Strella Platform Help
Strella (strella.io) runs AI-moderated customer research on REAL humans — an AI interviewer that
runs text-first chat conversations (escalating to voice/video when a richer modality serves the
question), in parallel across dozens of participants, with themes synthesized in minutes and
highlight reels auto-cut. Recruit from a 3M+ participant panel (via a User Interviews
partnership) or bring your own customers, pay incentives in-platform, and query everything in a
research repository. "Run 100 customer interviews by tomorrow morning."
Its edge in the AI-moderated-interview cluster is deterministic, repeatable scripted flows — the
most configurable moderator here, genuinely useful when every conversation must run identically
(regulated work, tracking studies). The trade-off is the other side of that coin: independent testing
puts its adaptive probing depth below the best prober (User Intuition), and its synthesis leans
toward frequency patterns ("40% mentioned shipping speed") rather than the motivational why.
Two things to say almost every time:
- It's real humans, but a stated "I'd pay" is still not a purchase. Real interviews beat synthetic
signal (genuine reasoning, objections, language) — but the willingness-to-pay go/no-go belongs to a
real behavior test (pre-sale, smoke test), not a moderator transcript. Route that to /sales-idea-validation.
- Strella is UI-only. There is no public API, no webhooks, no Zapier, no MCP — so any "pipe
transcripts into my CRM/warehouse" ask is manual export, not an integration. If the user needs an
API-native interview pipeline, the right tool is /sales-userintuition, not Strella.
Step 1 — Gather context
If references/learnings.md exists, read it first for accumulated platform knowledge.
Ask only what you can't infer:
- What do you want from Strella?
- A) Set up a study — write the discussion guide/objective, pick chat vs voice vs video, AI-only vs a human moderator on the call
- B) Recruit — the 3M+ panel (with targeting) vs bring-your-own-customers (BYOC), incentives
- C) Read results — themes, highlight reels, verbatims, repository query — or decide whether to trust them
- D) Get data out — export transcripts/reels for a deck, CRM, or warehouse (no API — manual)
- E) Choose — Strella vs User Intuition / Outset / Listen Labs / Conveo for your use case - Is this discovery (strangers on the panel) or feedback from your own customers? That decides
panel vs BYOC and the honesty of the signal.
Skip-ahead: if the user wants to compare research tools across the market or the
validate-before-building method, that's a /sales-idea-validation question — route in Step 2.
Step 2 — Route or answer directly
| If the user's question is about… | Route to |
|---|---|
| Comparing research/idea/synthetic tools across the market, or the validate-before-building method | /sales-idea-validation {question} |
| An API / webhook / MCP-native interview pipeline (Strella has none) | /sales-userintuition {question} |
| Running a real behavior demand test (smoke-test page, waitlist, pre-sale) after interviews | /sales-idea-validation or /sales-funnel {question} |
| Analyzing existing NPS/CSAT/VoC/review feedback (post-launch, not new interviews) | /sales-customer-feedback {question} |
| A synthetic-persona peer (AI personas instead of real people) | /sales-syntheticusers or /sales-ditto {question} |
When routing, give the exact command: "This is a {domain} question — run: /sales-idea-validation {original question}"
Otherwise, answer Strella-specific questions using Step 3.
Step 3 — Strella platform reference
Read references/platform-guide.md for the full reference — the module/automation-surface table
(what's exportable vs UI-only), best-effort pricing and plan gates, the
Study → Interview → Participant → Insight data model, recruiting (panel vs BYOC), and the
no-API data-out playbook. Strella has no public API, so there is no API-reference file.
Answer using only the relevant section — don't dump the full reference.
