Vision Critical: Case Study on Growth in the Market Research Industry through Custom Online Panels with Social Community Features

Author: Louise Garnett, Vice President, Outsell Scout Analytics

Vision Critical is a pioneer and a leader in the custom online panel market. The Vancouver-based company had $20 million revenue in 2008 with 150 employees. Its foundation is its Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) business model, which combines a technology platform with services to provide solutions ranging from self-serve to full turnkey. Vision Critical initially targeted market research firms but quickly ran into those firms’ reluctance to adopt custom online panels. It switched its strategy to target end-user customers, and these customers have been the company’s growth engine during the last few years (revenue growth was 140% in 2007 and 66.7% in 2008). Now there are early signs that market research firms are adopting custom online panels. This report contains:

- Company highlights, including revenue, employees, business lines and products;
- A table with data on the company, its products and their pricing;
- Details of the competitive landscape for Vision Critical;
- Analysis of what makes Vision Critical unique;
- Essential actions for publishers and information providers.