Custom Research
Primary research designed around a question only you are asking — then written, designed and put in market.
In one sentence
Futurum Custom Research designs and runs primary research programmes for technology vendors, channel partners and buyers — surveys, AI-moderated voice interviews and analyst-led interviews on top of data Futurum already holds — then writes, designs and puts the result in market.
The short version
- Type
- Engagement · internal-facing, market-facing, or both
- Instruments
- Online surveys · AI-moderated voice interviews · analyst-led depth interviews
- Foundation
- Intelligence Platform, Futurum decision-maker surveys, Signal data, ETR’s panel of more than 10,000 technology leaders, G2 verified reviews, Signal65 benchmarks
- Core formats
- Brief, report, or study — increasing depth, timeline and budget
- Activation
- Dashboards, short-form content, video and webinars, infographics, white-label sales and partner kits
- Distribution
- Futurum’s own media channels, plus answer-engine landing pages hosted by Futurum
Research that moves markets, and decisions.
Custom programmes for technology vendors, channel partners and buyers — grounded in proprietary data Futurum already holds, extended with primary collection, led by analysts with their own followings and executive credibility.
Some engagements are internal-only and shape strategy from the inside. Others are market-facing and built to influence buyers at scale. Most blend the two.
Market-facing, internal-facing, or both
A market-facing programme is built to be published and to move buyers at scale. An internal-facing one is private and shapes strategy from the inside. Most engagements are some of both, and the split is decided before the instrument is.
Four instruments, used in combination
Futurum can reach anyone — executives, technical and non-technical decision-makers, experts, users, channel partners, even consumers — and the instrument is chosen by what the question needs, not by what is cheapest to field.
The instruments
- Quantitative — online surveys — Large-scale, double-blinded surveys of screened decision-makers, technical experts and executives. Produces statistical metrics, benchmarks, multifactor segmentation and chartable data.
- Quant-qual hybrid — AI-moderated voice interviews — Trained AI agents interview experts at scale with adaptive follow-ups, pairing survey-grade data and segmentation with the reasoning, context and quotes of a live interview, across dozens of languages.
- Qualitative — analyst-led interviews — Futurum experts recruit and run in-depth interviews with decision-makers and executives, surfacing depth, real-world proof, executive voice and powerful verbatims.
- Foundation — data already in hand — Continuous, at-the-ready data for every programme: Futurum research and decision-maker surveys, Signal competitive data, ETR’s panel of more than 10,000 technology leaders with fifteen years of longitudinal data, an exclusive G2 partnership for buyer reviews and intent, and Signal65 lab benchmarking.
Brief, report, or study
The same engine produces good work at any depth, so there is an offering that fits the timeline and the budget. Depth, personalisation and voice-of-market increase left to right.
Then Futurum puts it in market
The research is the core. The campaign around it is not an upsell — it is the reason anybody reads the research.
Where a commissioned programme earns out
Technology vendors
You will know this is you when
The question you need answered is one no published study asks, and the category is moving while you wait for one.
A programme designed around your question, standing on data Futurum already holds rather than fielded from scratch.
Marketing and analyst relations teams
You will know this is you when
You need a number the market will quote, and your own survey will not be believed by the people you need to persuade.
Futurum authors the work and keeps editorial control, which is the reason a buyer accepts the result.
Enterprise buyers and CIOs
You will know this is you when
You are making a decision the market has not written about yet.
Primary collection against screened decision-makers, or against your own customer base, on top of the standing data foundation.
Frequently asked
What is Futurum Custom Research?
Bespoke research programmes commissioned by technology vendors, channel partners and buyers. Futurum designs the study, collects primary data through surveys, AI-moderated voice interviews and analyst-led interviews, grounds it in the data the firm already holds, and delivers it in whatever format fits — from a short brief to a full study extended into an interactive digital experience.
What is an AI-moderated voice interview?
A trained AI agent conducts a spoken interview with a screened expert, asking adaptive follow-up questions the way a human moderator would. It combines the scale and segmentation of a survey with the reasoning, context and usable quotes of a live conversation, and runs across dozens of languages. It is the instrument that makes depth affordable at sample sizes surveys normally reserve for closed questions.
How long does a custom research programme take?
It depends on the format. A brief is built largely on data already in hand and turns around fast. A report adds a layer of fresh primary data. A study runs full primary research across segments and personas and takes the longest. Futurum’s speed advantage comes from starting on a standing data foundation rather than fielding everything from scratch.
Do we control what the research says?
No, and that is the point. Futurum authors the work and retains editorial control; commissioned research that reads like marketing copy does not persuade the buyers it was built for. Clients shape the question, the audience and the format. Internal-facing engagements are private and never published.
Can Futurum survey our own customers, or only the open market?
Both. Programmes reach screened decision-makers in the open market, and can also run against a client’s own customer base — which is usually how single-customer and composite ROI studies are sourced.
What happens after the research is finished?
Futurum can build the campaign around it and distribute it: dashboards, short-form content, turnkey video and webinars, infographics, white-label sales and partner kits, answer-engine landing pages hosted by Futurum, and distribution through the group’s own media channels.
Pairs well with
Living Research
Engagement · PremiumThe premium format. The narrative, the charts and the ROI re-author for the reader's industry, region and role, and the data behind them keeps getting re-fielded.
Bring us the question.
The first conversation is about what you need to know, not which format you want to buy.