What Olson Research Group does

Olson Research Group is a privately held, U.S.-based marketing research firm founded in 1995 by Chip Olson and Lynn Welsh, headquartered in Yardley, Pennsylvania with a second office in Palo Alto, California. The company operates as a premier fieldwork agency delivering qualitative and quantitative marketing research services to pharmaceutical, healthcare, agribusiness, animal health, and consumer companies, with pharmaceuticals and healthcare as its primary verticals. Its service portfolio covers the full research execution stack: screener and discussion guide design, targeted recruitment, moderation, survey design and programming, data collection, and tabulations, delivered through both standalone qualitative and quantitative engagements and packaged methodologies.

The company's underlying technology centers on OlsonOnline™, an internet-based survey platform backed by a proprietary healthcare database with reported access to 2.4 million U.S. healthcare decision makers. Layered on top are branded proprietary methodologies: ORG Scope (feasibility and project initiation), ORG Engage (qualitative research best practices), ORG ChartAudit (patient record form capture for real-world data), QuickPulse and Rapid Results (fast-turnaround data collection). In April 2026 the firm added an AI-powered survey addition feature that generates dynamic follow-up questions in real time during quantitative studies.

Olson Research Group generates revenue through project-based professional services engagements priced on a quote basis tailored to client objectives and timeline. Go-to-market is sales-led and direct to enterprise clients, supplemented by content marketing through an Insights blog, an Insights Insider newsletter, and conference presence at PMRG, Quirk's, and Intellus events. Ownership remains with the founding team and long-tenured executives; no external funding, M&A, or parent company activity is disclosed. The company employs approximately 80 full-time professionals.

Name

Olson Research Group

Legal name

Olson Research Group

Website

https://olsonresearchgroup.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

1995

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

101–250 employees

Short description

Olson Research Group is a U.S. fieldwork and marketing research firm, founded in 1995, that delivers qualitative and quantitative research services to pharmaceutical, healthcare, agribusiness, animal health, and consumer enterprises via its OlsonOnline survey platform and proprietary healthcare panel of 2.4 million decision makers.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Healthcare Market Research

NAICS

Marketing Research and Public Opinion Polling (54191)

akta.pro primary industry

Industry & Sector Research (Syndicated/Custom) (BPAHALAE)

Keywords

• Healthcare market research
• Pharmaceutical fieldwork services
• Qualitative research services
• Quantitative research services
• Chart audit studies

Headquarters

HQ city

Yardley

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices3 records

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Technology or R&D, Marketing or Sales

Revenue model

1. Marketing Research Services: Full-service marketing research services including qualitative and quantitative fieldwork, data collection, survey programming, and extended research services to pharmaceutical, healthcare, agribusiness, animal health and consumer industries. Project-based engagements with clients seeking research partners for data collection.

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels1 record

Marketing channels4 records

Core offering

Olson Research Group is a premier fieldwork agency that delivers full-service marketing research, including qualitative and quantitative data collection, survey design and programming, physician and patient recruitment, chart audits, and extended research support, to pharmaceutical, healthcare, agribusiness, animal health, and consumer industries. The firm combines proprietary technology platforms (OlsonOnline™, ORG Scope, ORG Engage, ORG ChartAudit, QuickPulse) with a team of ~80 research professionals to execute healthcare-focused fieldwork engagements for enterprise clients.

Product overview

Olson Research Group is a premier fieldwork agency providing data collection and extended marketing research services to the pharmaceutical, healthcare, agribusiness, animal health, and consumer industries. The company operates as a single integrated offering combining proprietary technology platforms with service-based research capabilities. The core technology platform includes OlsonOnline™ (internet-based survey platform) combined with specialized modules: ORG Scope (feasibility and project initiation process), ORG Engage (qualitative research methodology), and ORG ChartAudit (patient chart data collection). These platforms are complemented by QuickPulse and Rapid Results for expedited research delivery. Service offerings include qualitative research (recruitment, moderation, discussion guides) and quantitative research (survey programming, data collection, tabulations), all delivered by a team of 80+ professionals.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

• OlsonOnline: Internet-based survey platform and proprietary healthcare database used for physician research.
• ORG Scope
• ORG Engage
• ORG ChartAudit
• Rapid Results
• QuickPulse

Products and services

• Qualitative Research Services

Quantifiable outcome

• 550 Chart Audit studies with 50,000 respondents and over 600,000 charts collected in the last five years
• +1 more outcomes

Named customers3 records

Segments5 records

Ideal customer profiles3 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

AI capability3 records

Feature7 records

Partnerships

One partnership is on record.

• Currant InsightsminorStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 January 2014Olson Research Group partnered with Currant Insights to better understand rare disease stakeholder dynamics. After initial exploratory research on three rare conditions, they expanded scope to survey 845 physicians treating ten rare conditions. Results were presented at the 2014 PMRG Institute.

Scale indicators5 records

Recent moves5 records

Expansion highlights4 records

Direct peers

• M3 Global Research: M3 Global Research operates one of the largest physician and healthcare professional panels for online market research, with qualitative and quantitative fieldwork capabilities. It is the closest functional peer to Olson's physician survey and healthcare-professional fieldwork franchise.
• Schlesinger Group: Schlesinger Group is a leading qualitative and quantitative fieldwork agency serving consumer, healthcare, and B2B clients. It directly competes with Olson on qualitative recruitment, in-person/online focus groups, and discussion-guide moderation.
• Toluna: Toluna is a global online consumer and healthcare research panel and survey-programming provider with sample, programmatic, and qualitative capabilities. It overlaps with Olson's online quantitative research and panel-based fieldwork services.
• Dynata: Dynata is one of the world's largest first-party data and online research panel companies, providing B2B and healthcare data collection and survey programming. It competes with Olson's OlsonOnline™-style survey and data collection platform.

Broad incumbents

• Kantar (Health division): Kantar is a major global research and insights group with a dedicated healthcare practice spanning brand tracking, market understanding, and real-world evidence. It is a much larger but overlapping incumbent in healthcare marketing research.
• IQVIA: IQVIA is the largest healthcare-focused data, analytics, and research services provider, with deep coverage in real-world evidence, commercial, and clinical research. It overlaps with Olson's healthcare-client base at the high end of the market.
• Ipsos Healthcare: Ipsos Healthcare is a global market research division dedicated to pharmaceutical and healthcare clients, offering qualitative, quantitative, and syndicated studies. It overlaps with Olson's core pharmaceutical market research offering.
• ZS Associates: ZS Associates is a global consulting and research firm serving pharmaceutical and life sciences clients with proprietary panels and analytics. It competes for healthcare marketing-research and related advisory spend.

Emerging players

• Sermo: Sermo operates a global physician community and offers market research and insights based on its online panel of verified doctors. It is a focused, digital-first competitor in physician and healthcare-professional research.
• Guidepoint: Guidepoint runs a network of expert physicians and healthcare professionals that supports market research, consulting, and due-diligence engagements. It is an emerging competitor in specialty and hard-to-reach healthcare professional outreach.

Market position

Strengths4 records

Weaknesses4 records

Competitive moat5 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

• Xx.com/olsonresearch

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles11 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Olson Research Group