The AI User Research Agent finds and invites the right people to participate in user research and interviews.
Who it targets: People who match the research profile - participants, not customers.
What’s different: Invitations are framed as research participation and use a respectful, low-pressure approach.
Great for: Product, UX, and research teams recruiting participants for interviews, studies, and testing.
Plan requirements: 5 credits per lead. Learn how to get more credits ->
Create AI User Research Agent
Step 1: Create the Agent
Navigate to Agents from the left sidebar
Click "+ Create New"
Select AI User Research Agent
Step 2: Set Up in Instantly AI
You will be redirected to Instantly AI to configure your AI User Research Agent.
Gather details needed for your research campaign.
Confirm the research goal, target audience, format, and incentives.
Step 3: Review the Draft
Instantly AI will generate a draft of the User Research Agent for you to review. Click the arrow icon to review the following:
Who to reach: Review the filters applied and the number of participants matching the research criteria.
What to offer: Review the research invitation and any incentives offered to participants.
Writing guidance: Review the instructions used to create research outreach messages.
Agent details: Review the topic, target participants, format, and research objective.
You can make changes directly in the chat or proceed with creating the agent.
Once confirmed, your AI User Research Agent will be created in a paused state.
Click Open to review the AI User Research Agent in the right panel.
Click the arrow icon to open the agent in full-page view in the current tab.
You can also create an AI Reply Agent to help handle incoming replies.
Review Settings Before Launch
Memory
Business Details: Tell the AI about your company so it can personalize outreach.
Competitors: Manage competitors and how your business compares.
Business Offers: Define what your business offers to help the AI craft relevant messages
Research Details: Describe your research goals so the AI can find and reach out to relevant participants.
Customer Profiles: Define your ideal customer profiles (ICPs) to help the AI target the right prospects
Guidance Rules
Custom instructions that direct how the AI user research agent writes emails and communicates with prospects.
Create new rules or add predefined rules
Maximum 10 guidance rules per AI user research agent
Settings
AI settings
Non-Autopilot (Default setting): Requires manual approval via Activity Feed before finding more leads or sending any emails.
Autopilot: When enabled, the AI agent acts fully on its own. Activities are automatically approved.
Find Leads Automatically: Automatically discover and enrich new leads based on your ICP.
Accounts to Use
Select one or more email sending accounts (or account tags) for the AI agent to use. Accounts can be selected individually or by tag group.
Schedule & Limits
Daily Sending Limit:
Minimum: 10 emails/day
Maximum: 10,000 emails/day
Default: 10 emails/day
Note: This daily sending limit controls both the number of emails sent and the number of leads enriched per day -> they share the same cap. To send or enrich more, you can increase the limit.
Sending Schedule:
Start time (default: 00:00): Beginning of the sending window
End time (default: 23:59): End of the sending window
Timezone (default: Etc/GMT+12): Timezone for the schedule
Sending days (default: Mon–Fri): Saturday and Sunday are off by default
Basic Deliverability
Settings | Default | Description |
Disable Open Tracking | On | Avoids tracking pixels in emails, which improves deliverability |
Enable ESP Matching | On | Matches the lead's email provider to improve inbox placement |
Prioritize New Leads | On | New leads are contacted before older ones in the queue |
Text-based Opt-Out | On | Automatically append a plain-text unsubscribe line to every email |
Slack Integration
Connect a Slack account to receive notifications about agent activity (emails sent, leads found, etc).
Resume AI User Research Agent
Before resuming the AI User Research Agent, clear any actions that require your approval in the Activity Feed. Once all pending actions are cleared, resume the agent to contact leads.
Make sure you have sufficient credits to enrich leads(5 credits per lead in the AI User Research Agent). Learn how to get more credits here ->
Live Feed & Analytics
Leads Found: Total number of leads the agent has discovered and added to your list for outreach.
Emails Sent: Total number of emails the agent has sent to leads in the selected period.
Replies: Total number of replies received, with the reply rate (replies divided by emails sent) shown alongside.
Opportunities: Number of qualified opportunities the agent has identified, with the estimated revenue total alongside.
AI User Research Agent Performance Chart: Daily email activity in the last 7 days
Activity Feed
Shows real-time actions taken by the AI User Research Agent. In Non-Autopilot mode, actions require manual approval or rejection.
Click the “Recommended Prospects” activity to review and approve or reject actions to enrich leads. Credits are used after you approve the enrichment.
Click the “Email Drafts” activity to review lead details, edit, approve, or reject the email generated for each lead. Click the email copy to edit it.
The email will be scheduled for sending after you approve it. Once an email is approved, you cannot edit the email copy.
Click the three dots next to each activity type to approve or reject all actions in bulk.
