Quotas let you control how many participants complete your study from each segment. Instead of getting 50 random responses, you can ensure you get exactly 25 dog owners and 25 cat owners.
Quotas work hand-in-hand with screener questions. Screener questions collect the data, and quotas use that data to decide which segments still need more participants.
After selecting a suitable recruitment panel in the Recruit tab, the option to add quotas becomes available.
You must set a response limit on your study before you can add quotas. Conveo needs to know your total target to calculate when segments are full and when to stop accepting participants. You can set the response limit in the recruitment tab.
How It Works
- You create screener questions that collect participant attributes (e.g., “Are you a dog owner or a cat owner?”)
- You create a quota group by clicking New Quota Group in the recruit tab, and define different segments based on screener answers (e.g., “Dog owners” and “Cat owners”)
- For each segment, logic can be defined to add or exclude the participant from the group
- After creating and defining your segments, you set quota targets for each segment (e.g., minimum 20 of each)
- When a participant completes the screener, Conveo assigns them to a segment and checks if that segment still has room
- If the segment is full, the participant is screened out
Each participant is assigned to one segment per quota group based on the first matching rule. If a participant doesn’t match any segment, they fall into a “no match” bucket which you can also set quotas on.
Segment Logic
Segement logic is realised by creating a set of rules, linked through AND/OR operators:
| Operator | Effect |
|---|
| AND | Connects two (sets of) rules that both have to be TRUE to assign the participant to the segment |
| OR | Connects two (sets of) rules of which at least one needs to be TRUE to assign the participant to the segment |
- Select the relevant screener question from the dropdown menu (e.g., “Are you a pet owner?”)
- Specifiy whether the rule includes or excludes participants by choosing either “Is any of” or “Is none of”
- Select the applicable screener question answers that should apply to this rule (e.g., “Dog owners” or “Cat owners”)
By adding groups, rule sets can be connected using the same AND/OR operators to create more advanced conditional logic
Quota Operators
Each segment quota uses one of three operators:
| Operator | Effect |
|---|
| Min | At least this many participants must complete in this segment |
| Max | No more than this many participants can complete in this segment |
| Exact | Exactly this many participants (acts as both min and max) |
Editing Quota Logic in Live Studies
Have second thoughts about your quotas after launch? You can still modify quota rules and segment logic while a study is live.
Changing quota thresholds or logic will not disqualify participants who have already completed the study. Previously completed responses remain valid, even if they no longer meet the updated conditions.
When you update quota logic:
- Existing responses are reassigned to the appropriate segment based on the new rules
- If a previous recorded response no longer matches any segment, it will automatically be moved to the No Match bucket, ensuring that no data is lost
- The updated quota logic will apply only to new incoming interviews
The following quota elements can be updated while a study is live:
- Edit segment rules (modify logic conditions)
- Change quota operators (Min, Max, Exact)
- Adjust quota target values
- Reorder segments (affects rule evaluation priority)
- Add new segments to an existing quota group
- Delete existing segments
- Add new quota groups
Pausing quotas is not supported. However, quotas can be removed entirely. Please note that removing a quota will lose the quota-related configuration and associated segment data.
Simple Example: Dog vs Cat Owners
Say you’re studying pet care habits and want 30 total responses, evenly split between dog and cat owners.
Setup:
- Add a screener question: “What type of pet do you own?” with options “Dog” and “Cat” (both set to Qualify), and “Neither” (set to Disqualify)
- Set your response limit to 30
- Create a quota group with two segments:
- Dog owners — screener answer equals “Dog”, quota: exact 15
- Cat owners — screener answer equals “Cat”, quota: exact 15
Once 15 dog owners have completed, any new dog owner will be screened out — even though they pass the screener question. Conveo keeps accepting cat owners until they also reach 15.
Advanced Example: Combining Multiple Questions
For a food delivery study, you might want to balance by both age group and usage frequency. Since participants are assigned to one segment per quota group, you need two separate quota groups — one for each dimension.
Screener questions:
- “What is your age?” — options: “18–34”, “35–54”, “55+”
- “How often do you order food delivery?” — options: “Weekly”, “Monthly”, “Rarely”
Response limit: 60
Quota group 1 — Age:
| Segment | Rule | Quota |
|---|
| Young adults | Age = “18–34” | min 15 |
| Middle-aged | Age = “35–54” | min 15 |
| Older adults | Age = “55+“ | min 15 |
| Segment | Rule | Quota |
|---|
| Heavy users | Frequency = “Weekly” | min 20 |
| Moderate users | Frequency = “Monthly” | min 20 |
| Light users | Frequency = “Rarely” | max 20 |
Why separate quota groups? Each quota group is an independent dimension. A participant gets assigned to exactly one segment per group. If you want to balance on age and usage frequency independently, you need one group for each. You could also combine both dimensions into a single group with segments like “Young + Heavy user” — that gives you stricter control over exact combinations, but you’ll screen out more people along the way since each participant must match a specific combo.
How Blocking Works
When a participant finishes the screener, Conveo checks two things:
- Is the participant’s segment full? If the segment has reached its max or exact target, the participant is screened out.
- Are there enough remaining slots? Even if the segment isn’t full, Conveo checks whether accepting this participant would make it impossible to fill the minimums of other segments. If so, the participant is screened out to protect the overall sample balance.
This is why the response limit is required — without knowing the total target, Conveo can’t calculate whether there are enough remaining slots.
Need help? Contact us at support@conveo.ai 
