wealth to health. Between us we can devise the right recruitment strategy to target pretty much anyone... when the haystack is big enough, the needle will be in there somewhere.

The more you share with us about exactly what you want from your respondents and what they will be doing, the better we can select the right people, and prepare them for exactly what to expect in the session.

Potential respondents might be familiar with the popular concept of a 'focus group', so if they are going to find themselves in a conflict triad or intense ethnographic observation, we make certain that the commitments and expectations are clear from the outset. We need you to tell us your intentions with regard to recording/observation (we also collect permissions at the point of screening), and we need to know directions to the venue and even what refreshments will be on offer. We can also pre-place your Non Disclosure Agreement, so that participants turn up with it already printed and completed. All this ensures that respondents are clear about and immediately ready to start your research. Just as you want everything to run smoothly, so do the respondents.

Letting us know of any special research processes planned or particular qualities required in a respondent, ensures our inclusion of specific screening in recruitment - things like, highly visual or conceptual thinkers for a packaging development workshop, or super-wordy types for a press campaign. We have recruited all types of people and personalities including crossword addicts, photography enthusiasts, international travellers, polyglots and quiz champions, all bringing unique things to the specific research they we needed for.

Every project is unique and methodologies are changing rapidly, for these reasons we do not publish a rate card. We quote individually for every job. Ask us for a quote, and we'll get a dialogue going today. Whatever your research methodology, having the right respondents is fundamental to your success, and that's where Saros Research will help.

Is it Online Recruitment?

Does Saros 'recruit online' for your research project? Online communications have enabled faster, cheaper and more accessible opportunities for research recruitment than at any time in history, and we firmly believe in seizing all that is positive about using the internet in the primary phase of recruitment.

We think it’s a shame that, to some people, the whole concept of ‘online research’ has developed negative associations, particularly concerning quality.

We use the internet to recruit many of the members of our database in the first place, and also to conduct initial screening - there are many advantages to this, not least the complete removal of any potential for interviewer bias (conscious or unconscious) in the way questions are asked. We use email to send respondent invitations, confirmation details, and pretasks (as well as to communicate with our widely dispersed team internally).

However we ALWAYS conduct a thorough final telephone interview before EVERY respondent is placed in a project. We are only too aware that people can present themselves online in any way they like - that's part of the virtual world - and we need to make sure you are getting the real deal in your projects.

At Saros Research we do not post details of our projects and their qualifying criteria on a blog or list for people to pick and choose what they fancy taking part in. We know our clients prefer to pay for a more robust, effective and honest service, that protects their client's confidentiality and recruitment criteria from non-participants. We do however exploit the power of social media to network and spread the word and encourage the right people to apply for our projects - never sharing more than is necessary, we leverage our members' trust and enthusiasm to help us get the word out to hard-to-reach respondents, and get them to come to us for the projects that they will find interesting and relevant.

Recruitment vs Screening

Saros understands and separates the distinct processes of recruitment and screening of research participants. Traditionally, the two processes of locating suitable research participants and screening them for projects are combined and mixed up. At Saros we approach things differently.

Our unique strength is that we SEPARATE the finding of new people - undertaken centrally by the database development team - from the selection of people for specific projects.

This enables a new level of quality. Our experienced Research Bookers are NOT under pressure to 'fill it up' and get 'bums on seats' - if we send them 100 potential screened online leads and none of them fit the spec, they will tell the Project Manager that they have no one to call. Of course if it's 500 leads and no one to call, the Project Manager will probably need to talk to you about where we can look for flexibility, or what it is in the screener eliminating so many possibles - but our Bookers won't try to bend people in to fit, they have no incentive to do so.

Similarly if there appear to be plenty worth calling but they don't check out on the phone, then they don't get booked in. Because our Bookers don't waste time calling people who are ineligible on the factual stuff (age, location, brands etc), they can really concentrate on rigorously checking the 'softer' factors - motivation, commitment, awareness - the less tangible things that can make all the difference between a good-enough group and a 'wow' group.

They don't have to spend time explaining what research is, why people should take part, why they won't get sold anything or spammed, or what time it starts. Or trying to persuade someone who has just sat down to dinner or Eastenders that they really want to be doing this next Thursday instead. This is what makes Saros respondents - and Saros research recruitment - different and unique.

Why database-driven?

Most recruitment services combine the processes of finding participants with that of screening their eligibility for specific projects. We get better results from separating these two activities.

Why is Saros Research's recruitment service database-driven?

If you want to recruit genuinely fresh new respondents, there's a double task involved - first, they need to be introduced to the role, idea and position of qualitative market research. They need to build trust with the recruitment company, to share the highly personal information necessary to correct demographic profiling - such as their children's ages, their income, their ethnicity.

We know that over 85% of the people who register with us have never taken part in research before - our database is not a register of previous participants assembled from a legacy of traditional recruitment! We are proud of the huge diversity of our respondents, on every factor from lifestage to ethnicity to socieconomic circumstances - because we are not limited to recruiting people known personally to traditional recruiters. We are not interested in persuading people to take part if they don't want to - you need committed and reliable participants - we just work hard at getting the message in front of people who haven't heard it yet. This is what makes Saros uniquely placed to find the perfect respondents for you.

