What Drive Research does

Drive Research is a full-service market research company founded in 2016 and headquartered in Liverpool, New York. The firm delivers custom market research services to enterprise and mid-market clients across at least eight verticals, including Consumer Packaged Goods, Financial Services, Higher Education, Manufacturing, Healthcare, Retail and E-commerce, Travel and Tourism, Logistics and Transportation, and Automotive. Its service portfolio spans nine core lines: Online Surveys, Customer Surveys, Employee Surveys, Qualitative Recruiting, Focus Groups, In-Home Usage Tests (IHUTs), Advanced Analytics, PR Surveys, and Content Marketing Research. Geographically, Drive Research maintains a U.S. base in Liverpool, NY, and has demonstrated international research execution across at least six countries (U.S., U.K., France, Germany, Spain, Italy), with a stated global client footprint.

The company operates a custom market research technology platform that includes online survey programming, real-time survey portals allowing clients to view responses as they arrive, and a data quality assurance system that flags duplicate IP addresses, quality-checks questions, and reviews all open-ended responses. Pricing is project-based and varies by scope: limited execution engagements start at $10-15k, full-service B2C projects range $15-30k, full-service B2B projects range $30-50k, and international or advanced analytics projects cost $50k or more. The go-to-market motion is direct sales via website contact forms, phone, and email, supported by a content marketing engine that includes a 1,000+ article blog/resource center and a PR survey model generating earned media coverage in outlets such as Forbes, CNBC, USA Today, Vogue, and Yahoo Health.

Drive Research's revenue model is professional services project delivery, with a mix of one-off engagements and recurring annual studies (including a 7-year running Black Friday/Cyber Monday consumer study and an annual shipper research study with Flock Freight). Named enterprise clients include loanDepot, Flock Freight, a biomedical manufacturing company, a carbonated soft drink manufacturer, and Advance Local. No funding rounds, institutional investors, or parent company are disclosed, and ownership structure remains private and undisclosed.

Name

Drive Research

Legal name

Drive Research

Website

https://driveresearch.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

2016

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

Drive Research is a full-service custom market research company serving enterprise and mid-market clients across CPG, healthcare, financial services, manufacturing, retail, logistics, and education via surveys, focus groups, qualitative recruiting, PR surveys, and advanced analytics.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Market Research Services

NAICS

Marketing Research and Public Opinion Polling (54191)

SIC

Services-Engineering, Accounting, Research, Management (8700), Services-Advertising (7310)

akta.pro primary industry

Survey, Panel & Fieldwork Services (BPAHALAJ)

akta.pro secondary industries

Industry & Sector Research (Syndicated/Custom) (BPAHALAE), B2B / Industrial Market Research (MPAAALAA), Syndicated Market Research (Panels, Omnibus, Tracker Studies) (MPAAALAB)

Keywords

• Market research services
• Custom survey research
• Qualitative research
• Focus group services
• Competitive intelligence

Headquarters

HQ city

Syracuse

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

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

Revenue model

1. Professional Services - Custom Research: Drive Research provides custom market research services including surveys, focus groups, qualitative recruiting, and advanced analytics. Pricing varies by scope: limited execution from $10-15k, full-service B2C from $15-30k, full-service B2B from $30-50k, and international/advanced analytics projects from $50k+. Projects are typically one-time engagements with end-to-end project management from survey design through final reporting.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels2 records

Marketing channels5 records

Core offering

Drive Research is a full-service custom market research company that designs, fields, analyzes, and reports on qualitative and quantitative studies for B2B and B2C clients. Core service lines include online surveys, customer and employee surveys, qualitative recruiting, focus groups, in-home usage tests (IHUTs), advanced analytics (segmentation, conjoint), PR surveys, and content marketing research. Projects are delivered as end-to-end managed engagements with dedicated project managers and real-time client reporting.

Product overview

Drive Research is a full-service market research company offering a unified suite of research services spanning both qualitative and quantitative methodologies. The core portfolio consists of nine distinct service lines: Online Surveys, Customer Surveys, Employee Surveys, Qualitative Recruiting, Focus Groups, In-Home Usage Tests (IHUTs), Advanced Analytics, PR Surveys, and Content Marketing Research. These services are delivered as end-to-end managed projects by a dedicated team, providing clients with a one-stop solution from study design and fieldwork through data analysis and actionable reporting. Drive Research operates across multiple industries including Consumer Packaged Goods, Financial Services, Healthcare, Manufacturing, Retail, Higher Education, and Travel and Tourism.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Online Surveys Comprehensive survey management for high-quality respondents and accurate data collection, delivered as an end-to-end managed service for B2B and B2C clients.
• Customer Surveys Customer satisfaction and experience research service that uses unbiased third-party data collection and expert analysis to boost satisfaction and retention for client brands.
• Employee Surveys Third-party employee survey service that leverages anonymity and professional survey design to encourage honest feedback and reliable insights; documented to deliver 3.6x more responses than internal efforts.
• Qualitative Recruiting Screening and scheduling of B2B and B2C research participants using rigorous vetting and communication protocols, achieving high show rates for focus groups, IHUTs, and in-depth interviews.
• Focus Groups In-person or online focus group recruitment, hosting, moderating, and reporting for qualitative consumer and B2B insights.
• In-Home Usage Tests (IHUTs) Product testing studies in which participants use products in their own homes and provide feedback over a defined period, used for new product development and product refinement studies.
• Advanced Analytics

