When you’ve spent time creating a quality survey, you want to be sure to get good response rates. However, finding people to take your survey can be a challenge. You may also need to target a niche audience that can be difficult to reach. That’s when you may require the services of a panel research company.
Create your FREE survey and integrate with a panel provider!
12 Great Panel Research Companies
When choosing a panel research company, you have many options. Please read our blog Using a Survey Panel Company vs. a Survey Maker Panel for more information about panel considerations. Now onto the list!
1. Audience Align
The youngest panel company on our list, Audience Align was founded in 2022 but has quickly made a name for themselves by providing quality online samples for research projects. The company has access to respondents across 140+ countries, profiled across all sample types. The platform has proprietary technology in place to ensure clients get the right respondent, with Research Defender working in the background to safeguard against bots and questionable IP addresses. Audience Align has delivered 100K+ projects since their founding, and has completed 10M+ surveys.
2. CatalystMR
This global market research panel (both online and via telephone) is recognized for its 40M+ pre-targeted census rep consumers, B2B and health care professionals across more than 50 countries. The company has been active since 2008, and has more than 800 profile targets to ensure its clients reach the right people at the right time. CatalystMR touts itself as a “true partner for its clients.”
3. Cint
Headquartered in Sweden, Cint is a software leader in digital insights, and recent acquisitions have only furthered its global reach and power. In 2021, the company acquired GapFish and access to 500K panelists in Germany, Austria, and Switzerland, and in 2022 it acquired Lucid, a survey-based programmatic marketplace. Today, the company has 306M+ engaged respondents across 130+ countries, for a total of 4600+ panels.
4. CRG Global
Since 1987, CRG has been a full-service market research company. Today, the company has an online panel of approximately 500K respondents in the United States. Nearly all of these panel members were recruited in person, forging long-lasting relationships helps ensure data integrity and high levels of participation. The company specializes in numerous categories, including food and beverage, cosmetics, personal care products, pet care products, health and wellness, and more.
5. Eleven Market Research
ElevenMR describes itself as not just an experienced and innovative data collection partner, but as a methodology consultant. “Our goal is to understand the bigger picture, not just the project itself,” the company states on its website. ElevenMR has access to over 70 vetted online panels, but if a client is trying to reach a “tougher audience,” the company’s custom-dialed phone team is up to the task, reaching lab directors, institutional investors, and over $1 billion-revenue companies. ElevenMR also handles full-service project management, including consulting, programming, screener review, data collection, translations and coding/tabulations.
6. Fieldwork
The oldest company on our list, Fieldwork has been in business since 1980. The company specializes in medical, CX/UX, B2B, mock jury, consumer and global research. The company uses proven methods to reach the right audience, and provides project management, hosting, and guidance through in-person, remote/online, and hybrid research sessions. The team is technically versed and ready to “guide clients through the logistics from large online to multi country project execution.”
7. Harmon Research
Harmon Research has been a trusted survey panel company since 2009. The company prides itself on its proprietary panel which goes through constant quality control checks. “Every member can only have one profile and they must complete a double opt-in process at sign-up,” Harmon Research states on its website. “We continually review our database for signs of fraud or cheating and we use a digital fingerprinting system to confirm our subjects’ identities. We also employ our cutting-edge DataDefense program, which conducts a line-by-line review of our data to ensure the insights we deliver are accurate and actionable.”
8. Herron Associates
Known for both quantitative and qualitative research, Herron offers “expertise with a no-nonsense outlook.” The company highlights that their panels run the gamut from moms, dads, and college kids to CEOs, small business owners, and teachers. Other than online surveys, Herron also conducts focus groups, in-depth interviews, and even taste tests.
9. Insights Opinion
This global leader in research has been in operation since 2015. The company’s expertise lies in online sampling for consumers, B2B and healthcare niches. Insights Opinion offers fast-paced data collection services which are augmented by over 8 million panelists worldwide, with extensive coverage of North America, Latin America, Europe, APAC, the Middle East and the Caribbean.
10. Kantar
Founded in 1996, Kantar is a leading marketing data and analytics company. Kantar’s Profiles division is considered home to the world’s largest audience network, with nearly 170 million people spanning 100+ countries. The panel consists of consumers, B2B audiences, health care professionals, patients, and other permissioned data connections. Kantar focuses on quality and delivering the most meaningful data with consistency, accuracy and accountability – all at speed and amplified by technology.
11. L&E Research
“We’re not the biggest, which is why we work hard to be the best,” writes L&E on their website. The company touts itself as experts in qualitative research recruitment, and offers nationwide recruiting, advanced technology, and superior client service. In fact, the company reports that it is “99% client recommended.”
12. Symmetric
Symmetric owns and operates American Consumer Opinion®, a worldwide online panel that reaches over 7 million consumers in 200-plus countries spanning North America, Latin America, Europe and Asia. Consumers can sign up to become panel members in one of 11 languages and complete demographic profiles are maintained for each household. Symmetric also operates five B2B worldwide online panels: Physicians Advisory Council®, Medical Advisory Board®, Executive Advisory Board®, Contractor Advisory Board® and Technology Advisory Board®.
Choosing a Panel Research Company
While it may be appealing to go to a survey-making service that also offers a panel, such as SurveyMonkey, accessing a SurveyMonkey panel requires you to pay a separate fee for each response in addition to the survey price or subscription cost. SurveyMonkey states that their panel price “starts” at $1.00 per response. This fee increases depending on several factors, such as how niche your target audience is. Additionally, it’s important to remember that a survey-maker company like SurveyMonkey isn’t a true panel provider, as this is not their “full time job.” Therefore, their panel may not be as robust or as reliable as a traditional panel provider. Be sure to check out SurveyMonkey reviews here.
SurveyLegend Integrates with Panel Research Companies
A better option is to work directly with a panel research company to get your results, or you can integrate your SurveyLegend online survey with a panel provider. Once you’ve decided on a panel provider, you’ll need to create your survey with SurveyLegend. This will generate a link that you’ll need to provide to the panel provider. So not only are you using a company that specializes in survey making, you’re also accessing a robust panel with a company that specializes in developing them.
Once you’re given the survey panel company the SurveyLegend link, they can send your survey out to people from the demographic(s) of your choice, via e-mail, SMS, WhatsApp or whatever other means they support. For complete instructions on integrating your SurveyLegend survey with a panel provider, check out our Survey Panel Provider User Guide.
Have you worked with any of the panel providers highlighted here? Drop a review of their services in the comments! Or, if we’ve forgotten a panel provider that you have a great experience with, let us know so we can update our list!
Create your FREE survey and integrate with a panel provider!
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
A panel provider is a company or organization that recruits and manages a group of individuals or entities, known as a “panel,” to participate in surveys, studies, or research projects. These panels can be composed of various types of participants, such as consumers, business professionals, or specific demographic groups, depending on the research objectives.
Panel research companies employ various methods to find and recruit panelists for their research studies. The goal is to build a diverse and representative panel that can provide valuable insights for a range of research projects. They may find panelists through online registration, online advertising or social media, email marketing, referrals, partnerships and alliances, in-person recruitment, research websites, and research participant databases.
The cost of using a panel survey provider depends on the individual provider and the complexity of your project and/or survey (e.g., how many survey participants you require, how niche your target audience, etc). Shop around to be sure you get the best deal (and use this list in your company research).
