You’ve heard of Web 2.0. Now here’s Research 2.0…A virtual life in Manchester proves good business for web evaluators.
Virtual Surveys is one of Europe’s most successful web evaluation companies. It specialises in conducting research on web sites. It has a client list to die for, with customers spread across the UK and Europe.
Founded in 1998, the company claims it was the first full service agency in Europe to specialise in online research and in particular in web evaluation services. Chairman Peter Comley set up the company, when the research company he was previously working for was acquired and he felt his face didn’t fit.
So he requested early termination of his contract and his new employers agreed, but on condition he didn’t carry out any conventional research and stuck to online only.
Such was the interest in and regard of the internet in the UK nine years ago.
Ashby
Comley started the company from his house in Hook, Hampshire. A business acquaintance of his, Quentin Ashby, a researcher living in Manchester, also decided the online life was more to his liking and he quit his job with an established and extremely successful research agency (what was B&MR), based in High Lane, Cheshire.
Between Comley, Ashby and three more directors (all working from home), the business grew steadily. Early business came from financial services organisations dipping their toes into the murky waters of the web.
The directors gradually realised however, that although having a policy of allocating director level staff (even operating virtually) to the client was clearly proving a winning formula, it was also proving to be restrictive in terms of potential growth.
They decided they needed a conventional office.
By this time, 2004, Ashby had been made managing director, and he was reluctant to move to London. In addition, although the company was growing, margins were still tight and Manchester’s lower office costs helped sway the case for Ashby.
So in June that year, Ashby and his one Manchester colleague Adele Beasley, moved into a serviced suite in the centre of town. Turnover for the year ending November 2004 was nudging £1 million.
As of April 2007, there are 14 staff based in a new 1,700 sq ft office on Faulkener Street. In total, the company now employs 20 people. Sales have been rising by around 30% over the past three years and Ashby is expecting the company to break the £2.5m sales barrier this financial year.
Their client base breaks down into three distinct categories: public sector, financial services and retail.
Government clients include the COI and the DWP.
Financial services include Halifax, HSBC, ING, First Direct, Nationwide, Lloyds and Alliance and Leicester.
Retail business comes in the shape of BA, GSK, Unilever, Britvic, RAC, Sony, TUI and Next.
“Basically” says Ashby “our competition is in London.”
Competitors include Harris Interactive, Research Now and other online panel operators. More recently, Ashby is also seeing increasing competition from web designers with in-house capacity and “usability” in their marketing armoury. Another competitor, Foviance - based in London - won the evaluation work for the relaunch of the Manchester Evening News web site. This highlighted a problem for Ashby. The company wasn’t picking the large pieces of low-hanging fruit on its doorstep.
The Virtual team at play
To help rectify this, business development director Graeme Lawrence, was recruited last year. Operating nationally and internationally, he too is based in the Manchester office.
With online research now becoming extremely competitive with new entrants flooding the market, new areas of business need to be created and Ashby believes they are ahead of the game with their work in online communities. “We call it research 2.0” he says. “It’s a realisation that customers are increasingly as comfortable sharing their thoughts via blogs and online forums and surveys as they were with traditional survey methods.
We were one of the very first to identify this area and we’ve developed a product that we’re already marketing and selling to clients.”
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