In Data We Trust: The Case for Authenticity

1. Lock Down Your Audience: Tighten those screener questions

Trust starts with the right participants. You’ve got to make sure you’re speaking to the real deal—the people who genuinely represent your target audience.

This means tightening your screener questions and setting clever traps to filter out frauds. Use logic checks and hidden signals that only your desired audience would know. Don’t just ask if they’ve used your product—ask about their behaviour, preferences, and experiences in a way that reveals who they truly are. A tight screener will save you time and give you reliable data you can trust.

2. No Fakes Allowed: Weed out bots and serial participants

It’s shocking how many research participants are bots or “professional survey-takers"—people who know how to game your system. Up to 60% of quant research participants are fraudulent, so ensuring authenticity starts by blocking these bad actors at the door (at ImpactSense, we kick out 40% more quant respondents than others in our industry).  

Do a quick video chat before launching a qual session or use facial coding tech in quant surveys to catch red flags early. Be mindful, though —while tools like facial coding can help, relying solely on them isn’t enough. Tackling bots requires a multi-layered approach throughout the entire research process, from survey design to post-field checks.

To start, use open-typing red herrings that bots can’t easily answer. Keep an eye on fieldwork traffic, spotting patterns like unusually fast or overnight completions. Don’t forget to review open-ended responses for non-local language or spelling errors. It’s all about a holistic approach that deters bots before, during, and after data collection.

3. Go Where Your Audience Hangs Out: Get creative with recruitment

Tired of fishing in the same panel pools? Try switching things up. High-net-worth individuals aren’t taking surveys for £2, and niche B2B professionals aren’t living on generic panels.

Find them where they already are—at high-end banks, in luxury shops, LinkedIn, Slack groups, or exclusive industry forums. Look at where your key audience spends their time and be bold enough to go after them. Recruitment shouldn’t be stuck in 2010—think outside the box and access the real people who drive your brand forward.

4. Get Conversational: Make surveys an experience, not a chore

Survey fatigue is real. If you want authentic, thoughtful responses, you need to create an engaging experience for participants.

Stop bombarding people with dull, generic questions and start designing surveys that feel like a conversation. Use tools that mimic natural language and add a dash of personalisation to make the whole process less ugh. Keep it short, interactive, and, most importantly, worth their time.

5. Soft Launch & Clean Up: Test before you trust

Before you go all in, take your study for a test run. A soft launch not only helps you gauge engagement levels, spot survey drop-offs, and identify where participants might be rushing through or straight-lining, but it also offers a chance to pilot and refine your questionnaire.

And don’t be afraid to amend your questionnaire after the soft launch. It's not just about cleaning the data but reviewing the setup and functionality of your questions to ensure you're getting the most out of your data. For example, could a different question type reduce straight-lining? Or does the data reveal opportunities for adding plausibility checks? A post-soft-launch review is crucial for ensuring your survey is optimised beyond data cleaning—giving you a clear, reliable picture.

6. Avoid Assumptions: Capture the power of apathy

Don’t forget that sometimes a lack of strong opinion is just as valuable as passionate feedback. If your audience doesn’t have strong feelings about a feature or product, that’s a goldmine of insight in itself.

Capture these moments of apathy or indifference, and don’t shy away from letting your audience feel neutral. Sometimes, what people don’t care about is the key to identifying where you need to innovate or pivot.

At the end of the day, authenticity is the cornerstone of impactful research and a crucial element of effective, actionable insights. By addressing these challenges head-on, you not only safeguard the integrity of your data but also empower your brand to make decisions grounded in genuine understanding. Embrace these practices to ensure that your research efforts deliver the clarity and confidence you need to stay ahead.

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