LONDON: SurveyMonkey, an internet company that enables people to poll friends, colleagues and customers, is bringing its professional polling service to Britain, marking its first foray for the product in Europe.
Launched a couple of years ago in the United States, SurveyMonkey Audience has a 4.5 million strong panel ready to answer questions. It is used by companies to get feedback on new products or on ads. Investors, stock market analysts and academics also make use of it.
"Most Survey Monkey usage is people sending surveys to people they already know, whether its to their own customers, employees or fellow parents at school," Chief Executive Dave Goldberg said in an interview.
"But sometimes you need to ask a group of people you don't know what they think about a new product idea, a new name, a new ad you are running, or how they view your competitors."
Goldberg said SurveyMonkey Audience would not replace the services offered by traditional market researchers in Britain, but it could offer quick insights on new products or ads.
The service was also being used in the United States for academic research, he said, and about 20 percent of surveys were done by investors and analysts doing original research on stocks.
Goldberg, married to Facebook executive Sheryl Sandberg, said next year well in excess of 10 percent of SurveyMonkey's revenue would come from SurveyMonkey Audience.
Privately owned SurveyMonkey made $113 million (71.16 million pounds) in revenue and $62 million in earnings in 2012, the last year for which numbers were publicly available, he said.- Reuters
