Managing Quotas & Preventing Drop-Off

Quota management and drop-off prevention are two of the most critical skills for running a reliable, well-balanced research project. Even when your screener is thoughtfully built and your recruitment plan is solid, real participants behave in unpredictable ways—segments fill unevenly, high-fit applicants sometimes withdraw, and no-shows can derail studies if you aren’t prepared. 

In this lesson of Managing Live Projects, you’ll learn strategies for staying ahead of these issues, including:

• How to manage and adjust quotas mid-study 
• How to handle fraudulent or incomplete participants 
• Best practices for preventing no-shows

⚡️ Coming Soon: In early 2026, we’ll be releasing several exciting new product developments to help you manage quotas with ease. You’ll be able to set quota targets, visualize quota progress, and use automations to monitor and manage your pipeline without manual tracking. 

📹 Prefer watching to reading? This content is available as both an article and a video. Watch our Customer Success Manager, Kaylynn Knollmaier, take you through the content in the video below or keep reading to dive in!

Tips for managing quotas

Quota management is easier when you continuously monitor your applicant pipeline and take action early. Quota targets and automation features are coming soon in UI, but for now, key strategies for managing quotas within User Interviews include:

• Review applicants daily to avoid bottlenecks. Uneven segments are much easier to correct early on.
• Monitor your qualified pool size. If you see one segment filling faster than another, adjust your screener or messaging accordingly.
• Be transparent in your team notes. Internal notes help coordinators and teammates understand niche requirements or quota logic.

For example, if you need equal numbers of iOS and Android users and your pipeline is skewed 80/20, immediately edit your screener so only Android users qualify, or add a disqualifying condition for iOS and continue reviewing manually. Small changes like these, early on, can save you hours of time later.

Updating screener logic mid-study

If needed, you can safely update screener logic after your project launches. Cases where you may want to update your screener logic include:

• Your early applicants reveal a flaw in the screener logic.
• A quota isn’t filling because the logic is too restrictive. 
• You need to introduce new qualification criteria. 

If you find yourself in any of these instances, you can head back to the screener section of your project workspace and edit:

• The question text
• Logic and disqualifying conditions
• Multi-select options
• Qualification thresholds

Note that edits only apply to new applicants, so previous applicants will retain their status. Double-check that any participants in your pipeline haven’t been incorrectly qualified or disqualified. 

How to handle fraudulent, incomplete, or canceled participants

Sometimes, you might encounter low-quality or suspicious applicants, and it’s important to handle them responsibly and efficiently.

Some red flags to look for when evaluating participants include:

• Generic or inconsistent profile details
• Responses that appear copied/pasted or AI-generated
• “Perfect” or overly polished answers that don’t match real-world behavior
• Duplicate submissions 
• Refusing video in studies that require video
• Very fast or nonsensical screener responses

How to handle them in UI:

• Mark them as “Not a Fit” to remove them from the qualified pool.
• Report them using the built-in reporting tools if behavior is clearly fraudulent.
• Message participants if clarification is needed (e.g., conflicting profile responses).
• Remove or cancel participants who drop out mid-study and replace them by approving more.

Best practices for preventing no-shows

Minimizing no-shows is one of the most important skills for keeping moderated studies on schedule. UI provides tools to help, but researcher actions make the biggest impact.

To reduce no-shows, be sure to:

• Send a confirmation message right after a participant books a session.
• Use reminders (built-in for Recruit; send manual reminders for Hub).
• Share clear instructions, including requirements (camera needed, device type, prep work).
• Check for scheduling conflicts—avoid approving someone whose availability doesn’t match open slots.

Communicating effectively with participants doesn’t have to take too much of your time. Your reminder messages can be short and sweet, like: “Hi! Looking forward to speaking with you tomorrow. Please double-check that you’ll be on a laptop with your camera enabled. If you need to reschedule, let me know ASAP.”

Quota management and participant engagement are two of the most influential factors in whether a recruitment project succeeds on time and with high-quality data. By using UI’s ratings, screener edits, and participant management tools—and by communicating clearly and proactively—you can reduce drop-off, maintain balanced segments, and create a positive experience for participants from start to finish.