Finding the right people for a research study can take time. An in-app recruiting widget lets you ask people who are using your application whether they would like to participate in a specific study. Display it on pages relevant to your research to reach people with experience of the topic.
When someone opts in, you can review their response and decide whether to invite them to the study. Aha! Discovery does not send invitations automatically.
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The in-app recruiting widget is available with Aha! Discovery Advanced. Administrators, owners, and contributors can create and manage recruiting widgets.
Create an in-app recruiting widget
Each study can have one recruiting widget.
Open the study where you want to recruit participants.
Open the Participants page.
Open In-app recruiting, then click Create.
Enter a Title and Description for the recruiting widget. Explain the research topic so people can decide whether they would like to participate.
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In the Question section, customize the invitation question and response labels.
The default question is Are you open to a quick chat with our product team?
The default response options are Yes, you can contact me and No, not at this time.
Select Enable optional text field to add one screening question. Ask for information that will help you decide whom to invite. For example, for a study about reporting, ask: "How do you use reports in your role?"
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In the Branding section, choose a Color and Accent color that match your application. Use Position to choose where the widget button appears. Choose a Button icon and Button text that help people notice the widget in your application.
To open the widget from your own button or link, select Custom for Position. Ask your developer to connect the sample script to that button or link. The standard widget button will not appear, and Target URLs will not apply. See Install a custom trigger for setup instructions.
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In the Visibility section, add Target URLs for the pages where you want the standard widget button to appear. Choose pages relevant to your study.
Enter a full URL to target a specific page.
Use an asterisk (
*) to match multiple pages. For example, if you enter "https://www.example.com/billing/*," the widget will appear on every page in the /billing section of your site.Enter * for the widget to display on every page where the widget code is installed. The widget code must run on those pages.
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If you selected Custom for Position, skip Target URLs; your application controls where the custom trigger appears. Select the Application that matches your widget-code installation.
If your installation uses Default, select it.
If your application already uses another Aha! in-app widget, select the same application configuration.
For a separate application, create a separate Application configuration and install its code snippet.
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Click Open preview to review the widget. You can preview it at any time while customizing it. Check that:
The invitation clearly explains the research topic.
The response labels make it clear whether someone agrees to be contacted.
The optional screening question helps you decide whom to invite.
The button is easy to find and does not cover important parts of your application.
The text is readable against the selected colors.
When the widget is ready and the code is installed, make it active.
Install the widget in your application
The shared Aha! widget code must be installed in your application. If your application already uses it for another in-app widget, you do not need to reinstall it.
For a new installation:
Open Widget code.
Select the Application where you want the widget to appear.
Click Copy code snippet.
Share the snippet with the developer who manages your application.
Ask the developer to install the snippet on the pages where you want widgets to appear and configure it to pass the current user's identity. See In-app widget installation for complete installation instructions. We recommend JSON Web Token (JWT) authentication to make your widget secure.
After installation, you can configure recruiting widgets for additional studies without reinstalling the code. Changes to JWT or custom triggers can require developer help.
What participants experience
By default, people see a Research opportunity button in your application. You can customize its text and appearance. When someone clicks the button, the recruiting question opens.
The installed widget code passes the person's name and email address to Aha! Discovery. They can answer the recruiting question and, if you enabled it, provide an optional screening response.
After someone submits a response, the widget confirms that it was saved. The widget button no longer appears for that person.
Review responses and invite participants
Review response results on the In-app recruiting page. The Results section shows a total response count and lets you filter responses by Yes or No.
Use the participant list to review respondents and manage invitations:
When someone selects Yes, Aha! Discovery adds them to the study with a status of Not invited if they are not already a participant.
When someone selects No, Aha! Discovery does not add them to the study if they are not already a participant.
If someone is already a participant, either response appears in the participant list. Their existing participant status does not change.
Review each participant's response option, optional response text, and response date. Filter the list by Poll answer option or Poll response created date to find people who are interested in participating.
Select the participants who fit your research needs and send interview invitations when you are ready. See Introduction to macros for details about invitation emails.