What are quota targets?
Quota targets let you set a percentage of your total participant quota to specific segments that you define within your audience.
For example, if you're recruiting 50 participants and want to guarantee at least 25 are Australian based males; you can create a segment with that definition and set the target as 50%. The remaining 50%, your unassigned quota fills with anyone else who matches your overall audience but doesn't match any specific segment.
How segments work
Quota targets for your segments do not need to sum to 100%. You can create a single segment at 25% and leave the other 75% unassigned, or create multiple segments that together cover your quota.
Segments are groups of participants based on demographics or screener question responses. Once a segment fills, additional matches go to the waitlist rather than into the unassigned remainder. The unassigned remainder fills with anyone matching your audience who doesn't match any specific segment.
Segments inherit all audience filters from your main audience. A segment can only narrow further - it can't recruit outside your audience definition. For example, if your audience is "Australia, 18–65, Males" and you can only create a segment that is already within those definitions E.g "Australia, 18-30, Males".
Creating a segment
In the Recruit step, set your study quota and add your audience and screener questions
Toggle on Quota targets
Give your segment a clear, descriptive name (e.g. "Sydney commuters 25–34").
Define the segment conditions — attributes like location, age, gender or specific screener question responses.
Set the target percentage for this segment.
Click Add segment and repeat for each segment you want to create
Tip: Use clear, specific names. Once recruitment starts, you'll see these names in your participants table, segments panel — vague names like "Segment 1" make it harder to manage your study at a glance.
Setting targets
Each segment has a target expressed as a percentage of your total study quota. The participant count updates automatically based on your study size. Targets do not need to sum to 100%, any unassigned percentage becomes the remainder and fills from participants that are within your study audience and do not fit a specific segment.
Targets cannot exceed 100% in total if your segments add up to more than 100%, you'll need to reduce them before submitting. You will not be able to increase or decrease the targets once a study is live.
How recruitment works with quotas
When a participant applies to your study, the system checks which segments they match: If they match a segment that still has space, they're assigned to it - If they match multiple segments, they will be automatically assigned a segment when the begin the study. If they don't match any segment but match your audience, they fill the unassigned remainder. If all matching segments are full, they're added to the waitlist in case another participant drops out .
Note: Recruitment may take longer with quotas enabled. Narrowly defined segments, especially when combined with screener responses, take longer to fill.
Managing segments after a study is live
View the progress of your segments from the recruit tab. If recruitment is slow, you can close individual segments to speed up study completion.
Tracking segment progress
Each segment shows its completion progress on the participant table in the segments panel.
Participants who complete the study and were assigned to a segment will contribute to the completed quota count. Once the quota target is reached participants who fit in the segment will not be able to respond to your study.
Closing a segment
Closing a segment stops new participants being accepted into it. Already completed participants stay in the study assigned to the original segment.
To close a segment:
Open the segment panel from the participant table
Select close segment
Choose what happens to the remaining unfilled participants
Reduce study quota: The study's total quota drops by the number of unfilled participants. Other segment targets stay the same. Use this when you're happy to complete the study with fewer total participants.
Distribute to other segments: The unfilled participants are redistributed across your remaining open segments, increasing their targets. Use this when you want to keep your study at its original size. When distributing you can:
Auto balance (Distribute proportionally): split based on each open segment's original target share (larger segments receive more)
Split evenly: divide the unfilled participants equally across all open segments.
Adjust manually: set each segment's allocation yourself using the steppers
Note: Segments cannot be reopened once closed. If a segment has participants currently in progress, you'll need to wait for them to complete before closing or manually reassign them to an existing segment prior to closing.
Moving a participant to another segment manually
You are able to manually move a participant to another segment via the actions button on the participant table. If the segment they were moved from from was open, it will continue recruiting participants that fit that segment until the quota target is reached.