Why 2025 is the year of the user panel

User panels are a core part of scalable research. If your team is scrambling for participants, chasing Sales for leads, or drowning in spreadsheets, it’s time to rethink your recruitment strategy.

Research democratization is speeding up. More PMs, Designers, and Engineers are running their own studies, which is great — until participant management spirals out of control. Explaining why the same user was contacted multiple times or why a key customer never got a follow-up is a headache no one needs.

A well-organized panel keeps Research Ops in control. Teams gain quick access to engaged participants, prevent recruitment from turning into a crisis, and reduce research fatigue. With a curated, always-available participant resource, research can run faster and with fewer hurdles.

Why 2025 is a turning point for research teams

Research teams are under increasing pressure. The old methods — relying on Sales for introductions, scrambling to find participants, and juggling disconnected tools — can’t keep up with today’s research demands. Product teams need fast feedback, and recruitment must scale to match development timelines.

What’s driving the shift?

• Demand for continuous discovery: Conducting User Research is an ongoing process that helps teams make timely, informed decisions. Without a steady stream of participants, research slows down, and teams risk making choices based on stale feedback.
• Scalability challenges: Manual recruitment methods are time-consuming and hard to scale. Digging through spreadsheets, sending cold emails, and waiting on Customer Success wastes valuable time. Structured panels simplify recruitment and support growing demand.
• Operational inefficiencies: Relying on email threads and scattered tools leads to duplicate outreach, lost consent records, and an administrative backlog. Panels streamline these workflows, allowing researchers to focus on gathering feedback instead of managing logistics.
• Tighter compliance and governance requirements: Regulations like GDPR and CCPA demand responsible data handling. Using multiple, disconnected systems to manage consent increases legal risk. A centralized panel supports compliance and builds trust with participants.
• Decentralized research adoption: Research is no longer confined to UX Researchers. PMs, Designers, and Engineers are gathering user feedback, which can lead to inconsistent outreach and over-contacting. Panels give teams organized access to users while Research Ops maintains control over governance and data security.

What are user panels and why are they essential?

A user panel is a pre-vetted network of participants who have opted into research. With a panel in place, teams can recruit quickly and gather data without the usual recruitment headaches.

How research teams use panels

• Continuous discovery: Panels keep research rolling by providing a dynamic pool  of active participants for ongoing research.
• Targeted segmentation: Not all users are alike. Panels help teams filter by persona, behavior, or demographics to ensure the right participants are recruited for each study.
• Streamlined participant management: Panel-building tools simplify outreach, scheduling, and consent tracking, reducing manual admin work.
• Recurring studies: Panels support ongoing initiatives like monthly usability tests or long-term feedback loops on schedule.

Types of user panels

• Evergreen panels: These long-term pools grow over time and support ongoing research. Companies like GitLab and Webflow rely on them to maintain a consistent flow of user insights.
• Short-term panels: Created for specific projects, these panels serve a temporary purpose. GitLab, for example, built a panel of new users to study early adoption before retiring the group.
• Automated panels: These dynamic panels update automatically by syncing with CRMs and Research Ops platforms. They help large teams maintain relevant participant data without the burden of manual updates.

Why user panels are non-negotiable for research teams

Without structured panels, research teams face constant delays. Over-contacted users, recruitment struggles, and disorganized processes slow down studies and compromise data quality. Panels remove these obstacles, making research scalable, repeatable, and effective.

The challenges of traditional recruitment & segmentation

Recruiting without a structured panel leads to inefficiencies and delays. Research Ops teams waste time coordinating with Sales, managing outreach across disjointed tools, and manually tracking participants.

What’s holding teams back?

• Disorganized tools: Scattered platforms like spreadsheets and email chains increase the risk of data errors.
• Manual tracking: Without a central system, tracking consent and engagement history is time-consuming and prone to mistakes.
• Over-researching: Some users get bombarded with research requests while others are underutilized, leading to skewed insights and participant fatigue.
• Compliance risks: Privacy laws require careful data handling, which is hard to maintain without a structured system.
• Gatekeeping: Research teams often depend on Sales or Customer Success to access users, causing recruitment bottlenecks.
• Approval delays: In B2B settings, research outreach may require management sign-off, adding further delays.

How user panels improve research efficiency & impact

Panels streamline participant recruitment, providing faster access to engaged users while improving research outcomes.

