Polyquest AG

What Polyquest AG does

Polyquest AG is a privately held Swiss market research company headquartered in Bern (Flurstrasse 26, 3014 Bern) that has been operating since 1991. The firm delivers a full-service, custom-design market research offering spanning quantitative methods (telephone CATI surveys, online/panel surveys, face-to-face interviews, paper-pencil surveys) and qualitative methods (in-depth interviews, focus groups, usability testing, mystery shopping). It serves enterprise and institutional clients across multiple verticals including finance, telecommunications, pharmaceuticals, healthcare, public administration, education, tourism, and energy/utilities.

The company's technical infrastructure is asset-heavy by industry standards: an in-house telephone laboratory with 35 workstations staffed by native-speaking agents across all Swiss national languages, a UX laboratory (fixed in Bern and portable), interview and focus group rooms with video recording and live observation capabilities, and a secure online survey platform supporting responsive multi-device questionnaires. It has productized several domain-specific tools under sub-brands: evaleasy (validated teaching-quality evaluation for tertiary education), TestingDay (iterative usability testing in Bern), the Strommarkt Monitor (energy-sector customer feedback intelligence), the Gemeindemonitor (municipal benchmarking), and a Tourismus research suite (guest satisfaction index, service provider index, SLA mystery check, advertising effectiveness, internet profiling, potential and acceptance analyses).

Polyquest operates a sales-led, project-based professional services model with no publicly disclosed pricing, generating revenue through custom research engagements scoped, executed, and delivered from a single point of contact. Distribution is exclusively domestic (Switzerland-wide), supported by direct sales, a content-driven website, LinkedIn presence, and memberships in Swiss Insights, UX Schweiz, and SAQ. Notable clients include PostFinance, Swisscom, Quickline, Swissmem, Novartis, MSD, Vifor, Swissmedic, BEKB, Rhätische Bahn, Ecoplan, Gesundheitsförderung Schweiz, and VBS (Federal Department of Defence). The firm is led by Geschäftsleitung members Roman Scherer (also Data Protection Officer) and Dr. Markus Simon, with a slim core team of six named members supplemented by a CATI and field interviewer pool.

Name

Polyquest AG

Legal name

POLYQUEST AG

Website

https://polyquest.ch

Company type

Private

Founded year

1991

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

Polyquest AG is a Bern-based Swiss market research consultancy founded in 1991 that delivers custom quantitative and qualitative research services, including CATI, online, face-to-face, usability, and mystery shopping studies, to enterprise, government, and institutional clients across Switzerland.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Market Research Services

NAICS

Marketing Research and Public Opinion Polling (541910)

akta.pro primary industry

Survey, Panel & Fieldwork Services (BPAHALAJ)

akta.pro secondary industry

Fieldwork & Data Collection (Online Panels, CATI/CAPI, Fieldwork) (MPAAALAD)

Keywords

• Market research services
• Quantitative survey research
• Qualitative research methods
• Usability testing services
• Telephone survey research

Headquarters

HQ city

Berne

HQ country

Switzerland

HQ region

Europe

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

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

Revenue model

1. Custom Research Projects: Project-based professional services for market research. Clients receive custom-designed research concepts with full-service project management from a single contact person. Pricing based on project scope, methodology, and sample size.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels2 records

Marketing channels4 records

Core offering

Polyquest AG is a Swiss market research consultancy that designs and executes custom quantitative and qualitative research projects for enterprise and public-sector clients. The company delivers telephone surveys (CATI), online and panel surveys, face-to-face interviews, paper-pencil surveys, focus groups, in-depth interviews, usability testing, and mystery testing. It operates its own telephone laboratory in Bern with 35 workstations and a UX laboratory, and offers specialized benchmarking tools such as evaleasy, Gemeindemonitor, Strommarkt Monitor, and the POLYQUEST Tourismus research suite.

Product overview

Polyquest AG is a Swiss market research company providing a comprehensive portfolio of research methodologies as services rather than a unified software product. The core offerings span quantitative methods (telephone CATI surveys, online/panel surveys, face-to-face interviews, paper-pencil surveys) and qualitative exploratory methods (individual in-depth interviews, focus groups, usability testing, mystery testing). The company operates specialized research tools including evaleasy (educational quality evaluation), the Tourismus research suite (Gästezufriedenheitsindex, Leistungsträger-Index, SLA Mystery Check, Advertisement-Index, Internet Profiling, Potenzialanalyse, Akzeptanzanalyse), the Gemeindemonitor for municipal surveys, and the Strommarkt Monitor for energy sector research. Supporting services include TestingDay for iterative usability testing, a Usability-Panel for participant recruitment, and dedicated UX laboratories and phone laboratories in Bern.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

• evaleasy: A web-based, validated evaluation system for measuring teaching quality in tertiary education and adult learning institutions.
• TestingDay
• Strommarkt Monitor

