How to Find Interview Respondents in 48 Hours
My step-by-step method to line up 5–10 quality interviews, tested in both startups and big corporations.
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There’s one question I’ve heard more than any other.
Across different companies I’ve worked at, and every time I teach my product management course, students always ask the same thing:
“Where do we find respondents for interviews?”
For some people, this is a real pain point. They spend weeks preparing questions, arguing about scripts, but… simply don’t know who to invite.
Instead of real conversations with users, they start making things up — and that’s how classic product hallucinations are born.
This has always surprised me a little. For me, finding respondents is just routine — almost like checking my inbox. But I get why for many PMs it feels like a dead end. There’s no clear playbook, just a messy list of tips scattered across blog posts and chat threads.
That’s why I decided to share my own approach: how to line up 5–10 relevant interviews in 48 hours without turning it into a side project that eats up half your life.
It’s not “the one true way.” It’s just my working method — tested both in scrappy startups and in big corporations.
My system: Find → Qualify → Convert
When people ask me “Where do I find respondents?” I usually answer: it doesn’t really matter where. What matters is how you run the process.
My logic is simple and built on three steps:
Find — I always run 2–3 channels in parallel. Why not just one? Because every channel is a hypothesis. Today LinkedIn might work, tomorrow it’s a Slack post, the day after it’s an old colleague who introduces you to the perfect fit.
Qualify — before I drop someone into the calendar, I ask a couple of quick filter questions. Who are they? When was the last time they dealt with this problem? Do they have influence over the decision? Those five minutes can save hours (sometimes days) of wasted interviews.
Convert — I keep it dead simple: a calendar link with three immediate slots. No “maybe next week.” People live in their own rhythms, and if you don’t catch them today or tomorrow, it won’t happen.
I also have a personal Stop/Go rule:
if after ~100 touches I get fewer than 3–5 interviews booked, the issue isn’t volume — it’s my message or my targeting. That’s the moment to switch wording or channels instead of just pushing harder.
It sounds almost too simple. But this exact system has helped me — from small startups to large corporations — line up the right people quickly and without the stress.
Where to Actually Find Respondents
Whenever the topic of recruiting respondents comes up, I often hear vague advice like “try social media” or “ask your colleagues.” That’s like telling someone to “look for a needle in a haystack.”
In reality, it’s more down to earth: you just need a few working channels and the right combination.
I don’t believe in one magic source. Sometimes LinkedIn works, sometimes it’s conferences, and occasionally it’s niche communities nobody thinks of. Here are the channels that have actually worked for me.
1. Friends-of-friends
The simplest way to get moving. Your own friends probably aren’t your target audience, but they know people who are closer to your niche.
💡 How I do it: I send the same short message to 20–30 friends:
“Hey! We’re currently researching how small businesses manage expenses. Do you know anyone who actually deals with this?”
From 20 messages I usually get 5–6 warm intros. Enough to test a script and kick off conversations.
2. Social posts (LinkedIn, Twitter, Reddit)
The formula is simple: short post, clear segment, and a low barrier to respond (“drop a + in the comments”). Then you DM them with a calendar link.
💡 Example: I once posted on LinkedIn:
“Looking for 5–6 B2B SaaS sales professionals for a 30-min interview. If you’re up for it — just leave a +.”
Within two days I had several replies and a handful of interviews booked.
This works best if you have an active audience. But even with 300–500 connections, you can still get a decent pool. The key is clarity: the more specific your ask, the higher the response rate.
3. Communities and professional groups
There are spaces where people gather naturally: forums, private groups, professional clubs. You can find surprisingly narrow segments there — from farmers to procurement managers.
The catch: it’s usually a cold audience. If you just show up and drop “Looking for respondents,” you’ll get nothing.
💡 What works better: join early and “live” in the community a bit. A few comments, a couple of helpful posts. Then, when you ask:
“Looking for 5–6 people who recently implemented a CRM — happy to chat,”
it feels like a normal request instead of spam.
Once, we were looking for small farmers. LinkedIn and Facebook gave us zero. But a niche community responded — two people joined, and each gave us a couple more contacts. That snowballed into 5–6 solid interviews in what first looked like a dead segment.
