Data has been called the oil of the digital age, and advertisers are eager to get their hands on it. Atlanta-based 1Q wants in on the data boom. 1Q’s aim is to disrupt market research by connecting companies directly with consumers, allowing them to ask questions about their interests, preferences and inclinations.
The problem with current consumer engagement, according to 1Q founder and CEO Keith Rinzler, is that consumers are often undervalued. Market researchers should, “stop bothering people,” he said. “Stop treating consumers like zero-value commodities. If you want five seconds or five minutes of a consumer’s time, you should pay them. Not in points, teddy bears or sweepstakes, but in cold, hard cash.”
1Q’s model is “radical simplicity,” according to Rinzler. “We allow any business to reach out and tap the shoulder of consumer groups based on demographics or ‘geographics.’”
1Q works like this: Consumers fill out their demographic information on the company’s website or app. 1Q’s clients submit a question or series of questions and select which consumers they want to target based on location and demographics. Consumers who fit the bill are then prompted to respond to the client’s request, which might include audio, video, images or links.
1Q chargers its customers $1 per question and pays consumers 25 cents per response. Both clients and consumers have the option to conceal their personal information from the other party.
Rinzler launched 1Q 2015, and said he has intentionally flown under the radar until the company refined its platform and grew its member base. “We’ve been very quiet and secretive about what we were doing while building our customer base,” he said. “Now we’re ready for the world to find out what we’re up to.” Rinzler said 1Q has around one million members currently signed up on its platform.
1Q has attracted a number of Fortune 1000 companies in recent years, including the Coca-Cola Company, Delta, Truist and Chick-fil-A. The company employs 10 people and has raised a few million dollars, said Rinzler, including a recent $2 million funding round led by Techstars Ventures.
Consumers using 1Q should be prepared for a wide range of questions. Most of them are personal but pretty mundane, so long as personal data is withheld: Which label do you prefer? What prescriptions do you take on a monthly basis? Have you made up your mind for the election?
But some of the requests can seem a bit strange. “We have customers who ask our members to take pictures of shelf space in retailers and send those pictures back, or open their refrigerators, take pictures, and send pictures back,” Rinzler said.
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1Q members are asked political questions “of all shape and size,” according to Rinzler. However, he said, the company has “algorithms that are always at work, looking at every single question that’s asked, screening in case there’s something inappropriate.” Members, meanwhile, have the ability to report inappropriate questions.
In the past, companies would typically go through a company like Nielsen or Ipsos if they wanted to research consumer engagement. With 1Q, Rinzler hopes to “take out the middleman.”
“We want this capability to be open to any business no matter how large or small,” he said.
