How do I recruit respondents through Fiuto?
Launch the study, then use the card on its launch page titled Recruit respondents through Fiuto. You choose who answers and how many, and Fiuto recruits them for you. Recruiting is powered by Prolific, and you do not need a panel account of your own.
Where recruiting starts
Section titled “Where recruiting starts”The card sits on the launch page, with a Powered by Prolific badge beside the Recruit button.
- Launch the study and open its launch page.
- Find the card titled Recruit respondents through Fiuto.
- Click Recruit. Fiuto spends a few seconds matching your audience to the panel, then opens three steps: who answers, how many, and review. Nothing is charged until you pay.
Directly above that card sits a different one, Panel redirects, for Prolific, Positly, etc. That one is for a panel account you bring yourself: you set up the study on your own panel and send respondents back to Fiuto. The two cards do different jobs, so pick the one that matches what you have. Recruiting through Fiuto needs no account anywhere else.
Choose who answers
Section titled “Choose who answers”Step 1 is your audience. Type into the search box to find a filter, or browse Prolific’s catalogue. Searching for student status, for example, finds that filter.
Two things are worth knowing before you start adding filters:
- Age and current country of residence are on every Prolific profile.
- Every other profile answer is optional, so each filter you add narrows the pool more than it looks like it should.
Fiuto tags a filter that rests on an optional answer with Optional, so you can see at a glance which of your choices are the narrowing ones.
Allow and block lists work differently from filters. They match participant IDs, not profile answers.
Device is a separate control. It sets what your study runs on, not who is in the pool, so it is not part of the match count. If you set one, fewer people will be reachable. Leave it empty to accept any device.
When your filters leave no one, Fiuto says Nobody matches, and no one in the panel fits every filter you have set. Removing one of the filters tagged Optional is the fastest way to widen the pool.
Choose how many
Section titled “Choose how many”Step 2 is Order size. Each respondent is one completed response, so the ceiling on your order is your plan’s per-launch response cap.
| Plan | Responses per launch |
|---|---|
| Free | 10 |
| Core | 100 |
| Pro | No cap |
Fiuto shows how much room is left on this study. Before anything is collected, it reads Your plan allows 10 responses on this study, with your own cap in place of the figure. Once responses are in, the line names the cap, what has been used, and what remains, so you can see the subtraction. On a plan with no cap, it reads Your plan sets no limit on responses for this study.
Pick a preset or type your own number. If you type a number above the ceiling, Fiuto sets the order to the largest size that fits and tells you the size it used.
When a study has already taken every response your plan allows, Fiuto says No room left on this study, and there is nothing left to recruit for.
What the estimate shows
Section titled “What the estimate shows”As you change filters and order size, Fiuto counts who matches and shows a running price. On a wide screen the figures sit in a card beside your choices, and on a phone they sit in a bar along the bottom.
Current count is the live figure. Last count is the one you had before your most recent change. Update count fetches a fresh one, and Counting who matches means the fetch is running.
If the panel holds fewer people than you asked for, Fiuto says Not enough to fill your order. Order fewer respondents, or widen a filter to reach more people.
Prices and availability move, so a count can go out of date while you are still deciding. Fiuto says Your price is out of date and asks you to get a new count to see the current price. Nothing has been charged at that point.
What you pay and what comes back
Section titled “What you pay and what comes back”Step 3 is Review your order. The quote shows your order, a Cover line naming how many respondents it covers, and the total. The pay button names that total. Click it to go through Stripe checkout.
The cover is why the charge is larger than the respondents you asked for. Prolific charges for everyone who starts your study, including people who answer your screening questions and turn out not to qualify. The cover line pays for those people upfront, so your run does not stop partway through.
Fiuto refunds what your order does not use. You get money back in two cases: if fewer people screen out than the cover allowed for, and if Prolific cannot recruit everyone you ordered. Refunds are worked out once your order settles, which is when the run completes, you stop it, or it expires.
What Fiuto checks before recruiting
Section titled “What Fiuto checks before recruiting”Panel respondents are real people, so Fiuto checks what a study asks them to do. Every panel order’s content is checked automatically before anyone is recruited, by a machine rather than a person. Some content Fiuto cannot recruit for, and some orders wait for a review first.
What Fiuto cannot recruit for
Section titled “What Fiuto cannot recruit for”Fiuto cannot recruit for a study that misleads people about what it is, who runs it, or what will happen. Nor for one that asks a respondent for personal details such as a name, address, phone number, government identifier, card or bank details, or a password. That holds for a mock-up field, even when nothing is stored. Hateful, harassing and illegal content is out too.
This check runs before any charge. If your study falls outside what Fiuto can recruit for, checkout stops with We cannot recruit for this study, and nothing has been charged. You can edit the study and get a new count. If you think the decision is wrong, get in touch.
Images you upload are checked when you upload them, and one can be refused there.
Content that carries a warning
Section titled “Content that carries a warning”Explicit or graphic material is fine to study, and so are sensitive topics such as bereavement, abuse, self-harm, serious illness, or first-hand discrimination.
An order like this always waits for a review, and respondents see a content warning before they start. Only respondents who have opted in to this kind of content are eligible. The estimate does not count that opt-in, so fewer people will be reachable than the count suggested.
When an order waits for a review
Section titled “When an order waits for a review”Payment goes through and the order is held before anyone is recruited in three cases:
- The check flags something in your study.
- The check cannot reach an answer.
- Your study carries a video, because a video cannot be checked automatically.
While an order is held, the order card reads Someone is checking this study. There is nothing for you to do, and progress shows there once recruiting starts.
A review ends one of two ways. Either the order is released and recruiting starts, or Fiuto decides it cannot recruit for the study. In that case no one is recruited and the whole charge comes back.
Follow your order
Section titled “Follow your order”The order’s own card sits on the launch page, titled Fiuto panel order. It reads In progress, Complete, or Not fulfilled.
While the run is going, the card shows Ordered, Delivered, Screened out, and Cover. Two lines beneath them count how many respondents have been delivered out of the number you ordered, and how much of the cover the screen-outs have used. Refresh status fetches the latest figures.
If the cover runs out, the card says screen-out cover is used up, so Prolific has paused new recruitment for this order.
Once the order settles, the card becomes a receipt: Respondents delivered, Price paid, and Refund. It names the dates the order was placed, settled, and refunded, and it says which refund cause applied, either that Prolific could not recruit everyone you ordered, or that fewer people screened out than the cover paid for, or both. When your order used all of its cover, the card says there is nothing to refund.