4. Existing users or clients
If you already have a product, your users are a goldmine. But the approach depends on whether you’re in B2C or B2B.
B2C: you can go broad — email, push, in-app banners. Typical conversion is 5–10%, with loyal audiences sometimes hitting 15–20%.
💡 In one edtech project we pushed: “Want to help us improve your learning experience? 20 min interview.” → 12% said yes.B2B: it’s much tougher. Decision-makers are busy and rarely see the value. If 3–5% agree, that’s already a win.
💡 In one case, account managers sent out invites to their clients. Out of 20, just 1–2 said yes. Small numbers, but those conversations gave the deepest insights.
5. Paid platforms (User Interviews, Respondent.io, TestingTime)
These are your “insurance policy” when time is short or the segment is too niche.
User Interviews:
General consumers: $40–60
Professionals: $80–120
Executives / B2B decision makers: $150–250
Respondent.io: similar rates, plus ~30% platform fee.
TestingTime (Europe): €50–150 depending on profile.
Yes, it’s more expensive — but you can fill your quota within a day.
6. Conferences & events
The most underrated channel. Online outreach is slow; conferences give you live conversations right there.
How I do it:
Research relevant conferences in advance.
Ask for the attendee or speaker list (often public).
Reach out a week before: “I’ll be at [conference], would love to hear about your experience with X. Do you have 30 min?”
On site, I walk up after a talk:
“Really interesting point about automation. Can you share where it’s been painful in practice?”
💡 At a SaaS event in Berlin, I ran three face-to-face interviews in a single day. That was more than I’d gotten in a full week of LinkedIn back-and-forth.
🎯 The takeaway: There’s no universal channel.
In B2C, scale works: posts, pushes, communities.
In B2B, you need targeted hits: LinkedIn, conferences, account managers.
My strategy: always combine. Two channels for speed + one “backup” channel in case things stall. That mix usually gets me 5–10 interviews in 48 hours, even in tough segments.
Why People Say Yes to Interviews
A lot of PMs assume the only way to get someone on an interview is to pay them. That’s not true. Over the years I’ve noticed: people have plenty of reasons to say yes — and money is rarely at the top of the list.
Here’s what actually works:
1. Ego: “I’m an expert”
People like being listened to. When you write something like:
“You’re one of the most experienced CRM users in your company, and your perspective is really valuable to us,”
the chance they’ll say yes goes up dramatically. They feel their expertise matters.
💡 I once had a case with call center managers. Out of 10 messages that stressed “your experience is critical,” four agreed. When I just wrote “we need an interview,” nobody even replied.
2. Altruism: “I want to help”
Some people simply enjoy helping. They’ll agree if they see their input could improve a product or process.
💡 In an edtech project, we wrote to users:
“Your feedback will help us make learning easier for you and your colleagues.”
Even inactive users came back to talk.
3. Curiosity: “This might be useful for me too”
Interviews often feel like a mini therapy session: people talk through their pains, organize their thoughts, sometimes even find their own answers.
💡 One SMB founder told me after an interview:
“Thanks, I actually see more clearly now where the chaos is in our processes.”
It was just as valuable for him as it was for us.
4. Value: “This could improve my life”
If someone is genuinely struggling with a problem, just having the chance to talk about it can feel valuable. Especially in B2B:
“We’re building a tool to simplify procurement workflows. We’d love to hear your experience.”
If the message hits a real pain point, the odds of them saying yes go way up.
5. Perks (payment, bonuses, gifts)
This works when nothing else does.
In the US, gift cards worth $25–50 are common.
In Europe, discounts or free product months are popular.
In B2B, execs may expect $150–250, but often agree more because they see the product’s relevance than for the money.
💡 I try not to start with payment. But for rare segments or tight deadlines, a small reward speeds things up a lot.
🎯 The takeaway: money isn’t the main motivator.
In 80% of cases, ego, altruism, or clear value are enough. Payment is just a backup for harder segments.
