Modifying Research Settings to Customize Your Study

Tailor your Strella study — from AI moderator voice and recording options to access controls, branding, and advanced AI provider configuration.

Once your project is created, the Settings panel gives you precise control over how your study runs and how it appears to participants. Access it by clicking the gear icon in the top-right corner of your project. The sections below cover every available setting — expand any section to see what each option does and when to change it.

How to Open Settings

Navigate to your project, then click the ⚙ gear icon in the top-right corner. The settings panel opens on the left side, organized into the sections described below.

Research Plan

Define or update the core intent of your study. Strella uses these fields to shape AI moderation and link insights back to your goals.

Setting	What it does
Research objectives	View and edit the goals you set when you created the study. Update these any time your direction shifts — stale objectives lead to misaligned insights.
Internal project name	A name your team uses to identify the project. Participants never see this.
About your company	Describe your company’s industry, product type, primary purpose, unique features, and target audience. This context helps the AI moderator ask more relevant follow-up questions.

Keep your research objectives current. If your study evolves mid-field, update this section before analyzing results so insights reflect your latest goals.

Interview Details

Control what participants see when they first encounter your study.

Setting	What it does
Participant-facing study name	The friendly title participants see on the join screen. Make it clear and approachable — avoid internal codes or jargon.
Study description	A brief explanation of the study’s purpose, what participants will do, how long it takes, and any incentive they’ll receive.

A clear, transparent description improves completion rates. Participants who know what to expect are less likely to drop off mid-session.

Interview Setup

Customize how the AI moderator behaves, what is recorded during each session, and how participants access your study.

Moderator behavior

Setting	What it does
Default moderator language	Choose the language the AI speaks during interviews. Strella supports a wide range of languages.
Response speed	Controls how quickly the AI responds after a participant pauses. Faster responses feel more conversational but risk interrupting; slower speeds work better for task-focused studies like usability tests.
Global moderator guidance	Give the AI standing instructions that apply to every interview and every participant — for example, “Always ask participants to think aloud” or “Never mention competitor products.”
Premium voices	Enable higher-fidelity voice synthesis. Recommended when using the multilingual feature or when audio quality is a priority.

Recording options

Setting	What it does
Webcam recording	Prompts participants to enable their camera so facial expressions and reactions are captured.
Screen recording (desktop only)	Asks participants to share and record their screen — ideal for website walkthroughs, prototype testing, or any task requiring on-screen observation.

Screen recording is only available for desktop interviews. If you select “Mobile app” under Permitted Devices, this option will have no effect.

Participant access

Setting	What it does
Permitted devices	Control whether participants can join on Desktop only or via the Mobile app. Selecting “Mobile app” routes participants to the Strella iOS app instead of a desktop browser.
Redirect to URL	Automatically send participants to a URL of your choice when their session ends — useful for redirecting to a survey, a thank-you page, or a panel completion link.

Access & Scheduling

Manage who can join your study and when it closes.

Setting	What it does
Close study to new participants	Toggle on to immediately stop accepting new participants. Existing sessions in progress are not affected.
Schedule close date	Set a specific date and time for the study to close automatically — useful when you have a hard deadline.
Set participant limit	Define the maximum number of completed sessions before Strella automatically closes the study.
Auto-invite participants (self-recruited only)	Automatically send interview invitations to self-recruited participants who pass your screener criteria.
Email required	When enabled, participants must provide a valid email address before joining.

Combine Set participant limit with Schedule close date to cap your study by either headcount or time — whichever comes first.

Theme

Customize the visual appearance of your participant-facing registration forms to reinforce your brand identity.

Setting	What it does
Company logo	Upload your logo to display at the top of participant-facing forms, making the experience feel familiar and trustworthy.
Button color	Set a hex color that matches your brand palette. This color applies to all call-to-action buttons on the registration and join screens.

Insights

Choose which insights experience you want for this project.

Option	When to use it
Traditional	The standard insights view — reliable and familiar. Best for reviewing older projects or when you prefer the established layout.
Beta	The next-generation experience with streamlined sharing, enhanced highlight reels, an updated explorer, and deeper AI-generated insights. Recommended for new projects.

You can switch between Traditional and Beta at any time without losing data. The Beta experience does not alter your underlying session recordings or transcripts.

Advanced

Configure the underlying AI services that power moderation, voice, and transcription. These settings are intended for teams with specific technical requirements or compliance needs.

Setting	What it does
Large Language Model (LLM)	Select the language processing engine the AI moderator uses to understand and respond to participants.
Text-to-Speech Provider (TTS)	Choose the voice synthesis service that generates the moderator’s spoken responses.
Speech-to-Text Provider (STT)	Select the transcription service that converts participant speech to text in real time.
Prompt selection	An experimental feature that lets you test alternative AI prompt configurations — useful for edge-case research scenarios or optimizing moderation quality.

Changing Advanced settings affects all future sessions in this project. If you’re unsure which provider to select, leave these at their defaults or contact Strella support before making changes.