Survey template

Customer interview screener

The fastest way to waste an interview is to talk to the wrong person. This screener filters by actual behavior — how recently and how often someone did the thing you're studying — so you spend your slots on people who can tell you something true.

Best for: Researchers and founders recruiting participants for customer interviews.

The questions

1. How recently have you done [the relevant behavior]?

   Single select

   This week / This month / This quarter / Longer ago / Never — recency is your primary filter; screen out the 'longer ago' and 'never'.

2. How often do you do it?

   Single select

   Daily / Weekly / Monthly / Rarely — target the frequency band that matches the research question.

3. What's your role, and what's your involvement in [the decision or task]?

   Long text

   Confirms they actually own or influence the thing you're studying.

4. What's the size of your company or team?

   Single select

   Solo / 2-10 / 11-50 / 51-200 / 200+ — quota by segment so your sample isn't all one size.

5. Which tools or methods do you currently use for this?

   Multi select

   Confirms relevant experience and helps you balance the mix of perspectives.

6. Would you be open to a 30-minute interview in the next two weeks?

   Single select

   Yes / Maybe / No — willingness gate before you spend a slot reaching out.

7. What's the best email to reach you at?

   Short text

   Collect contact only from people who passed the behavior filters.

How to run it well

• Screen on past behavior, never on stated interest — eagerness to be interviewed is uncorrelated with having done the thing you need to learn about.
• Set quotas per segment before you recruit; otherwise you fill every slot with the most responsive group and miss the people you actually need.
• Put the willingness and email questions last, after the behavioral filters, so you only collect contact details from qualified people.
• Keep the screener short and avoid hinting which answers qualify — leading questions teach motivated respondents how to get selected.

FAQ

Why screen on recency and frequency instead of just demographics?

Demographics tell you who someone is; behavior tells you whether they can answer your questions. Someone in your target role who hasn't done the relevant task recently will give you guesses, not memories.

How many people should I screen to fill my interviews?

Plan for a healthy multiple of your target count — qualification rates and no-shows both eat into it. If you need ten interviews, screening fifty to eighty people is a reasonable starting assumption.

Can the screener double as a recruiting form?

Yes. Collect contact details only from respondents who pass the behavioral filters, then reach out to schedule. That keeps your invite list clean and your interview slots reserved for the right people.

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