Network USA
Qualitative market research agency in the USA
MindMarket is a market research agency that runs qualitative studies in the USA, from in-depth interviews and focus groups to in-home visits, taste tests and mystery shopping, with moderators who live in the country and one project manager for your whole study. The United States has 348 million people, 93.1 per cent of them online (DataReportal, Digital 2026), across four mainland time zones and fifty states that buy, talk and regulate differently. We have sent 60 mystery shoppers into 12 Kate Spade stores in the United States and Canada, visited families at home in Minneapolis for Amazon Prime Video, and run a 250-person taste test in New York.
AT A GLANCE
The USA at a glance for researchers
- Population. 348 million people, median age 38.5, 83.8 per cent in urban areas (DataReportal, Digital 2026). No city stands for the country: New York, Chicago, Los Angeles and a mid-sized city in the Midwest are four different audiences.
- Languages. English, and Spanish when your audience is Hispanic: 70.1 million people, 21 per cent of the population (US Census Bureau, 2025). Platicadero, our own community of Hispanic consumers in the US and Mexico, is one of the places those participants come from.
- Internet and mobile. 324 million internet users, 93.1 per cent of the population, and 417 million mobile connections (DataReportal, Digital 2026). Online interviews and diaries reach every state, and scheduling runs across time zones.
- Where fieldwork happens. By region: the Northeast, the South, the Midwest and the West. Our Kate Spade programme covered six regions, and our in-home visits for Amazon Prime Video took place in Minneapolis.
- Data protection. There is no comprehensive national privacy law in the United States: state laws apply, starting with California's. Consent is collected before each session wherever the participant lives.
- Timing. Thanksgiving week, mid-December to the New Year and the week of 4 July stop recruitment. Summer holidays and the back-to-school weeks of August and September thin out family audiences.
IN THE FIELD
How does an interview run in the USA?
The United States is the easiest country to start a study in and one of the hardest to read as a whole. People answer fast and directly; the difficulty is deciding which Americans your decision depends on.
- Fast, direct answers. In our interviews with senior investors, American participants moved fast and spoke directly. That makes sessions efficient, and it means a discussion guide written for a more reserved country leaves time unused. We plan more ground per session.
- A country of regions. A brand can be loved in one region and unknown in the next. For Kate Spade, mystery shoppers visited 12 stores in six regions with one briefing and one checklist, so that a score in one store could be compared with every other.
- Real customers as mystery shoppers. The shoppers in that programme were 60 Gen Z consumers, the audience the brand wanted to understand, not professional evaluators. Each one was verified before the visit was booked.
- At home, where life happens. For Amazon Prime Video we visited ten families in Minneapolis, as part of a study of 30 households in the United States, Germany and Japan, to see how teenagers move between screens. People show an evening at home more accurately than they describe it.
RECRUITMENT
How do you recruit participants in the USA?
- We recruit in the United States through local partners in each region and through Platicadero, our own participant community, by behaviour as well as demographics.
- Senior audiences take persistence. In the asset manager's study, the United States was the hardest of seven markets to fill, and 2,650 professionals were invited across the US and the UK.
- MindMarket pays every participant's incentive itself. You never handle it.
METHODS
Which methods work in the USA?
Studies in the United States use the full range: in-depth interviews, focus groups, ethnographic home visits, mystery shopping, taste tests and online diaries.
| Method | Works well when | Watch out for |
|---|---|---|
| In-depth interviews | Senior, professional and personal topics, online across time zones | Guides that run short; people answer quickly |
| Focus groups | Concepts and communications, in two or three regions | One confident voice; give everyone a written first answer |
| In-home visits | Family routines, media and household products | Travel time between homes; plan one city per week |
| Mystery shopping | Store networks and outlets across several regions | One briefing and one checklist, or stores cannot be compared |
| Taste tests | Food and drink with consumers and trade in one venue | Street recruitment needs the right corner at the right hour |
QUESTIONS
Questions buyers ask about research in the USA
How much does market research cost in the USA?
A full-service qualitative study with MindMarket starts at $40,000 for the first market, and the USA added to a multi-country study starts from $8,000. The number of regions, and how rare your participants are, move the price more than the number of sessions. Every quote is itemised and follows within 48 hours of a first call. Estimate your study.
How do I choose a market research agency in the USA?
Choose by what the study has to decide. A large American firm fits national tracking and surveys; a facility in one city fits a single-market study. A qualitative specialist such as MindMarket fits a brand from outside the USA that needs local people heard in their own language, by moderators who live there, with one team across every country. Read how to choose a global qualitative research agency.
Which cities should a US study cover?
Choose regions before cities. Two or three regions, for example the Northeast, the South and the West, show whether a finding is national or local. New York alone answers for New York. Our Kate Spade programme covered six regions, and our family visits for Amazon Prime Video took place in Minneapolis.
Can you run mystery shopping across US stores?
Yes. For Kate Spade, 60 mystery shoppers visited 12 stores in the United States and Canada in under three weeks, five visits per store, with one briefing and one checklist. The shoppers were real Gen Z consumers, verified before each visit. Read the case study.
Can you recruit Spanish-speaking participants in the US?
Yes. Sessions with Hispanic consumers run in Spanish, in English or in both, as participants prefer, with moderators who share the language. Platicadero, our own community of Hispanic consumers in the US and Mexico, is one of the places participants come from. See our Latin America consumer guide.
Can you help us decide, not only run the interviews?
Yes. Beyond the fieldwork, our Customer-Led Strategy work turns what people in the United States told us into a recommendation: what to do, what not to do, and why. We form the hypotheses, test them with your customers and recommend from their words. If you already work with strategy consultants, we work alongside them.
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