Product Update: Screening Redirects

Recollective now allows you to control how screened applicants are to be redirected if they are not accepted into your study.

Recollective now offers the ability to customize the redirection of screened applicants when they are not accepted to your study. Signalling a negative screening outcome to an external site is already possible (via webhooks) and now this feature provides control over where those applicants are sent.

Applicant Screening

Qualitative research outcomes are only as good as the people recruited to join a study. People invited often need to be screened to ensure they represent the desired population and to ensure that the correct balance of individuals is achieved.

Even when sourcing applicants from professional panel organizations, screening remains an important way to segment and qualify those who should actually participate.

Screening can take the form of open and closed-ended questions. It can even be used to collect a video response from applicants for manual review prior to their acceptance. In most cases, however, a series of carefully-crafted poll questions are used to automate the screening process.

Recollective has, for some time now, included powerful screening capabilities directly in the platform. Screening questions can appear when people register for the site or a specific study. The screening step can occur before or after the account registration form.

The poll question type is the most useful as it allows for either qualifying or disqualifying choices to be defined. Multiple poll questions can be combined to create a single screener.

If segments are in use, one can also configure advanced quota limits that guarantee a well-balanced population. For example, a study can be setup to ensure that participants have previously experienced a competitive service and that they live in a particular region. It can then also ensure that the gender split won't be overly skewed (e.g. no more than 60% male or female).

Custom Redirection

When applicants are denied access due the screening process they are shown a notice that is already customizable. Recollective now offers a control to define where those applicants are sent after being shown the notice.

When using professional panel sources, such a redirection can be used to send the applicant back to the panel organization's website while simultaneously signaling that the individual has screened out.

Enabling Custom Redirection

Custom redirection can be added for the following screening outcomes:

  • Site Screener: Disqualification
  • Study Screener: Disqualification
  • Study Screener: Rejection due to quota limits

To add custom redirection, you must first edit one of the notices listed above.

Once in edit mode, enable the "Customize redirection after notice" switch.

An input form will appear for a website address. Once added, select "Save" to enable the redirection.

Use of Dynamic Fields

The website address used for a redirect can be configured to include dynamic values. These are values that are specific to the person being screened and thus have a specific {syntax}. For example "{pid}" is the Panelist ID. When the redirection address is fully generated, all the dynamic placeholders are replaced with actual values.

Here's a partial list of supported dynamic values but note that some data might be missing if the screening process comes before the registration form:

  • {pid} - Panelist ID
  • {epid} - External Panelist ID
  • {fname} - First Name
  • {lname} - Last Name
  • {email} - Email Address
  • {fieldname} - Any custom field defined in the site (i.e. replace "fieldame" with an actual field name)

URL with {dynanic} values:
http://external-site.io/disqualified?user_id={epid}&first-name={fname}

Sample URL generated:
http://external-site.io/disqualified?user_id=123456&first-name=John

Administrators can go a step further by predefining a destination address for each applicant and storing it as a custom field value. For example, you can create a profile field named "RedirectURL" and use that field as the entire redirection address. This approach is only recommended if you're sourcing from multiple panels for one study and thus redirection requirements are unique to each applicant.

Automatic Redirection

When a notice appears to a rejected applicant, a "Continue" button will take them to the redirect address. If desired, the redirection can occur automatically with a timed delay. If the delay is set to zero seconds, the redirection is instantaneous.

Previewing the Screener

Recollective already provides the ability to preview a screener. This allows you to test various combinations of responses to ensure its flow and notices function as expected. Once previewed, the custom redirect address will be visible by hovering on the "Continue" button below the notice.

Applicant Screening Experience

The experience for an applicant that is rejected will not change other than the "Continue" button may now redirect them away from the Recollective site. If automatic redirection is enabled, a countdown will appear below the button and redirection will occur at the end of the countdown.

We hope you will enjoy this new addition to the screening process. There is a lot more to the screening and panel management capabilities in Recollective so please contact us for a personalized demonstration.

Philippe Dame
Co-Founder & CPO

Let's research happy together