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Research recruitment email sequence: when to follow up

Process for a research recruitment email sequence: invitation on day 1, first follow-up on day 4 to 5, final follow-up on day 8 to 10, then stop.
Two follow-ups is the limit. After that you are spending goodwill, not earning replies.
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A four-step timeline for recruiting research participants by email: send the invitation midweek, follow up once after four or five days, send a final graceful follow-up after eight to ten days and then stop. It works for customer interviews, usability tests and B2B studies alike. If you send the invitation from Koji, one automatic reminder covers the first follow-up.

Where this appears

What's in this process

  1. Day 1: send the invitation: Tuesday to Thursday works best. Avoid Monday mornings and Friday afternoons.
  2. Day 4 to 5: first follow-up: Only if there is no response. Shorter than the original, with one link and a graceful opt-out.
  3. Day 8 to 10: final follow-up: Close gracefully: no worries if the timing is not right.
  4. Then stop: Two follow-ups at most. Three or more crosses into harassment territory.

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Free to use in your docs, decks and posts under CC BY 4.0, as long as you credit Koji with a link to this page. To embed it, paste this into your page:

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<a href="https://www.koji.so/visuals/research-recruitment-email-follow-up-sequence"><img src="https://www.koji.so/visuals/research-recruitment-email-follow-up-sequence/research-recruitment-email-follow-up-sequence.png" alt="Process for a research recruitment email sequence: invitation on day 1, first follow-up on day 4 to 5, final follow-up on day 8 to 10, then stop." width="1200" height="630" /></a>
<p>Source: <a href="https://www.koji.so/visuals/research-recruitment-email-follow-up-sequence">Research recruitment email sequence: when to follow up</a>, Koji</p>

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