People for Research

What People for Research does

People for Research is a Bristol-based specialist participant recruitment agency founded in 1989, serving user research and usability testing buyers across the UK and internationally. The company recruits consumer, B2B, international, quantitative, low-digital, and accessibility participants from a proprietary community of over 250,000 members across 140+ countries, with an additional 2,000 new members added monthly. Its service portfolio spans Consumer, B2B, International, Quantitative, Panel Management, Low Digital, Accessibility, and Customer Data recruitment, complemented by an Incentive Management service that has paid out over £5 million to participants since 2014.

The underlying platform is web-based, covering participant management, community engagement, screening, and study booking, and is paired with a Bristol physical facility (User Viewing) offering two usability/viewing rooms with state-of-the-art recording and secure live streaming. Operational processes include a two-stage online-and-telephone screening protocol, a three-stage confirmation process, phone verification at sign-up, and a dedicated in-house data protection function that has passed GDPR audits with clients such as Visa, Monzo, NatWest, and BBC. The team is accredited under the MRS Recruiter Accreditation Scheme, the only professional accreditation for participant recruitment, and holds Cyber Essentials, ICO registration, Fair Data partner, and MRS Company Partner status.

Revenue mechanics are predominantly professional-services style: recruitment is quoted per project, the Accessibility Collective is fixed at £100 per participant, quantitative recruitment is transaction-based (pay-per-submission and qualified survey responses), panel management operates on a recurring basis, and viewing facility hire is day/night-rate based with a 15% bundle discount when combined with recruitment services. Go-to-market is sales-led for enterprise, government, and UX/research agency clients, supplemented by a direct-to-consumer community acquisition engine (paid social, referrals, charity partnerships). The customer base is a mix of large enterprises (Deloitte, Meta, Philips, IKEA, BT, Monzo, NatWest, Hargreaves Lansdown, Experian, BBC), UK government departments (ONS, NHS, Companies House, DIT), and charities (British Heart Foundation, Samaritans, Alzheimer's Society, Breast Cancer Now, Comic Relief).

Name

People for Research

Legal name

People for Research Ltd

Website

https://peopleforresearch.co.uk

Company type

Private

Founded year

1989

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

People for Research is a Bristol-based, UK-founded specialist recruitment agency that sources participants for user research and usability testing, serving enterprises, government, charities, and research agencies across 40+ countries from a 250,000+ member community.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Market Research Participant Recruitment

NAICS

Marketing Research and Public Opinion Polling (54191)

SIC

Services-Employment Agencies (7361)

akta.pro primary industry

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

Keywords

• Participant recruitment services
• User research recruitment
• Usability testing participants
• Market research panels
• UX testing facility

Headquarters

HQ city

Bristol

HQ country

United Kingdom

HQ region

Europe

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

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

Revenue model

1. Participant Recruitment Services: Core revenue stream from recruiting participants for user research, usability testing, focus groups, interviews, surveys, and other research methodologies. Services include consumer recruitment, B2B recruitment, international recruitment, quantitative recruitment, accessibility recruitment, and panel management.
2. Viewing Facility Hire (User Viewing): Revenue from hiring Bristol's combined UX testing lab and market research viewing facility, including two rooms (The Lounge and The Study), state-of-the-art technology, recording services, and live streaming capabilities. Discount of 15% offered when combined with recruitment services.
3. Incentive Management: Service managing participant incentive payments for organisations that cannot process compensation directly. Includes secure payment processing, multiple incentive types (bank transfers, gift vouchers), multi-currency support, and technical assistance for participants.
4. Panel Management: Ongoing panel recruitment and management services for clients requiring regular research. Includes building bespoke participant pools, communication management, logistics, engagement facilitation, and panel lifecycle management.
5. Customer Data Recruitment: Recruitment services using client's own customer data to source participants for targeted research, with GDPR compliance management throughout the process.
6. Quantitative Recruitment Services: Pay-per-submission and qualified survey response services for online surveys, card sorting, treejack testing, diary studies, and unmoderated product testing.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion2 records

Distribution channels6 records

Marketing channels7 records

Core offering

People for Research is a specialist participant recruitment agency that sources and recruits consumers, B2B professionals, accessibility participants, and international respondents for user research, usability testing, focus groups, surveys, and market research studies. The company also owns and operates User Viewing, a Bristol-based UX testing lab and market research viewing facility equipped with recording and secure live streaming technology. Services are delivered in-house, supported by an internal community of over 250,000 participants across 140+ countries.

