Add images to screener questions so participants pick by sight

Ask a screener question like "Which of these running shoes do you own?" and the answer list is a row of names. Model names blur together, a new version looks nothing like the old one, and the same product carries a different name in each market. People tick what sounds familiar. Some of them turn out to have a different product in mind, and by then the interview slot is spent.

Images in screeners, how it works and what it changes, no sound needed.

How it works

• Write the question. Describe your audience to the AI Design Assistant, or write the screener question yourself in the topic guide editor.

• Attach the images. Click Add stimulus on the screener question and create a single image or a side-by-side comparison of two. Give it a title that tells the AI research assistant what it shows, upload the files and attach it.

• Set the rule per option. The images sit under the question, labeled. Mark each answer option qualify or disqualify, the same way you would for any screener.

• Use the answers later. Qualifying answers can segment participants or feed your quotas.

Pair the target with a look-alike

Show the product you're studying next to a close competitor, list both as options and add a way out such as "I don't own any of these". People who own it can pick it out by sight, and the question gives nothing away about which product the study is about.

Research teams asked for it in five situations

These come from conversations with teams in consumer goods, beauty, household care, fashion retail, software and market research agencies. We kept them anonymous.

• Product and brand recognition. Only people who can pick out the exact product get through, so no interview goes to someone who had another one in mind.

• Look-alike packs and variants. Show variants side by side when their names blur together, or put a new pack design next to the one it replaces.

• Studies across markets. A picture stays the same when the product name changes from country to country.

• Style and taste. Participants choose the picture closest to their own style, which is quicker to answer than a written description.

• Concepts and designs. When participants choose between options, show the options as pictures instead of describing them in words.

What this means for your research

Screeners now show participants the thing itself. Picking a product from pictures leaves less room for a guess than picking a name from a list, so fewer interview slots go to people who were thinking of something else.

One limit to know: choosing a picture is still a claim. It shows the participant recognizes the product, and it does not prove they own it. When you need that proof, ask for a photo during the interview with picture upload, or use visual verification on the live camera.

Read the screener questions guide for qualification rules, quotas and how screener answers can decide which stimuli a participant sees.