Database Development

Recruitment to the Saros database - which is a wholly separate process to the screening and booking of participants for specific projects - happens all the time. We currently recruit to our database at a rate of 50-100 new members daily, depending on specific marketing and PR activities underway.

We recruit constantly to our database of members, via wide range of channels, to ensure the right respondents are there to meet your needs for projects.

We recruit via a wide range of different means, and are always seeking new ways to reach new groups of people. Some of our favourites include...

Word of mouth - the best possible advocates for taking part in research are those who have done so themselves. They know that not only is it not a scam, it's actually interesting and fun... So we ask our members for referrals all the time, and especially when they've just taken part in a project.

Social media - an extension of this process leverages members existing networks and connections, making it easy for them to spread the word about Saros via channels that are convenient and attractive for them to use, and to recommend projects that might be interesting to specific friends.

Online advertising - this enables us to precisely target people we need, whether they are populations in a specific lifestage, users of social networking sites, shopping in particular markets, etc.

Press and offline advertising - this is helpful in particular for targeting members by geographic area Posters, leaflets and referral cards - our powerful 'What's YOUR opinion worth?' branding helps explain what we do to people who are curious and new to the process - we still regularly come across people who have never heard of qualitative research, and we know these are just the people you want to see in your events in future.

Community outreach - attending community events, sponsoring charity events or leafleting job fairs... we are open to any activity that will help us reach new and untapped sources of potential research participants, and give us a chance to explain to them directly just what it's all about.

Recruitment from Client Lists

Cold calling doesn’t work.

From the start Saros has always approached research recruitment from the point of view of the desired outcome, then worked out the best way to achieve that outcome – rather than simply trying to incrementally improve on the way everyone else does things.

“If my home landline rings these days then it’s either a boiler room scammer or bad news about an elderly relative. Either way it’s rare and never a positive event”

What’s the desired outcome, when recruiting from your client’s lists? Whether B2B or B2C, there are two goals: firstly, achieving successful research recruitment, but secondly, representing your client’s brand as positively and professionally as possible at all times.

That’s why cold calling doesn’t work. Not any more.

We don’t recruit from our database by ringing people up out of the blue – we email them first, putting them in control and ownership of the response and how it is timed. We suggest that cold calling is an ineffective and positively discourteous way to approach your client’s customer database too – disruptive, in a bad way, whether you are crashing into Eastenders or a family meal on a B2C call or battling the gatekeepers on a business recruit.

We can’t email your list, because they have not shared their email address with us – that’d be spam, and we don’t go there. But you can email them, and we make it easy with our preferred systematic and partnership-based approach to list recruitment, as follows:

We create a simple expression-of-interest form, including a little light screening as required, on our website. We can co-brand this as much or as little as you/your client wishes, to present the research exactly as you/your client wants it.
We draft copy for you to mail to your members, including the link to the form, explaining that you are conducting research, and that you have engaged us as independent research recruiters to ensure a fair and robust process of selection. It is strongly recommended to provide a customer service contact at the client’s organisation, who can verify the genuineness of the research exercise for any overly-sceptical recipients.
List members opt themselves in to a call back from us if they are interested in taking part, or delete and ignore if not. Our telephone interviewers then call them back, and screen them thoroughly, and book them into the research
As with any other project, we handle all the administration, joining details and reminders, to ensure your research goes off without a hitch

We believe that this is the most effective and courteous way to deal with list recruits.

Don’t your contacts deserve this courtesy?

Terms of Incentive Payments

An important part of the process

Of course people don’t take part in research just because of the money – we like to think, anyway. But the incentive payment is an important part of the process for the respondents, whose motivation is clearly very different to that of the researcher.

Incentive terms

The incentive payment is an important part of the process for the respondents, who often have direct expenses associated with getting along to fieldwork.

The industry expectation, for any research involving face to face contact, is for cash. We know this is always preferred by our respondents too and can often lead to a higher uptake in applications for a given project.

Whatever the reason might be that you may not be able to handle the cash yourselves, Saros can help.

Online or Telephone Research

Saros can pay your participants after they have taken part in research. ‘Real’ money, (bank transfer) rather than vouchers is most widely acceptable and the industry norm and expectation.

We will collect their payment details and pay them once you’ve confirmed their attendance.

Face to Face Research

Our incentive service can courier you sets of payments made up into envelopes ready to be handed straight to participants, making the whole process very straightforward. If, for any reason, you have any unused incentives at the end of the research project, these are yours to keep. We will have already billed you for them and we do not need them to be returned. If, however, you do need to arrange their return, please contact us.

Our terms for this service are:

Our costs are 15% of the total incentive amount. For cash incentives we’ll add any courier fees charged on to you at cost. We are happy to batch your deliveries for minimum courier costs, on longer term projects.
We must have cleared funds in our account 2 working days before the incentives are required.
If it is not possible for you to send us the funds to be cleared in advance of the fieldwork dates our handling fee doubles to 30%.
We must have notice by MIDDAY MONDAY for any cash amounts to be provided and delivered that week.

Non-cash incentives

If vouchers are to be used we have found Amazon to be widely welcomed, but we must know from the outset that this will be the case, as it may affect costs and feasibility. We advise the exclusive use of vouchers that can be sent to named recipients electronically.

Saros upholds the Market Research Society’s Code of Conduct, and will not recruit for projects in which participants are offered the clients products, in full or part incentive payment (clause B.26, pg15).