Audience research
Part of Five permission records for UGC marketplaces audience research in England
UGC marketplaces: how to run customer interviews that stay clear of sales
Run neutral UGC marketplace interviews in England with recent-event prompts, separate permissions, accessible sessions and defensible limits.
What to take away
- An eligible commission is one paid UGC asset, briefed by an England-based brand and authorised, operated, rejected or corrected inside a set window.
- Recruit only people with that direct role, and ask for a redacted record where the decision needs checking.
- Once a session carries promotion or collects leads, the ICO treats it as direct marketing rather than research.
- Ask about documents, hand-offs and exceptions instead of imagined future purchases.
- Publish eligible, interviewed and usable counts beside non-response, missing roles and conflicting accounts.
Define the eligible commission before recruiting
One line is enough. An eligible commission is a single paid short-form asset, such as a 30-second vertical video, briefed by an England-based brand and decided within your screening window.
Recruit against that definition, not against interest in UGC marketplaces. Someone who signed off claims on one asset can describe its record trail. Rights sit in the contract, and the guide to UGC contract categories sets out which clause applies.
Define the eligible commission
| Role in the commission | What the participant can describe |
|---|---|
| Authoriser | Budget, claims approval, rights sign-off |
| Operator | Brief, creator contact, draft rounds |
| Rejecter | The reason the asset stopped |
| Corrector | Revisions, reshoot or takedown |
Example screener and prompt set
Qualify with a short screener, then explore with open prompts. Keep the screener factual, because a screener that sells disqualifies the session.
- Which single UGC commission did you personally authorise, operate, reject or correct?
- On what date did that happen, and can you share a redacted record?
- Did you hold budget or approval authority for that asset?
- Who else touched the brief, the draft or the sign-off?
What started the commission? Which record did you open next? Who could stop publication? What would you have needed to change?
Keep the session on the work, not the pitch
Ask about what happened rather than what might happen. "What started the commission?" beats "Would you buy this?" The Magenta Book, used for UK qualitative appraisal, keeps stated preference apart from observed behaviour and does not turn an interview into a forecast.
Consent, recording and information duties
Give an accessible information sheet before recording. It should name the purpose, the controller, the researchers, observers, recording, data use, sharing, retention, withdrawal and the complaint route.
UK GDPR Article 6 fixes the lawful basis, and Article 13 sets the information owed to a participant. The contents page on legislation.gov.uk is the reference to hand a legal reviewer.
Reconfirm permission when recording starts rather than burying it in general terms. Public sector consent guidance covers the same ground for government services.
Keep research clear of direct marketing
Do not recruit a creator, sell marketplace access or collect sales leads inside the session. The ICO's identification of direct marketing explains that messages carrying promotion, or supporting later marketing, fall under PECR rather than research.
Name a privacy reviewer for the invitation and the contact route. If findings later shape a paid post, the advertising rules article on recognition and rights is the next read before anything goes live.
Make the session usable
Ask each participant about communication, format, timing, assistive technology, interpreter and venue needs. Do not infer a diagnosis from a profile. Public sector guidance on research with disabled people says to check that consent materials are usable and to address the participant rather than a helper.
What interview evidence cannot show
Analyse cases by role and event. Interview evidence can reveal a process failure or disprove a hypothesis, but it cannot establish England-wide prevalence, willingness to pay or marketplace performance.
Checklist before you start
- Confirm the participant's direct role in an eligible recent commission.
- Give an accessible information sheet before recording.
- Reconfirm consent on the recording itself.
- Keep sales, creator recruitment and lead collection out of the session.
- Log the consent version, access and deletion date for each record.
- Report eligible, interviewed and usable counts with non-response.
Common questions
How many interviews do I need?
There is no England-wide standard. Decide which roles you must cover, then report non-response and missing roles instead of claiming saturation.
Can interviews tell me what my audience wants?
No. One buyer's account is not audience evidence, and the audience research guide for England keeps five permissions apart and treats profiles as non-evidence.
How do I keep an interview from becoming a sales pitch?
Keep promotion and lead collection out of it. The ICO treats messages that promote, or support later marketing, as direct marketing under PECR, whatever the session is called.
Can I reuse interview findings in an advert?
Only where the participant's consent covers that use. Quoting a buyer in a UGC ad needs separate permission beyond the interview consent.