My go-to scripts & cases
I’ve tested dozens of different wordings. Over time I realized something simple: what works isn’t polished “corporate speak,” but short, human messages. Here are the scripts that have actually worked for me.
1. LinkedIn DM (B2B)
Message:
“Hi [Name], I’m a product manager currently researching how companies handle [X]. I see you have experience in this area. Would love to hear your perspective — just 20–30 minutes. Would next week or the one after work for you?”
💡 In cold B2B outreach, it’s always “slow and few.” If 1 out of 10–15 people replies, that’s already normal. Sometimes less. But if it’s the right person, even one interview is gold.
2. Warm intro (friends & colleagues)
Message to a friend:
“We’re looking into how small businesses manage their finances. Do you know anyone who actually deals with this? Could you intro me?”
💡 Conversion here is much better. One friend often brings 1–2 intros. Out of ten such asks, you might get a couple of interviews. The trick is not to overthink it — just ask directly.
3. Community post (B2C / SMB)
Post in a group or forum:
“Hi everyone! Looking for 5–6 entrepreneurs who recently launched online stores. Short interview (20 min). If you’re up for it — just drop a + in the comments and I’ll DM you.”
💡 Depends on the group. In a big community, you might get several replies in a day. In a small niche one, maybe one or two per week — but those are often the most valuable.
4. Referral ask (my favorite trick)
At the end of every interview I ask:
“Thanks for the chat, this was super helpful. Do you know 1–2 other people with a similar experience I could talk to?”
💡 This almost always works. Even if they don’t have names on the spot, they often follow up later. Sometimes one respondent can snowball into a whole chain: one person → two more → two more.
5. Case: when I messed it up
Once I blasted LinkedIn with a template like:
“Your opinion is important to us, we’d like to improve our service.”
Zero response. Why? It sounded like corporate spam.
I rewrote it to be more personal: “I see you actually work with this — I’d love to hear your experience.” And people started replying.
🎯 The takeaway: the simpler and more honest the message, the higher the chance of a reply.
Don’t expect magic conversion rates. In B2B, if you land one interview from 20 touches, that’s fine. In communities or via friends, it’s usually higher — but there’s always a lottery element.
Involving the Team
There’s an old joke: a PM comes back with research results, and the developers look at him as if he’s just returned from vacation and is telling them “it was really interesting there.”
And it’s true: reports and slide decks rarely change minds. Developers and designers don’t feel users through PowerPoint. They only start believing when they actually hear people live.
💡 On one project, we invited a developer to join a user interview for the first time. After the call he said:
“Now I get why they’re so frustrated with that button. I thought we’d already simplified it.”
That single conversation did more for prioritization than three previous research reports.
How I usually do it
If the interview is online, I bring at least one team member in “silent mode.” Just listen and take notes.
Sometimes I ask the designer to take notes. They end up noticing patterns themselves — and argue less during reviews.
Occasionally I run a mini-session for the whole team: 2–3 users, 2–3 short interviews in a single morning. By the end, everyone shares a clearer picture of who our user is and what’s really blocking them.
Advanced format
The “heavy artillery” is workshops like Product Backlog Refinement sessions with users. Yes, they take prep and time. But if you need to ground a team in reality fast — they work wonders.
🎯 Takeaway: one hour of the team hearing users directly is worth more than 20 pages of a report.
Sometimes just sitting in on a single interview saves weeks of debate.
Conclusion
Finding respondents isn’t magic or luck. It’s discipline — and the right mix of channels.
In B2C, broad tactics work: posts, push, communities.
In B2B, it’s all about targeted hits: LinkedIn, conferences, account managers.
And remember: interviews are oxygen for your product. Without them, the team lives in hallucinations, arguing over features “from their own heads.”
I’ve shared the playbook that’s saved me more than once, across very different contexts.
And no, I don’t have the universal “do this and you’ll always succeed” recipe. But I do know this: if you run 2–3 channels in parallel, filter respondents clearly, and never hesitate to ask for referrals — you can line up 5–10 interviews within 48 hours, even in tough niches.
📎 If user interviews are on your mind, you might also like my other guides:
Thanks for reading. Glad to have you here.
Take care and talk soon.
— Dmytro