Products and services

• Telefonische Befragung (CATI) Computer-Assisted Telephone Interviewing conducted in Polyquest's own telephone laboratory in Bern with 35 workstations, experienced native-speaking agents, permanent supervision, and live listening capability for clients.
• Online-Befragung / Panel-Befragung Quantitative online survey service enabling rapid and cost-efficient polling of target audiences with responsive design for PC and mobile devices. For representative population surveys, Polyquest works with certified panel providers.
• Face-to-Face-Interviews In-person survey method for target groups that cannot be reached by telephone, online, or written methods, including guest surveys, in-hall product tests, and random-recruitment street surveys.
• Paper-Pencil-Befragung Written postal survey method with personalized mailing of questionnaires, cover letters, and return envelopes, suitable for target groups with personalized postal addresses expecting high response rates.
• Face-to-Face Einzelinterviews (Explorative Tiefeninterviews) Qualitative in-depth interviews for detailed exploration of topics, conducted in Polyquest's Bern facilities, at locations throughout Switzerland, or online with observation capabilities, transcription, and video reporting.
• Gruppendiskussion (Focus Group) Qualitative group discussion method for detailed, including controversial, topic discussion in small groups, enabling collection of arguments, counterarguments, and creative solutions through co-creation.
• Usability Test Testing of user-friendliness and customer-appropriateness of devices, instructions, websites, or digital processes, conducted in Polyquest's Bern facilities or at central locations throughout Switzerland with experienced test management and moderation.
• Mystery Test Independent neutral testing of consulting services in shops (Mystery Shopping), hotlines (Mystery Calling), or online/mail (Mystery Mailing) using trained native-speaking testers for targeted employee training inputs.
• TestingDay Cost-effective option for iterative testing during project development, conducted regularly in Bern (Breitenrain), offering ongoing usability evaluation of products and services.
• evaleasy Web-based, validated evaluation system for measuring teaching quality in tertiary education and adult learning institutions.
• Gemeindemonitor Information system providing Swiss municipalities with representative opinions and attitudes of their population, including topics such as overall satisfaction, attractiveness, safety, cleanliness, quality of life, infrastructure, and environmental efforts. Standardized questions enable benchmarking across municipalities.
• Strommarkt Monitor (Electricity Market Monitor) Information/control system for network companies, large energy companies, and municipal utilities delivering specific customer feedback and current market data on topics including awareness, image, new technologies, liberalization, and satisfaction.
• POLYQUEST Tourismus Research Suite Specialized tourism research offering including Gästezufriedenheitsindex (guest satisfaction index), Leistungsträger-Index (service provider index), SLA Mystery Check (service level agreement mystery checking), Advertisement-Index (advertising effectiveness), Internet Profiling (social media and web presence), Potenzialanalyse (potential analysis), and Akzeptanzanalyse (acceptance analysis).
• Usability-Panel Recruitment panel of test participants for evaluating user-friendliness of websites, tools, and products, with compensation of 40-120 CHF per 30-90 minute session.

Named customers13 records

Segments6 records

Ideal customer profiles6 records

Technology focussed Yes

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Feature6 records

Partnerships

Three partnerships are on record, tiered core and minor.

• Swiss Insights (Swiss Data Insights Association)coreOthersPolyquest is a member of Swiss Insights, the Swiss Data Insights Association. This association represents market and social research professionals in Switzerland and promotes professional standards and ethical guidelines in the industry.
• UX SchweizminorOthersPolyquest is a member of UX Schweiz, an association focused on user experience and usability in Switzerland.
• SAQ (Swiss Association for Quality)minorOthersPolyquest is a member of SAQ (Swiss Association for Quality), a quality management and certification organization in Switzerland.

Scale indicators2 records

Recent moves5 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Broad incumbents

• Ipsos (Switzerland): Global market research incumbent with a Swiss presence; competes with Polyquest for enterprise RFPs but at much larger scale and broader portfolio.
• NielsenIQ: Global data and measurement company active in Switzerland; competes for retail and consumer research budgets that Polyquest also targets with its mystery shopping and customer-satisfaction offerings.
• Kantar: Global research and insights firm with Swiss operations; broader portfolio than Polyquest and competes for the same enterprise buyers on multi-market studies.

Emerging players

• YouGov: Digital-first consumer research panel active in Switzerland; overlaps with Polyquest's CATI/online methodologies but competes on speed and price for standardized studies.

Direct peers

• Sotomo: Swiss social and market research institute based in Zurich providing quantitative and qualitative studies for public and private clients; comparable in methodology mix and Swiss enterprise/government client base.
• gfs.bern / gfs-zürich: Swiss public-opinion and market research institutes with strong roots in Bern; comparable to Polyquest in CATI infrastructure, multilingual fieldwork, and public-sector client base.
• LINK Marketing Services: Swiss full-service market research firm headquartered in Lucerne offering CATI, online panels, and qualitative research to enterprise clients; directly comparable in methodology breadth and Swiss-only B2B positioning.
• M.I.S. Trend: Swiss market and social research firm providing survey and qualitative services; comparable as a Switzerland-based boutique competitor in CATI and qualitative research.
• DemoSCOPE: Swiss market research company offering online and telephone-based studies; comparable in Switzerland-only focus and B2B service model.
• Intervista AG: Swiss market and opinion research firm providing quantitative and qualitative methods; closely comparable in methodology, size, and Swiss enterprise client base.

Market position

Strengths4 records

Weaknesses4 records

Competitive moat4 records

Key risks5 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/polyquest-ag

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles6 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 Polyquest AG