pureprofile esomar 26 questions

pureprofile Building an asset out of your profile

26 QuestionsESOMARTo help research buyers

Response to

April 2011


The pureprofile Company

pureprofile is the world’s leading panel provision and customer database management company for the Market Research Industry, providing access to hard-to-reach consumer and B2B groups around the world.

Our capabilities include panel provision, data analysis, survey scripting and hosting, syndicated panel development, custom and syndicated insight dashboard production.

Our reach extends to customers in more than 45 countries around the world. With headquarters in Australia, pureprofile employs over 75 people in Sydney, Mumbai, New York, San Francisco and London. Our business also leverages the talents of hundreds of thousands of Account Holders who participate in the pureprofile Service.


Q1. What experience does your company have with providing online samples for market research?

pureprofile is a leading provider of online research services; hosting, scripting, reporting and sample provision, in 45 countries. pureprofile was founded in September 2000 and commenced commercial operations in 2001. pureprofile fields in excess of 3,000 research projects annually for a diverse range of clients including, but not limited to major international research firms, leading media and communications agencies, and direct clients both internationally and domestically.

Q2. Please describe and explain the types of source(s) for the online sample that you provide (are these databases, actively managed panels, direct marketing lists, web intercept sampling, river sampling or other)?

pureprofile is an independent, actively managed panel of online Account Holders. pureprofile’s panel of respondents is unique to pureprofile, and can only be accessed through its proprietary technology platform. pureprofile sources new Account Holders (panel members) through a variety of online and offline sources including, but not limited to internal referral programs, search engine optimization techniques, offline print trade marketing, location-based registration and radio advertising. During contracted fieldwork periods, pureprofile does not use external lists or any other form of sample provision without the express instruction of an individual client.

Q3. What do you consider to be the primary advantage of your sample over other sample sources in the marketplace?

pureprofile’s sample group is large, over 750,000 Account Holders, extremely active with average response rates of 50-65%. These response rates are directly related to pureprofile’s unique philosophy of fairly paying Account Holders for every research activity that they participate in. Fundamental to this policy is the fair payment of Account Holders for screening, qualifying and completing surveys, as opposed to just completing a survey

Additionally, pureprofile offers multiple engagement points for Account Holders. pureprofile is not solely a destination for participating in surveys. pureprofile’s Account Holders have joined in order to receive research studies, direct marketing and non-commercial online content such as trivia, music, sports tipping, profile recommendations and recipes. The wide variety of activity presented to pureprofile Account Holders results in a sample group representative of a typical online audience – Account Holders are not serial survey respondents as found on research only panels.


April 2011

Q4. If the sample source is a panel or database, is the panel or database used solely for market research? If not, please explain.

pureprofile is an actively managed panel where Account Holders have an individual online account unique to them. Account Holders receive a variety of content within their pureprofile homepage, invitations to market research surveys – specifically targeted to a huge range of profile information provided by each individual, non-commercial content matched to an individuals unique profile including, but not limited to tipping competitions, recipes, travel recommendations, insights and statistics and a variety of media content including videos and direct marketing.

pureprofile believes that the wide variety of activity delivered to our sample group results in a highly representative cross-section of online consumers. pureprofile has industry leading activity rates due to the multitude of reasons Account Holders have to participate.

Q5. How do you source groups that may be hard-to-reach on the Internet?

pureprofile Account Holders answer up to 1,000 individual profile questions. Each answer provided by an Account Holder becomes a uniquely targetable data point, which allows pureprofile to build very specific target groups to delivery research surveys to. This depth of profile information, together with our high participation rates, allows access to often very difficult to reach samples. Additionally, pureprofile offers a clear benefit for participating in the Service – Account Holders get a wide variety of content based n their personal and changing profile and they get rewarded, in cash for any activity that participate in on behalf of a commissioning business.

pureprofile’s depth of profile information on panel members is a unique competitive advantage.

pureprofile is an online consumer panel, as such the sample group is obviously not representative of consumers who spend no time online. However as Internet access and broadband penetration continues to spread online participants are increasingly directly representative of all consumers.

Q6. What are people told when they are recruited?

