HARD-TO-REACH AUDIENCE RESEARCH
Hard to reach.
Not impossible.
When the people you need aren't sitting on a research panel, we find another way. Viewpoint helps research teams connect with niche, specialist, vulnerable and seldom-heard audiences.
50k
Surveys Completed Annually
94
NPS Score
20
Years in business
WHEN STANDARD RECRUITMENT ISN'T ENOUGH
Some audiences need a different approach
Low incidence. Sensitive circumstances. Specialist occupations. Geographic isolation. Digital exclusion. Sometimes the audience simply doesn't identify with the labels researchers use.
We combine targeted sourcing, telephone work, community routes, referrals, face-to-face activity and careful screening to build an approach around the people — rather than forcing the people into a standard approach.
WHO WE CAN HELP YOU REACH
Complex audiences. Real people.
Research that includes their voices.
01
Niche & specialist
Low-incidence consumers, specialist professions and tightly defined profiles.
04
Geographically specific
Defined localities, rural communities and location-specific audiences.
02
Seldom-heard groups
People whose experiences can be missed by conventional recruitment.
05
Digitally excluded
People not well represented by online panels or digital-only recruitment.
03
Vulnerable audiences
Sensitive recruitment with appropriate participant care and safeguards.
06
B2B & professional
Specific roles, seniority levels, sectors and organisational profiles.
Trusted By
FINDING ANOTHER ROUTE
We don't rely on one recruitment method
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Targeted sourcing
Purposeful outreach rather than broad untargeted recruitment.
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Referrals & networks
Carefully managed approaches for specialist and low-incidence profiles.
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Telephone recruitment
Human conversations that reach people digital approaches miss.
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Face-to-face
On-the-ground recruitment where location and human contact matter.
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Community routes
Relevant networks, organisations and trusted routes where appropriate.
✓
Detailed screening
Human-led checks to establish genuine eligibility and suitability.
The Kind of brief we’re built for
“We need 30 people in three specific locations, all with a particular life experience. They're unlikely to be on a panel and we've got four weeks.”
That's not a standard sample brief. It's a recruitment problem to solve. We start by working out where those people can realistically be found and what might stop them taking part.
OUR PROCESS
Start with the audience.
Build the recruitment around them.
Understand the challenge
Criteria, incidence, geography, sensitivities, timings and barriers.
Design the route
A practical sourcing plan built for the actual audience.
Recruit & verify
We source, speak to and carefully screen potential participants.
Support participation
Communication, reminders and practical support through fieldwork.
QUALITY + HUMAN TOUCH
Good recruitment is about more than finding a name
With harder-to-reach groups, how people are approached matters. Recruitment should be clear, respectful and proportionate to the audience and subject matter.
Genuine participants
Careful screening against agreed criteria.
Clear communication
People understand what they're being invited to do.
Participant care
A considerate approach where topics or circumstances are sensitive.
Practical contingency
Planning that anticipates drop-out and fieldwork realities.
What our clients are saying
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Project Manager, Sheffield Museums Trust
Viewpoint worked well to arrange this for us at very short notice, they were flexible and accommodating. The expertise they brought… were very helpful, and we are really pleased with the results.
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Sourcing Manager, Nestle UK
It was great working with Viewpoint on the project. I felt the relationship was very positive with mutual trust. They were able to provide their expertise, whilst also responding to our specific requests. The work was of a high quality and we are now looking to use the results as we develop our local York based approach to community impact.
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Customer Services Manager At Kier Group
Viewpoint have made a significant contribution to the success of our business helping us to develop our services and improve performance over many years. A professional and reliable organisation who are flexible and responsive to our needs.
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Marketing Manager at Gripple UK & Ireland
It was a really engaging and efficient process that allowed us to receive high quality feedback. We will definitely be working with them again on future projects!
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Customer Care at EQUANS
I have worked with Viewpoint for several years and have found the service they provide to be exceptional. Since using Viewpoint, the results we now receive are more open and honest and provide invaluable data to our company.
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Sheffield Council Housing Planning & Performance Manager
We set Viewpoint a challenging target of 70% completion rate for all completed properties, and every month they achieved or exceeded it.
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Business Intelligence Officer, Norwich City Council
They were competitively priced but what swung it in their favour was the excellent customer service. They were beyond helpful and have accommodated every chop and change we’ve asked for since.
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Senior Research Fellow, Sheffield Hallam University
Viewpoint’s tenacity and conscientiousness exceeded expectations and they were always prepared to go the extra mile to achieve the number of completed surveys we needed. We would use them again in a shot.
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Governance Manager, All Together Money
The dashboard went down really well with the Board and was a great tool to aid discussion in the strategy meeting. It is a fabulous piece of work that adds so much to what we have done before and makes the data we have so much easier to view.
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Regional Director at AECOM
Viewpoint’s team were incredibly responsive. It was clear from the outset that they genuinely cared about the work and delivering a high-quality outcome. We quickly formed a strong partnership, and they were consistently easy to work with throughout the project, always meeting the agreed timescales. Honestly, it’s hard to suggest any improvements — we just wish more of our contractors and sub-consultants were like them..
Professional standards you can trust
HAVE A TRICKY AUDIENCE IN MIND?
Tell us who you need to reach
You don't need to know the recruitment solution yet. Tell us about the people, project and challenge and we'll talk through the options.