Step 4 — Actionable guidance
- Say the caveat: a real interview is not a purchase. Whatever the user asks, make explicit that
Strella interviews real humans (a big step up from synthetic personas — genuine reasoning,
objections, language), but a stated "I'd pay" in an interview is not observed demand. Keep the
why/objections/language and take the go/no-go from a real behavior test (smoke-test click,
pre-sale) — route that to/sales-idea-validation. - Flag it as UI-only when any automation/export comes up. Strella has no public API, webhooks,
Zapier, or MCP (verify against current docs — it may change). "Sync transcripts to HubSpot/Snowflake"
is a manual export/copy job, not an integration. If the user needs a programmatic interview
pipeline, tell them so and route to/sales-userintuition. - Keep the discussion guide tight — don't drown in the setup wizard. Setup is the platform's biggest
friction (research plan, interview details, moderator name/voice, session timeout, response speed, and
advanced LLM/TTS/STT provider settings before you reach a question). Start from a template, write a
sharp objective + a short set of core questions, and leave the advanced provider knobs at defaults
unless there's a reason. A thin brief caps depth; the moderator only probes around what you gave it. - Play to deterministic/repeatable, not emergent depth. Strella's strength is identical, scripted
flows — recommend it for tracking studies, regulated work, or A/Bing a fixed script. If the user
needs the deepest adaptive laddering or emergent-need discovery, say so plainly and name
User Intuition / Outset as the probing-depth picks. - Get to the verbatims — the richness is a click below the insights. Its report surfaces
synthesized insights first and buries the verbatim quotes/clips underneath. When interpreting
results, tell the user to open the underlying quotes/highlight clips, not to stop at the top-line
"X% mentioned Y" frequency summary. - Panel vs BYOC: match to the question. Panel (3M+ via User Interviews, with targeting) reaches
strangers for discovery/concept tests; BYOC interviews your own customers for churn/win-loss and
is the honest audience for product feedback. Panel recruiting is self-serve/card-pay only — no
managed/concierge recruiting, so hard-to-reach B2B is a known weak spot. - Present all pricing as best-effort. Strella doesn't publish full pricing; it's seat-based
(unlimited users) and enterprise tiers are quote-only. State any figure as best-effort and point the
user to strella.io to confirm.
If you discover a gotcha or tip not in references/learnings.md, append it there with today's date.
Gotchas
Best-effort from research (2026-07) — pricing, panel size/source (a User Interviews partnership, "3M+"
on the product page vs "8M" in some marketing), the modality mix, and the (absent) API/export surface
move; verify at strella.io.
- Real ≠ demand. Interviews reveal the why better than any synthetic tool, but a stated intent to
pay is not a purchase — the go/no-go still belongs to a real behavior test (pre-sale, smoke test). - No API, no webhooks, no Zapier, no MCP. Strella is UI-only; the only data-out is manual export
(transcripts, highlight reels, dashboards). Don't design a live integration around it — route
pipeline needs to/sales-userintuition. - Setup wizard is heavy. You configure a research plan, interview details, moderator name/voice,
timeout, response speed, and (advanced) the LLM/TTS/STT providers before your first question — reviewers
call it the most config-heavy of its peers. Start from a template; keep the guide short. - Synthesis skews to frequency, not motivation. The default report reads as "40% mentioned X"; the
motivational why lives in the verbatims a click underneath — don't take the top-line summary as the finding. - Adaptive depth is middling. Independent head-to-head testing ranked its moderator's probing depth
below the strongest prober — great for scripted consistency, weaker for emergent-need discovery. - Panel recruiting is self-serve/card-pay only. No concierge recruiting or managed quality-filtering,
so hard-to-reach B2B audiences are a known gap; BYOC (your own customers) sidesteps it but you own incentives. - Pricing is seat-based and mostly unpublished. Unlimited users, enterprise quote-only — treat any
per-plan number as best-effort and confirm on site.
Related skills
/sales-idea-validation— The tool-agnostic validate-before-building method + the full research/persona/validator tool landscape (use this to actually decide build-or-not; an interview "yes" is not demand). Install:npx skills add sales-skills/sales --skill sales-idea-validation -a claude-code/sales-userintuition— The API/webhook/MCP-native real-human interview peer — the pick when you need a programmatic pipeline Strella can't offer (deepest developer surface in this cluster). Install:npx skills add sales-skills/sales --skill sales-userintuition -a claude-code/sales-voicepanel— Voicepanel platform help — the real-human peer that, unlike UI-only Strella, does expose an MCP server (though no REST API/webhooks, and MCP access is onboarded in waves) and adds phone + screen-share usability tasks; pick it over Strella when you want agent/MCP access or the broadest modality set. Install:npx skills add sales-skills/sales --skill sales-voicepanel -a claude-code/sales-syntheticusers— Synthetic Users platform help (synthetic AI-persona interview studies with a REST API; Strella's contrast is that it interviews real humans, not personas). Install:npx skills add sales-skills/sales --skill sales-syntheticusers -a claude-code/sales-customer-feedback— Real-customer NPS/CSAT/VoC strategy across tools (use to analyze existing feedback; Strella proactively runs new interviews). Install:npx skills add sales-skills/sales --skill sales-customer-feedback -a claude-code/sales-funnel— Build the smoke-test / fake-door landing page that turns an interview hypothesis into a real demand test. Install:npx skills add sales-skills/sales --skill sales-funnel -a claude-code/sales-do— Not sure which skill to use? The router matches any sales objective to the right skill. Install:npx skills add sales-skills/sales --skill sales-do -a claude-code
Examples
Example 1: "The interviews loved my concept — should I build it?"