When joining the pureprofile panel, new Account Holders are told that in joining they will be provided the opportunity to participate in research and marketing activities and be rewarded for their time.

pureprofile Account Holders participate under the guiding principle ‘Your Participation Pays’, offering panel members the opportunity to build up an account balance in real dollars in exchange for giving a small portion their time to market researchers and marketers. You can see the details of the pureprofile Service in detail, found at www.pureprofile.com

New members are told that the basis of their engagement with pureprofile will involve compiling an in depth profile about themselves which will be used to allow relevant research and marketing initiatives to be directed to them.


April 2011

Q7. If the sample comes from a panel, what is your annual turnover/attrition/retention rate and how is it calculated?

The pureprofile panel maintains an average annual turnover/attrition rate of approximately [3-4%]. These rates are calculated on those accounts that are closed year on year at the request of individual Account Holders. Current annual growth rates across the panel are approximately 90% (50,000 new registrations/month) resulting in a ‘refresh’ of between 6-8% of the entire sample group.

One of pureprofile’s strengths is in actively managing Account Holder expectations for services levels and distribution of worthwhile engaging content. pureprofile Account Holders are paid to participate in research surveys on a per minute time scale, effectively continuing the incentive to participate regardless of survey length. This allows successful delivery of long and complex surveys with little effect to our Account Holder satisfaction levels – a significant point of difference from un-incentivised online panel platforms.

Q8. Please describe the opt-in process.

All new pureprofile Account Holders go through an industry standard double opt in process. New Account Holders register their new account through the pureprofile homepage and are then sent a validation email to the supplied address. New Account Holders must then retrieve the validation email and go through the secondary activation process to confirm their new account. Account Holders are made fully aware of what they are undertaking at both stages of the opt-in process.

Q9. Do you have a confirmation of identity procedure? Do you have procedures to detect fraudulent respondents at the time of registration with the panel? If so, please describe.

Yes, pureprofile Account Holders are required to supply a valid email address and identity information. During the registration process as well IP location software detects the geographic registration point; members can only register in the country that their IP location indicates. During the redemption process bank account, address and name verification occur. pureprofile also employs a sophisticated technology platform where key profile questions are asked a number of times across the year – making it extremely difficult to carry a fraudulent profile. Additionally, Account Holders, although not required, frequently submit mobile numbers, home and work postcodes/zipcodes amongst other key identity criteria found within their constantly updated 1,000 question profiles.


April 2011

Q10. What profile data is kept on panel members? For how many members is this data collected and how often is this data updated?

pureprofile is a market leader in the collection of profile data. Account Holders can answer up to 1,000 individual profile questions that cover a huge range of areas. You can find a brief snapshot of the current set of published profile questions at www.pureprofile.com. pureprofile captures general demographic profile information to very niche profile information on many areas of life under subject categories such as; Money & Finance, Entertainment & Leisure, Automotive & Transport, Health & Wellbeing, Communications, and many others.

pureprofile’s proprietary technology platform allows time relevant profile data to automatically update profile information. For example children’s ages will automatically age each year without Account Holders’ needing to manually renew their profile data. pureprofile’s individual online account platform allows for the continuous gathering of new and more detailed profile information, between campaigns Account Holders are prompted to refresh profile information and to continue building out their individual profile.

pureprofile has built a reliable solution to mitigate many of the historical data aging issues associated with traditional market research activities.

Q11. What is the size and/or the capacity of the panel, based on active panel members on a given date?

Based on the definition provided by ESOMAR, and active Account Holder being one who has participated in at least one research survey, or updated his/her profile data, or registered to join the panel within the last 12 months, pureprofile has an active membership of 94%.

pureprofile’s average response to a campaign are 45-60% (over a typical 4-5 day field time), giving a theoretical sample capacity of approximately 450,000 over the same field time.

pureprofile’s unique engagement mechanism, the nextbutton, ensures significantly higher than average response rates as Account Holders are actively logging in to their account pages to participate in multiple activities in addition to being notified via email. This platform has removed the reliance on mass email sends as used by most other panels which typically experience very low response rates.

Q12. Please describe your sampling process including your exclusion procedures if applicable. Can samples be deployed as batches/replicates, by time zones, geography, etc? If so, how is this controlled?

All activity on the pureprofile platform is single sourced to an individual. This means that any campaign activity can be either directly targeted to a specific individual, or conversely specifically blocked from an individual. pureprofile can actively block sample participants from a specific campaign based on their previous activity, either participation or non-participation with relevant campaign types or themes.

pureprofile can actively deploy sample as batches/replicates based on any previous activity within pureprofile, or based on any of the profile data held on an individual.

pureprofile technology runs an enormous data management system that drives the backend processes utilized by all front-end campaign activity.


