Market research costs $5,000 to $60,000 a study.

A round of 10 to 15 in-depth interviews costs $5,000 to $15,000. One focus group costs $7,000 to $20,000+. A full agency study costs $15,000 to $30,000 for consumers and $30,000 to $50,000 for B2B. These are Drive Research’s published estimates in US dollars.

Those totals buy hours. A recruiter finds the people, a moderator runs each session, someone takes notes and an analyst pulls the themes together. Add ten more interviews and you pay for those hours again.

AI-moderated interviews change that. Underheard conducts each conversation and brings the answers into one report, so a study costs around 70% less and you hear from more people without booking more hours.

Four lines make up most research budgets. Each one grows with every session you add.

• RecruitmentFinding and screening the right people, then replacing the ones who miss their session.
• IncentivesPaying people for their time. Senior audiences cost more.
• ModerationA trained moderator for every session, plus the scheduling around it.
• AnalysisTranscripts, notes, coding and the report.

Underheard takes moderation, scheduling and transcripts off that list. Your team starts from themes, counts and quotes.

Ask for a breakdown before approving the total. Put a named owner beside recruitment, incentives, moderation, tools, facilities, cleaning and analysis. Mark each item as included, separate or handled by your team.

• RecruitmentState who qualifies, where they come from and how many valid completions you need. Ask who pays for no-shows and replacements.
• FieldworkSpecify the session length, format, countries and languages. Include translations, recordings and facilities where your study needs them.
• DeliveryName the report format, source evidence, review rounds and any presentation. Confirm whether revisions are part of the quoted work.

Keep a software fee separate from the complete study budget. If a package already includes recruitment or analysis, count that service once. Ask for written confirmation of anything left open before you compare totals.

Build your budget from the work required. Add setup, participant costs, analysis, tools and your own team's time. Use the same scope for every proposal so a missing service stays visible.

Total = setup + completed participants × per-person costs + analysis + tools + internal hours × hourly cost.

• Fixed workRecord guide design, setup and the agreed report. Separate one-off work from charges that grow with each participant.
• Participant workMultiply valid completions by the recruitment, incentive and session costs you actually pay per person. Keep excluded services visible.
• Your timeEstimate hours for briefing, approvals, checking answers and sharing findings. Apply your own internal hourly cost.

A per-group quote belongs against the number of groups. A complete interview-round quote belongs against the whole round. Do not multiply an entire package by the participant count. Ask the supplier to explain the unit whenever it is unclear.

Take the hours out first. Underheard costs around 70% less than a traditional study because it conducts every interview, so you book no moderator and no room. People answer through one link when it suits them, so nobody schedules sessions. The answers come back as themes, counts and quotes, so your team starts from findings instead of transcripts.

Then keep the study tight. Ask about one decision and leave unrelated brand questions for a separate brief. Use your own customers when their experience matches the question, or our panel with your quotas when it doesn’t.

• Keep the guide focusedRemove questions whose answers would leave your next action unchanged. Check the session length after editing.
• Specify useful outputsAsk for the evidence your stakeholders need. Agree on report detail, file formats and review rounds before work starts.
• Go remoteSpoken interviews by link need no travel and no facility. People join from a phone or laptop.

Send every supplier the same brief. Fix the audience, valid completion target, session length and deliverables before comparing the total. A proposal with fewer completed interviews answers a different brief.

Ask what makes an answer valid and who handles replacements. Record what happens when someone misses a session, stops early or fails the agreed quality checks. Confirm whether the quote covers replacement work or adds another charge.

Give each proposal an owner and a delivery date. Keep your own approval and analysis hours beside the supplier total. This makes the work left for your team visible before you commit.

Price the smallest complete study that answers your next decision. Write down what you need to learn, whose experience matters and what your team can handle itself. Then request a quote against that brief.

Keep recruitment and reporting in the budget even when you handle them internally. If you use an existing customer list, check that it includes the people your question concerns. A convenient sample leaves the decision unresolved when it misses the right experience.

Underheard turns your brief into a guide you can edit, conducts the interviews and brings the answers together. Invite your own customers or use our panel with your quotas. Everyone is told at the start they are talking to an AI.

Voice-to-voice. Text and video available. Underheard supports 120+ languages and asks follow-ups about what each person says. Your team gets themes, counts and quotes linked to the interviews behind them.

Read more about AI-moderated interviews, or bring your audience and study goal to a demo.

Book a demo for a quote