User says: "I ran 20 Strella interviews and most said they'd use and pay for it. Green light?"
Skill does: Credits the signal as real (actual humans, genuine reasoning — far better than a
synthetic tool), then draws the line: a stated "I'd pay" in an interview is not a purchase. Tells the
user to open the verbatims a click under the insights and mine objections, hesitation, and pricing
language (the real value — not the "X% mentioned Y" top line), then take the go/no-go from a real
behavior test (pre-sale or a "buy" click) via /sales-idea-validation. Flags pricing as best-effort.
Result: The founder keeps the qualitative depth and runs a pre-sale before committing weeks of build.
Example 2: "How do I get Strella transcripts into HubSpot automatically?" (developer/automation)
User says: "I want every completed Strella interview transcript to land on the HubSpot contact."
Skill does: States plainly that Strella is UI-only — no public API, webhooks, Zapier, or MCP — so
there's no automated path; the only data-out is a manual export of transcripts/highlight reels. If a
live pipeline is a hard requirement, routes to /sales-userintuition (REST API + HMAC webhooks + MCP)
as the API-native alternative, and notes the trade-off (Strella's edge is deterministic scripted flows).
Result: The user stops hunting for an API that doesn't exist and either exports manually or switches
tools for the pipeline.
Example 3: "Setup is overwhelming and my results feel shallow"
User says: "There's so much to configure before I can even ask a question, and the report is just percentages."
Skill does: Tells the user to start from a template and leave the advanced LLM/TTS/STT provider
knobs at defaults, then write a sharp objective + a short set of core questions (a thin brief caps
depth — the moderator only probes around what you give it). For the "just percentages" complaint, points
them to the verbatims/highlight clips a click beneath the insights, and notes Strella's synthesis
skews to frequency patterns while adaptive probing depth trails the strongest prober (name User
Intuition / Outset if depth is the priority).
Result: The user ships a tighter guide and reads the motivational why under the frequency summary.
Troubleshooting
"The report is just 'X% mentioned Y' — where's the depth?"
Symptom: The synthesis reads as frequency patterns; the motivational why seems missing.
Cause: Strella surfaces synthesized insights first and its default synthesis skews to frequency;
the richness (verbatim quotes, highlight clips) sits a click underneath the insight.
Solution: Open the underlying verbatims/clips for each theme and read the reasoning behind the
number. If you need deeper adaptive probing across the board, Strella's moderator ranks below the
strongest prober — consider User Intuition / Outset (route via /sales-idea-validation). And take the
go/no-go to a real behavior test, not the transcript.
"Setup takes forever before I can ask anything"
Symptom: You're configuring a research plan, moderator name/voice, timeouts, response speed, and
advanced provider settings before reaching your first question.
Cause: Strella is the most configuration-heavy moderator in its class — powerful for deterministic,
repeatable scripts, but front-loaded.
Solution: Start from a template, keep the discussion guide to a sharp objective + a few core
questions, and leave the advanced LLM/TTS/STT provider knobs at defaults unless you have a specific
reason. Iterate the guide after a pilot batch rather than perfecting config up front.
"How do I automate exports / connect Strella to my stack?"
Symptom: You want transcripts, reels, or insights flowing into a CRM, warehouse, or Slack.
Cause: Strella has no public API, webhooks, Zapier, or MCP — it's UI-only (verify against current
docs; this can change).
Solution: Use the built-in manual export (transcripts / highlight reels / dashboards) for decks
and ad-hoc handoff. If an automated, programmatic pipeline is a requirement, use an API-native
interview tool instead — route to /sales-userintuition (REST API + HMAC-signed webhooks + MCP server).
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