April 2011

Q13. Explain how people are invited to take part in a survey. What does a typical invitation look like?

pureprofile is unique in its approach to campaign delivery. pureprofile delivers survey invitations directly to targeted individuals pureprofile home page, Account Holders view survey invitations within their account where they are informed of basic information regarding the survey, approximate length (in assumed time to complete), the amount they will receive in payment for completing the survey, and according to the clients needs any other information. Survey invitations are standardized and give no indication of the survey content or relevant targeting employed.

pureprofile can choose to utilize email invitations to participate when attempting to reach target groups typically less active than others, for example; older age groups may be emailed with a prompt to inform the Account Holder that they have a survey waiting for them within their account.

Q14. Please describe the nature of your incentive system(s). How does this vary by length of interview, respondent characteristics, or other factors you may consider?

pureprofile Account Holders are paid on a per minute basis for participation in any research survey they choose to participate in. Account Holders are paid a minimum cash payment. Account Holders will receive this amount even if they screen from a survey or receive a quota full status. Account Holders are paid on a continuous scale according to the estimated time for completion of a survey (the estimated length of survey and payment amount is clearly stated in the survey invitation).

Survey incentives are a cash payment; Account Holders build up an account balance that can be deposited directly to their nominated account.

Q.15 How often are individual members contacted for online surveys within a given time period? Do you keep data on panelist participation history and are limits placed on the frequency that members are contacted and asked to participate in a survey?

pureprofile operates at a default rate of one survey per respondent per month, however active thresholds on activity can be modified according the client needs ensuring that surveys can be specifically targeted to respondents who have not participated for a given period – either greater of smaller than the default one month time frame. This ensures an active control over perceived ‘freshness’ of a sample, weighted against the inherent time constraints for field work common in the industry.

pureprofile maintains a complete set of historical data on each Account Holders activity, thus respondents can be excluded or specifically targeted for multiple wave projects, tracking studies, or studies of similar theme or content.

pureprofile Account Holders have complete control over the frequency of contact, because pureprofile is not email reliant surveys can simply be opened to targeted Account Holders and filled by those who enter their accounts, or pureprofile can email survey notification messages which Account Holders can opt in or out of receiving.


April 2011

Q16. Is there a privacy policy in place? If so, what does it state? Is the panel compliant with all regional, national and local laws with respect to privacy, data protection and children e.g. EU Safe Harbor, and COPPA in the US? What other research industry standards do you comply with e.g. ICC/ESOMAR International Code on Market and Social Research, CASRO guidelines etc?

pureprofile has a stated privacy policy that can be viewed at: www.pureprofile.com/privacy/

pureprofile fully operates within the regional national and local laws in all markets where operations are undertaken. pureprofile requires all clients to adhere to the same standard of accepted behavior when undertaking any activity using the pureprofile panel.

pureprofile adheres to, and in most cases exceeds minimum standards with respect to privacy, data protection and child safety in all markets in which operations are conducted. pureprofile follows the ESOMAR and other industry body guidelines with respect to these issues.

Q17. What data protection/security measures do you have in place?

pureprofile maintains a secure data storage operation where all client and Account Holder details are backed up on multiple, mirrored and redundant server systems within a private security facility. pureprofile stores multiple sets of data from client projects on both local server networks and web based project management systems.

pureprofile does not currently hold address of telephone details on Account Holders, Account Holders are only identified through name, email and bank account details. In any given survey a respondents data is collected anonymously with data only tagged to a randomly identification number.

Q18. Do you apply a quality management system? Please describe it.

pureprofile employs rigorous background quality checks as standard operating procedure across profile data collection, survey set up, implementation and reporting. pureprofile respondents can only respond to a survey once (unless set for multiple entry for a specific project need), survey invitations are deployed by default to fresh sample, thresholds are placed on the number of survey invitations distributed by key demographics over relevant time frames to ensure even and representative sample distribution.

pureprofile deploys various security and validation checks both within client surveys and independently to detect fraud and invalid/low quality responses. Any Account Holder found to be providing invalid/low quality responses can be at risk of termination from the pureprofile panel or restrictions on future participation.

pureprofile analyses response data for quality assurance.