Product overview

People for Research operates as a participant recruitment agency offering a comprehensive suite of services for user research and usability testing. The portfolio includes core recruitment services (Consumer, B2B, International, Quantitative, Panel Management, Low Digital, Accessibility, and Customer Data recruitment) complemented by an Incentive Management service. The company also owns and operates User Viewing, a Bristol-based UX testing lab and market research viewing facility with two adaptable rooms (The Lounge and The Study) featuring state-of-the-art recording and streaming technology. A specialized sub-brand, the Accessibility Collective, provides pre-screened participants with impairments at a fixed price point. All services are delivered in-house by an accredited team (MRS RAS accredited, Fair Data partners) with over 25 years of experience recruiting participants across 40+ countries.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

• User Viewing: Bristol's premier UX testing lab and market research facility offering flexible research space and usability testing lab equipped with state-of-the-art technology

Products and services

• Consumer Recruitment Recruitment service connecting clients with diverse everyday consumers for various types of user research and usability testing projects, including demographic and behavior-based targeting.
• B2B Recruitment Specialist recruitment service sourcing business professionals, senior decision-makers, business owners, sole traders, finance professionals, and heads of departments tailored to specific B2B research requirements.
• International Recruitment

Quantifiable outcome

• 97% panel engagement rate maintained through dedicated panel managers
• +4 more outcomes

Named customers35 records

Segments9 records

Ideal customer profiles5 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Feature5 records

Scale indicators11 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Direct peers

• Prolific: Online participant recruitment platform with a large, vetted pool for academic and commercial research. Competes with PFR on participant recruitment for surveys and studies, with a strong self-serve model and emphasis on data quality similar to PFR's positioning.
• User Interviews: Online marketplace connecting researchers with participants for user research and usability testing. Operates a self-serve platform with a large participant pool, making it a direct competitor to PFR's recruitment services in the same buyer and use-case category.
• Dscout: Research platform for diary studies and in-the-moment user research, including a built-in participant panel. Competes with PFR for diary study, longitudinal, and qualitative research recruitment, with a tech-enabled platform approach.
• Respondent.io: Marketplace for recruiting research participants, particularly B2B professionals, for user research, surveys, and interviews. Competes directly with PFR in B2B and professional participant recruitment, with similar buyer profile (researchers, UX teams, academics).
• r.world: UK-based research participant recruitment company offering consumer, B2B, and healthcare panels for market research. Closest UK-headquartered direct competitor to PFR, serving the same enterprise and agency client base.

Broad incumbents

• Toluna: Global online panel and market research technology provider serving enterprise clients with consumer and B2B research panels. Competes with PFR in panel management and quantitative recruitment but as a much larger, technology-led incumbent.
• UserTesting (now part of UserZoom): Enterprise UX research platform with a built-in participant panel and remote testing capabilities. While primarily a technology platform, its integrated panel competes with PFR's recruitment services for usability testing and remote research studies.
• Bellomy: Market research and analytics firm offering consumer insights, panel management, and full-service research capabilities. Provides overlapping recruitment and panel services to PFR's client base, particularly in retail and consumer goods verticals.
• Sago (formerly Schlesinger Group): Large-scale data collection and market research services firm offering qualitative recruitment, panels, and full-service research. Competes with PFR in qualitative and B2B recruitment but operates at significantly larger scale with a much broader service portfolio.

Emerging players

• Fuel Cycle: Insights platform offering community management, panel solutions, and participant engagement tools for ongoing research. Overlaps with PFR's panel management offering as an emerging tech-enabled alternative to traditional recruitment agencies.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat5 records

Key risks5 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/people-for-research

Compliance5 records

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Subsidiaries1 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 People for Research