• Faster access: Studies can launch without waiting for approvals or intros.
• Higher response rates: Pre-vetted users are more engaged and responsive.
• Better diversity: Segmented panels reduce over-researching and expand access to underrepresented voices.
• Automated compliance: GDPR and consent tracking are built into panel workflows.
• Decentralized access: PMs, designers, and engineers can conduct and participate in research without overwhelming Research Ops.

Trends driving the rise of user panels in 2025

User Research is evolving, and structured panels are becoming essential for scaling research efforts and output. Shifts in research practices, technology, and business priorities are driving widespread adoption.

• Continuous discovery: Agile teams need always-on access to participants.
• Research democratization: More teams require structured access to users.
• Automation: AI-driven workflows are minimizing manual tasks.
• Personalization: Companies seek targeted insights from segmented user groups.
• Faster time-to-insights: Shorter product cycles demand immediate research access.
• Strategic Research Ops: Panels empower research teams to scale without burnout.

How to build and manage a research panel

A well-managed panel simplifies recruitment, making high-quality participants available on demand.

Step 1: Get sales and customer success buy-in

Sales and Customer Success teams often control access to users. A research panel reduces their workload by centralizing recruitment efforts, eliminating the need for one-off research requests. Framing the panel as beneficial to both teams helps build support.

Step 2: Define the scope and strategy

Not all panels are built the same. Teams need to decide whether they need:

• An evergreen panel for ongoing research with a growing pool of engaged users.
• A short-term panel for a specific study that will be retired after research is complete.

Integrating the panel with Salesforce or another customer database keeps everything centralized, so participant engagement and consent tracking stay organized.

Step 3: Recruit participants proactively

Recruitment should be intentional. Teams can build their panel through in-app sign-ups, survey opt-ins, and targeted emails. Allowing participants to set preferences for study frequency and topics keeps them engaged and reduces fatigue.

Step 4: Automate panel management

Manually juggling participant data might cut it for a small study, but it’s a nightmare when research needs to scale. A Research Ops platform like Rally allows you to build and scale dynamic panels of users, streamlines outreach and consent tracking, and enables powerful participant segmentation. Built-in compliance with privacy and internal governance policies keeps everything structured and secure.

Step 5: Keep your panel fresh and engaged

Regular updates keep panels effective. Automated check-ins help maintain current participant information and preferences. Providing incentives, sending follow-ups, and sharing research impact help sustain engagement.

A well-structured research panel turns recruitment from a last-minute headache into a seamless, repeatable process. Research teams can move faster, product teams get better insights, and everyone wins.

How Rally helps you build and manage research panels

Rally simplifies participant management by automating tasks, connecting with existing tools, and keeping research accessible while maintaining compliance. Here's what Rally offers:

Seamless automation for research-ready panels

Recruitment, consent tracking, scheduling, and segmentation are streamlined with powerful workflows, reducing manual effort. Rally keeps participant records up to date with every interaction, so research teams always have the freshest, most accurate data at their fingertips.

Salesforce and CRM integrations for a single source of truth

Rally connects directly with Salesforce and other CRMs, ensuring research data stays in sync with customer records. This keeps engagement history organized, prevents duplicate outreach, and makes it easier to align research participation with broader business goals.

Prevent research fatigue with smarter participant management

Repeatedly reaching out to the same participants skews insights and frustrates users. Rally applies automatic cooldown periods, so participants stay engaged without feeling overused. Research teams can recruit with confidence, knowing they’re maintaining a balanced, high-quality pool of users.

Built-in GDPR and compliance management

Privacy regulations are constantly evolving, and staying compliant isn’t optional. Rally tracks consent, securely manages participant data, and applies governance policies that align with internal and external requirements, reducing legal risks and building trust with participants.

Democratized research, with built-in guardrails

More teams — PMs, designers, and customer success — want access to research participants. Rally makes it easy for cross-functional teams to conduct research while keeping Research Ops in control. Structured permissions, automated participant tracking, and workflow automation make research more accessible without compromising compliance or participant experience.

Elevate your research with dynamic user panels

User panels are transforming how research teams scale and streamline their operations. Rally keeps panels fresh, participant data accurate, and recruitment smooth. Stop chasing participants and start delivering insights that drive real impact.

Explore how Rally can help your team build and manage dynamic user panels with ease.