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Actionable intelligence, not just data

Gradient is your partner in transforming complex questions into clear strategies. Whether you're a brand manager, agency leader, policymaker, or investor, we decode the “why” behind your audience's choices—so you can act with confidence.

BRANDS
Make your customers choose your brand
AGENCIES
Deliver the winning insight to your client
PHILANTHROPIES & NON-PROFITS
Mobilize people toward your mission
ADVOCACY GROUPS & CAMPAIGNS
Reach voters with messages that resonate
PRIVATE EQUITY & INVESTMENT BANKS
Drive growth in the brands you invest in.
OUR BRAND RESEARCH SOLUTIONS
Audience insights
Brand positioning
Creative & message testing
Market sizing & growth strategy
Pricing optimization
Product & feature optimization
OUR AGENCY RESEARCH SOLUTIONS
Audience Insights
Brand positioning
Creative & message testing
Market sizing & growth strategy
Pricing optimization
Product & feature optimization
OUR PHILANTHROPY & NON-PROFIT RESEARCH SOLUTIONS
Audience mindset analysis
Donor engagement optimization
Impact tracking
Narrative strategy development
Private opinion researchNEW
OUR ADVOCACY GROUP RESEARCH SOLUTIONS
Audience segmentation & targeting
Message testing
Private opinion researchNEW
Public engagement risk analysis
OUR PE & INVESTMENT BANK RESEARCH SOLUTIONS
Audience insights
Brand positioning
Customer analytics
Customer-based corporate valuationNEW
Market insights
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Your partner in decision science

We uncover objective truths through custom quantitative research programs built for impact. Our team blends curiosity, rigor, and advanced methods to help you make smarter, more confident decisions.

About Us
Meet the team behind the insights—curious, rigorous, and driven by purpose.
Our Principles
Our values shape how we work—with each other and with every client.
Careers
Join our remote-first team and help shape the future of decision science.
Contact us
Let’s talk through your big questions and figure out the evidence that matters.
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How we do research differently

For us, research isn’t about numbers in a spreadsheet—it’s about answering your most important questions with clarity, purpose, and real-world impact.

We Start with the end in mind
We begin with the decision you need to make—then design lean, focused research to get you there.
We Look for the Why, Not Just the What
Spotting trends is simple. Uncovering why takes rigor. Our statistical models reveal hidden drivers that turn data into confident action.
We Keep it Human
AI is powerful, but it can’t replicate lived experience. We use it to streamline our process—not to replace the human responses that are central to our research.
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See what insight can do

We believe sharing knowledge is as important as creating it. That’s why we’ve built a library of resources designed to inform, inspire, and empower decision-makers like you.

Case Studies
See how we’ve answered complex questions with research backed insights and creative problem-solving.
Blog
Our point of view on what’s happening in research, strategy, and human behavior.
Newsletter
Stay ahead with our regular roundup of fresh ideas, actionable advice, and the stories shaping the future of market research.
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Anticipate risks and prepare your narrative for the real world

We help advocacy organizations uncover hidden audience beliefs, anticipate unintended consequences, and stress-test narratives before they hit the public stage.
Explore Our Work
Contact Us

Prepare for how audiences will respond, publicly and privately

Even the best-crafted messages carry risks when introduced into public debate. Some narratives may activate unintended resistance, backfire with hesitant audiences, or mobilize disengaged opponents. We help you see around these corners by identifying latent audience reactions and mapping where narrative strategies may generate support, indifference, or backlash.

Reveal hidden audience beliefs
Surface private attitudes and unspoken views that traditional surveys are not able to detect; especially on sensitive, polarizing, or stigmatized issues.
Anticipate real-world reactions
Simulate how different audiences will respond in the absence of social pressure, such as in ballot measures, elections, and other behaviors.
Avoid unintended activation of opposition
Identify which subgroups might be inadvertently energized against your position, allowing you to refine messaging and minimize the risk of backlash.

The Gradient difference

  • Clarify risk exposure
    We work with you to identify which beliefs, behaviors, and narratives carry the highest risk of backlash, disengagement, or unintended activation so you can proactively shape your public engagement strategy.
  • Design targeted research
    We design experiments that surface both public and private beliefs, test behavioral intentions, and isolate which messaging components carry the most potential for backlash or support.
  • Analyze & interpret
    Our team of data scientists and PhD researchers uncover not just who supports or opposes your issue, but where hidden pockets of risk exist. We reveal the underlying drivers of resistance, hesitation, or silent agreement across audience segments.
  • Activate insights
    You walk away with a clear, actionable framework that helps you sharpen your narrative, prepare for opposition, and lean into messaging that maximizes support while minimizing risk.

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Survey methodologies that drive results

Private Opinion for Values

We use an experimental method to reveal private moral beliefs that may not surface in traditional polling. 

This powerful technique leverages statistical modeling to infer where people feel pressure to withhold their private thoughts. This technique allows your organization to:

  • Surfaces hidden value tensions that standard surveys often miss.
  • Distinguish between socially acceptable answers and true personal beliefs.
  • Identify where private beliefs diverge from public discourse, allowing for more nuanced narrative strategies.
 Read More Private Opinion for Behaviors

We use privacy-protecting survey designs to measure behaviors people may hesitate to disclose, such as how they might vote, take action, or engage with advocacy efforts. By shielding individual responses, we can estimate true behavioral intent even on highly sensitive or politicized issues. Private opinion for behaviors:

  • Reveals gaps between public statements and private behavioral intentions.
  • Anticipates potential mobilization, backlash, or silent support under real-world conditions.
  • Helps forecast campaign or ballot initiative risks tied to turnout, persuasion, or grassroots activity.
Private Opinion for Messaging

We use conjoint experiments to test how people privately weigh different message elements (such as values, frames, messengers, or emotional appeals) when forced to make tradeoffs. By presenting respondents with varied combinations and observing their choices, we isolate which components truly drive persuasion, even when people might hesitate to state their preferences directly. This component-based method of testing message preference:

  • Breaks messaging into components to reveal which combinations resonate most strongly.
  • Captures private preferences that may be masked by public pressure or social desirability.
  • Identifies messaging approaches that maximize persuasion while minimizing opposition activation risk.
  
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Turn hidden opinions into your unfair advantage at the ballot box, in the legislature, or in the media.

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