How to Engage Participants in Your Online Research Community

Creating a successful Market Research Online Community (MROC) isn’t just about setting up a platform and sending invites. It’s about creating a space where participants feel heard, valued, and inspired to share their honest opinions.

At Angelfish Fieldwork, we know just how powerful the customer voice can be, but only if it’s captured the right way. That means getting engagement right from the start. That means combining thoughtful recruitment, creative community design and strong, skilled moderation.

In this blog, we’ll take you through a step-by-step guide to help you get the most out of your online research community, from recruiting the right people to keeping them engaged from day one. These tips were inspired by our own in-house experience and shaped by conversations at The Quirks Event – London 2025, where top agencies like C Space and Verve shared insights on building truly engaging communities.

1. Design Communities That Are Actually Fun to Be Part Of

If your community feels like a chore, participants won’t engage. Simple as that.

Keep things varied and interactive:

• Think polls, photo uploads, video tasks, storytelling challenges.
• Mix it up to suit different personalities and preferences.
• Make sure everything is user-friendly and mobile-friendly, too.

Need more inspiration? Check out our blog on how to achieve great engagement in your MROC for extra tips on boosting interaction.

2. Show Participants That Their Voice Matters

People are much more likely to contribute meaningfully when they feel valued.

Little things go a long way:

• A quick message to say “thanks,” a shoutout for great answers, or even just a ‘like’ from a moderator.
• Consider small extra incentives for standout contributions.
• Encourage moderators to build rapport and keep communication human and warm.

3. Group People with Others Like Them

Segmentation helps participants feel like they belong. Whether it’s new parents, tech lovers, or eco-conscious shoppers, people open up more when they feel understood.

• Tailor communities so participants have shared lifestyles or behaviours.
• Group chats or threads for each segment can boost conversations and help you dig deeper.

Top tip: Segmentation = better relevance = better insights.

4. Be Super Clear About What’s Expected

This one’s simple but so often overlooked. If participants don’t know what’s expected of them—how long a task will take, how many there are, or when they’re due—they’re more likely to feel frustrated, fall behind, or drop out altogether.

Here’s what works:

• Be transparent during recruitment about time commitments, the number of tasks, and any deadlines.
• Keep task lengths consistent and don’t sneak extra bits in at the end!
• If you plan to go back out with additional probing questions, be mindful of the time this adds on. Where possible, build this into the task design from the outset so participants aren’t caught off guard.
• Use supportive reminders (not guilt trips) to help participants stay on track.

5. Let Your Moderator’s Personality Shine

The moderator isn’t just there to collect data; they’re the beating heart of your community.

A good moderator:

• Builds rapport, asks the right questions, and keeps things on track.
• Knows when to step in, when to sit back, and how to encourage honesty.

To get an expert’s perspective, we asked Chloë Fowler – Qualitative Researcher and Founder of The Nest Research – for her thoughts. Chloë has extensive experience moderating MROCs, and here’s what she had to say:

“Moderators will often spot subtle details in participants’ responses, photos or videos and weave those back into the conversation. This makes people feel truly ‘seen’ – and reassures them there’s a human listening, not just an AI bot!

Good moderators aren’t afraid to inject a bit of their own personality, either. Mirroring a participant’s tone of voice or sense of humour is a great way to build rapport and trust.

Moderating MROCs is appropriately time-consuming if you do it right! It’s easy to throw out the odd ‘thanks’, but it takes time and thought to engage with responses in a way that encourages people to be more honest and thoughtful during the tasks. It’s not just ‘data’, it’s a chance to engage with real people in a way that feels totally different to moderating a group. Like life, the more you put in, the more you get out."

6. Recruit the Right People From the Get-Go

It all starts here. Without a solid recruitment process, even the best-designed community will struggle to deliver the insights you need.

Here’s what to look out for:

• Validation calls help you set expectations, check commitment and build early excitement. These are especially important for MROCs that require long-term or daily engagement.
• Ask practical questions. For example, will the participant be at home during the fieldwork period if your MROC is about their home environment?
• Use a clear, well-structured screener. You want to collect the right information without overwhelming potential participants. Strike a balance between being thorough and keeping it concise.

Want to make sure your tech platform can support all this? Take a look at our guide to key MROC software questions to ask before getting started.

Get It Right with Angelfish Fieldwork

Creating an engaging online research community is about more than picking a platform. It is about listening to your audience and bringing the customer voice to life. That all begins with recruiting the right participants, setting clear expectations, and using moderators who understand how to connect and inspire.

Want a step-by-step checklist to help you get started?

Download our ultimate guide to running your first MROC and make sure you’ve got everything in place to run a successful, insight-rich community.