Start close to home
The easiest place to start is your own network. Not because your friends are your target users (they probably aren't), but because they might know someone who is.
I've found that people are surprisingly good at making connections when you give them something specific. "Do you know anyone who runs a small e-commerce business and has struggled with returns?" works. "Do you know any entrepreneurs?" doesn't.
If cold outreach feels draining, lean into this approach. One warm introduction from someone who knows you is worth ten messages to strangers.
And here's something I do at the end of every interview: ask if they know anyone else who might be willing to talk. Once you've found someone who fits your criteria, chances are they know others in the same world. Same profession, same hobby, same problem. This snowball effect is often how the best research happens.
Working with colleagues
If you work in a company with account managers, support staff, or salespeople, they know your customers. In theory, this should make recruitment easy. In practice, it's often slower than you'd expect.
These colleagues are protective of their relationships, understandably so. They have their own priorities and may not see your research as urgent.
What helps: get a decision maker to back the research. When someone senior signals that this matters, doors open faster.
Going online
Every profession, hobby, and interest has an online community somewhere. LinkedIn groups, Slack workspaces, Discord servers, Reddit, Facebook Groups. The trick is finding where your specific target audience actually spends time.
For B2B research, LinkedIn works well. Direct messages work better than public posts, because people respond to personal, specific requests. A Premium subscription gives you enough messages to fill a research project.
For communities like Reddit or Facebook Groups, check the rules first. Many have restrictions on research requests. Ignore those and your post gets removed, or worse, you get banned.
If you have budget and need specific criteria quickly, recruitment platforms can save you time. They handle the logistics and give you access to people you might not reach otherwise. The cost is significant, but for hard-to-reach audiences, it's often worth it.
Events, trade shows, and guerrilla recruiting
Once, I had two weeks to gather insights for a project about the equipment rental market. A colleague discovered there was a trade show for construction equipment rental happening that week, directly across the street from our client's office. Luck, sure. But since then, I always check if there's a relevant event coming up.
Events are powerful. In a single day, you can talk to more people than you'd reach in weeks of online outreach. And even short conversations help you sharpen your questions for deeper interviews later.
The trade-off: you rarely get space for in-depth conversations on the floor. Use events to make quick connections and collect contact details for follow-ups.
Trade show tickets can be expensive. An alternative: position yourself in the arrival hall, coffee corner, or lunch area. Anywhere people have a few minutes. Stay away from the booth area; it's not fair to the exhibitors who paid to be there. And be aware that organizers may ask you to leave if they notice what you're doing.
Making short conversations count
At events, you often only get 5-15 minutes per person. That's not enough to cover everything, but you can still gather useful insights if you're intentional about it.
One approach I use: rotate your questions across conversations. Person A gets questions 1, 2, and 5. Person B gets 1, 3, and 4. You won't get complete answers from any single person, but across ten conversations, you'll have covered your whole script. And you'll know which questions deserve deeper follow-up.
Guerrilla recruiting
For B2C research, consider the arrival hall of an airport or train station. People are waiting, often bored, and surprisingly open to a quick conversation. It's guerrilla-style, but it works when you need volume fast.
How to ask
The best outreach messages are genuinely personal. Write it like you'd write to someone you actually want to talk to. Mention something specific about them or their work. Ask a real question.
And when people don't reply, follow up. A brief reminder after a few days. Most people aren't ignoring you; they just got busy and forgot. I've had some of my best interviews come from follow-up messages.
Whether to pay
You might be surprised how often you don't need to. Most people enjoy talking about their work and their lives. Being asked for your opinion is flattering. Many will say yes without expecting anything in return.
That said, if you're struggling to recruit, or if you're asking for a significant chunk of someone's time, a small incentive can help. A €20 gift card often does the job. The exact amount depends on who you're talking to and what's reasonable in their context.
The first few asks are the hardest
Recruiting feels uncomfortable at first. You're asking strangers for their time. It feels like you're imposing.
In practice, most people are willing to help. They're flattered you value their opinion. The awkwardness isn't about them. It's about you warming up, getting used to your script, finding your rhythm. After a few conversations, it becomes routine.
One thing that helps me: set a goal you can actually control. "Get 5 interviews this week" depends on other people saying yes. "Reach out to 20 people today" is something you can do regardless of the response.
So just start. Send that first message. Walk up to that first person at the event. It feels uncomfortable, but almost every time, you'll learn something valuable. Something you wouldn't have wanted to miss.