Quantifiable outcome

• 3.6x improvement in employee survey response rates when using third-party anonymity approach
• +4 more outcomes

Named customers7 records

Segments9 records

Ideal customer profiles3 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Feature2 records

Partnerships

Three partnerships are on record, tiered core and minor.

• Passport (Euromonitor)coreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 20 November 2025Partnership for 2026 global e-commerce outlook study. An August 2025 study by Passport and Drive Research found that 98% of e-commerce brands expect international order volume growth in 2026, with 90% confident about global scaling abilities, while 75% expressed tariff volatility concerns.
• Flock FreightcoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 29 May 2025Partnership for annual shipper research study. Drive Research surveyed 1,000 transportation decision-makers across U.S. industries for the 2025 Shipper Research Study, examining truckload underutilization, transportation budgets, and freight market trends. The study found 58% of truckloads moved partially empty in 2024, up from 43% in 2023.
• Advance LocalminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerPartnership for COVID-19 economic impact research during the pandemic. Drive Research partnered with Advance Local to understand consumer audiences and help businesses communicate with customers using local data. Both hosted a webinar with 500+ attendees sharing results from an online survey conducted with 1,200 adult consumers across the Northeast.

Scale indicators12 records

Recent moves5 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Direct peers

• C+R Research: Chicago-based full-service custom market research firm of comparable size, offering online surveys, focus groups, qualitative recruiting, and analytics to enterprise and mid-market clients across CPG, healthcare, financial services, and B2B. Closest direct peer to Drive Research by service mix, client profile, and delivery model.
• Savanta: Mid-size full-service market research agency offering custom B2B/B2C research, brand tracking, and advanced analytics to enterprise clients. Comparable service portfolio and client mix to Drive Research, with deeper UK presence and similar US mid-market positioning.
• Schlesinger Group: Global qualitative research and recruitment specialist providing focus group facilities, qualitative recruiting, and panel services. Directly overlaps with Drive Research's qualitative recruiting, focus group hosting, and B2B/B2C audience access offerings, though at larger scale.
• Catalyst MR: Mid-size US custom market research firm offering online surveys, qualitative research, advanced analytics, and B2B/B2C fieldwork. Comparable to Drive Research in service breadth, vertical coverage (CPG, healthcare, financial services), and project-based pricing model.

Broad incumbents

• Burke, Inc. Established US-based full-service market research and consulting firm offering custom research, advanced analytics, and strategic consulting. Larger and more diversified than Drive Research, but overlapping in custom survey design, analytics, and B2B/B2C project work.
• Toluna: Global tech-enabled market research platform combining a large consumer panel with automated survey programming and analytics. Competes with Drive Research on survey execution speed and cost, though lacks the high-touch custom service layer.
• Dynata: One of the world's largest first-party data and research panel companies providing sample, data collection, and insights services. Competitor in survey-based fieldwork and B2B/B2C audience access; pressure on pricing for data collection components of custom research.
• Qualtrics: Enterprise experience management platform offering survey building, customer/employee experience analytics, and research automation. Represents a structural threat to mid-size custom research firms as enterprise buyers bring research in-house via self-serve tools.
• Market Strategies International: Larger US research and analytics firm with broad portfolio across customer experience, employee engagement, healthcare, and energy research. Overlaps with Drive Research in customer/employee surveys and healthcare research, but at greater scale and with broader consulting scope.

Emerging players

• Fuel Cycle: Mid-market insights platform combining online community panels, survey programming, and qualitative research tools for enterprise brands. Closely comparable to Drive Research in offering end-to-end custom research with proprietary tech stack for real-time data access.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat4 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/drive-research
• Facebookaddtoany.com/add_to/facebook?linkurl=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.driveresearch.com%2Fmarket-research-company-blog%2Fhow-to-use-surveys-for-lead-generation-content%2F&linkname=How%20to%20Use%20Surveys%20for%20Lead%20Generation%20Content
• Xx.com/DriveResearch
• Pinterestaddtoany.com/add_to/pinterest?linkurl=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.driveresearch.com%2Fmarket-research-company-blog%2Fhow-to-use-surveys-for-lead-generation-content%2F&linkname=How%20to%20Use%20Surveys%20for%20Lead%20Generation%20Content

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles1 record

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 Drive Research