April 2011

Q19. Do you conduct online surveys with children and young people? If so, please describe the process for obtaining permission.

In accordance with ESOMAR guidelines the pureprofile panel is an 18+ sample group. However the profile data collected on Account Holders includes questions on children, and if respondents have children how old they are, what gender they are and if they would be willing to have researchers contact their children through them.

As such pureprofile can specifically target the parents of relevant under 18 children to conduct research through a parental permission question. pureprofile will facilitate such research at appropriate times, such as late afternoon, early evening and weekends to ensure respondents children are readily available.

Q20. Do you supplement your samples with samples from other providers? How do you select these partners? Is it your policy to notify a client in advance when using a third party provider? Do you de-duplicate the sample when using multiple providers?

pureprofile will conduct international projects using external suppliers if pureprofile does not have a panel presence in that country or region.

pureprofile’s sample size and activity rates allow the fulfillment of all accepted projects, pureprofile will not undertake a project if there is a belief that the target sample is unachievable – an open communication with clients regarding achievable sample is a company priority.

If for any reason pureprofile decided it was necessary to utilize a competitors sample the relevant client would be consulted prior to this action taking place.

pureprofile sample is used regularly used to top up other around the world. It is not known if competitor panels using pureprofile sample undertake a de-duplicating process.

Q21. Do you have a policy regarding multi-panel membership? What efforts do you undertake to ensure that the survey results are unbiased given that some individuals belong to multiple panels?

Because pureprofile does not use competitor ‘top-up’ sample for any projects the issue of multi-panel membership is minimal in relevance. Client research activities conducted by pureprofile using only pureprofile sample are only able to be responded to once by any given Account Holder ensuring there is no duplication. It is pureprofile’s belief that panel providers using top-ups from multiple supplies are highly susceptible to issues of duplicate respondents.


April 2011

Q22. What are likely survey start rates, drop-out and participation rates in connection with a provided sample? How are these computed?

pureprofile response rates average 50-65% across all activity, i.e. 50-65% of respondents shown a survey invitation will choose to engage with that particular project. Drop-out rates will vary according to length of survey, survey content and survey design – variables which pureprofile has minimal control over. An average expected drop-out rate across all pureprofile activity would be less than 10%. Because pureprofile uses a continuous time-based incentive model, whereby respondents continue to be rewarded at the same rate for the entire estimated length of a survey, drop-out rates are minimized.

Q23. Do you maintain individual level data such as recent participation history, date of entry, source, etc, on your panelists? Are you able to supply your client with a per job analysis of such individual level data?

Yes, pureprofile records and stores all individual data – any respondent activity on the pureprofile platform is also time stamped and recorded and is able to be retrieved and/or used for subsequent survey targeting and/or reporting.

pureprofile could retrieve any relevant data for a client if there was a particular need however this sort of data is not usually requested or needed for most client activity.

Q24. Do you use data quality analysis and validation techniques to identify inattentive and fraudulent respondents? If yes, what techniques are used and at what point in the process are they applied?

Yes, pureprofile actively employs techniques to ensure the highest possible standards of response quality. Surveys are scripted with built in time screens ensuring that respondents moving through a survey too quickly are terminated. pureprofile also provides data analysis to check for patterned responses and/or unreliable free text responses. Data is cleaned and top-up responses are collected to ensure full, high quality data sets are achieved.

pureprofile deploys a range of in house surveys with build in security and fraud checks – cross referencing existing profile data with survey responses. Such activities actively identify and remove unreliable respondents from the pureprofile panel.


April 2011

Q25. Do you measure respondent satisfaction?

pureprofile includes a respondent feedback question at the end of all survey’s (unless specifically requested not to by a client) and maintains regular internal communication with Account Holders through customer feedback activities. The most reliable ‘measure’ of satisfaction is the ongoing participation of over 80,000 unique Account Holders per month in Australia and continued panel growth predominately through friend referrals – a reliable measure that Account Holders value their engagement with pureprofile.

Q26. What information do you provide to debrief your client after the project has finished?

pureprofile account management teams maintain direct contact with clients before, during and after the facilitation of a research project and will provide all required information to a client according to their specific needs. Clients typically receive any required data reporting, along with feedback on response rates, incidence rates and average interview times.


April 2011

● e: [email protected] ● w: researchers.pureprofile.com

pureprofile esomar 26 questions

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