Time and technology has finally caught up with Matthew Dusig and Gregg Lavin, the co-founders of uSamp, an Encino-based company that sells names of consumers willing to take part in online market research panels. More than a decade ago, Dusig and Lavin had looked into using cell phones as an advertising platform and for conducting market research. They abandoned the idea when they found that there wasn’t money in mobile advertising or market research. At the time, they were busy building their first company, called GoZing, which they sold for $30 million in 2005. In the years following that early attempt to expand into the mobile arena, cell phone and hand-held device technology has advanced by leaps and bounds, with Apple’s iPhone and iPad leading the way. And since they started uSamp in 2008, Dusig and Lavin have been seizing opportunities in mobile market research — opportunities they always knew existed. This month, uSamp will bring out an app for the iPhone that allows for consumer surveys and local polls. A similar app will also be available for the Android. These mobile apps provide uSamp’s clients, mainly market research firms, with real-time results about consumer purchases that they can act upon immediately. Panelists who participate in uSamp’s online market research panels get paid with cash, gift certificates, or other compensation. There are five million registered users who can take market research surveys through uSamp. About 20 percent, or one million, are active users. On a daily basis, the website attracts 150,000 visitors. The company serves a global market, giving surveys in 14 languages and compensating the panels in 170 different currencies. It has offices in Dallas, London, New Delhi and Trumbull, Conn. Innovative Technology At its core, said Dusig and Lavin, uSamp is a technology company seeking to make its online panels more efficient and easier for its clients to use. It has built custom online sampling panels for J.D. Power and Associates and the Kiplinger organization. Dusig and Lavin said they are always coming up with ways to improve what uSamp offers to its clients. “Brainstorming is a fun part of the day,” Lavin said. Creative thinking is what sets uSamp apart from other vendors in the market research industry, said Michael Halberstam, president of Van Nuys-based Interviewing Service of America, which is a client of uSamp. There are a lot of vendors who are set in their ways and will take what they already know and improve on it, he said. “Matt and Gregg are focused on making things better through change, rather than a slight tweak here and there,” said Halberstam. Innovation is big part of the uSamp culture. Dusig calls it a “Google-esque DNA” — encouraging new ideas, new methods to push the company forward. All full-time employees are equity owners, so they benefit from the company’s success, he said. In March, employees Chuck Miller and Melanie Courtright received the Advertising Research Foundation’s Innovation Award. Courtright is senior vice president of client services. Miller is chief research officer and president of the company’s DMS Insights business unit. uSamp acquired DMS Insights Inc. from AOL last June for an undisclosed amount. DMS operates as a separate division of uSamp providing patented screening and routing technology and an innovative approach to online tracking studies. Dusig and Lavin said the company’s easy-to-use technology is what sets uSamp apart from its competitors. The SampleMarket platform, for instance, is a web-based feature that improves efficiency in the process of finding survey respondents. Email exchanges between the client and uSamp have been eliminated by the client logging in directly to a site to find the sample they need. It gives more transparency and control. Roisin Moriarty, vice president of field operations with BuzzBack Market Research in New York, uses the company’s technology to host the firm’s in-house consumer panel. SampleMarket has proven to be cost effective and well-designed, Moriarty said. “It is simple; that was what we are looking for,” Moriarty said. “You cannot do that with everyone else. You do not need a manual to know how to use it.” Halberstam says using uSamp’s technology to automate the process of buying research samples has made life easier and more efficient at Interviewing Service of America. Time spent on internal project management also has been reduced, he said. History of success Before they were business partners, Lavin and Dusig were friends, college roommates, and fraternity brothers. They financed their first company, GoZing, with money from family and friends. This was in the late 1990s, during Web 1.0, when it seemed that anyone connected to a tech company could become a millionaire. Dusig and Lavin thought it would be no different for them. Then the tech bubble burst, and they maxed out credit cards to keep GoZing afloat. The company’s salvation: a Hollywood firm that introduced Dusig and Lavin to the world of market research. The duo’s first online survey brought in $30,000, and with that, a successful new business model was born. The pair sold GoZing in 2005 to Greenfield Online Inc. for $30 million. But part of the deal was that the pair could not compete with GoZing in any new venture for three years. During that time, however, Lavin and Dusig kept up with the market research industry and the new technology being introduced. “We were so excited to get back in the mix, because it wasn’t going to be just another sampling company,” Lavin said. Dusig handles the market research side of the business, while Lavin handles business development and driving traffic to the website. Having known each other for much of their lives, Dusig and Lavin have the same work ethic of putting in long hours and working collectively on new products. The pair is optimistic about the future of the company. “We are growing as clients see what we offer is a better way of doing business,” Dusig said.
Sampling Success
