Our approach to privacy

When you ask us to provide you with market research services you will enjoy access to our global market research panel that is made up of 26 million people in over 59 markets. Or, you may wish to seek the views and opinions those that you already have a relationship with, such as your employees or customers.

We have designed policies and processes to ensure that YouGov and our clients comply with all applicable privacy and data security obligations, regardless of the type of research you’d like to do. You can find out more about our most commonly used research methods (our research panel and client sample) below, and can contact us at dataprivacy@yougov.com or speak to your YouGov contact, if you would like more information.

Whatever approach you’d like to take, you can be confident that you will always be supported by our global team of researchers with extensive survey design, industry and market research expertise. From identifying hard to reach groups to designing full-scale market studies, we have a range of specialist techniques and research methodologies to give businesses a better understanding of both their customers and target market.

Using YouGov’s online research panel

Having access to our highly engaged community means you can reach practically any audience you choose and get reliable, quality data you can trust.

When we use our panel to provide you with anonymous insights, we are the sole “data controller”, “business”, or equivalent term describing a business that is ultimately responsible for the use of data, of the survey data that is collected. This is because we determine the purposes and means of the data being collected and used. In other words, we have developed proprietary research methodologies to ensure the right people are invited to the right survey at the right time so that we can provide you with meaningful insights.

While the vast majority of research insights we provide to our clients are in an aggregated and / or anonymous form, there are some limited scenarios where we would provide insight in an identifiable form. In these cases, we would only share identifiable data with the consent of our members, and we would put a contract in place with our client, who would be receiving the data as an independent data controller. Please get speak to your YouGov contact, or contact us at dataprivacy@yougov.com, for more information.

Using your own sample

We can also help you to connect with people that you already have a relationship with. For example, if you want to find out what your employees or customers think about certain topics, we can invite them to participate in your survey, or you may prefer to send the invitation yourself – it’s up to you.

When we run a survey using your sample, we will be a data processor (or, service provider) for any data that we receive from you or collect on your behalf. While we will be acting on your instruction, we will still work with you to create engaging surveys and to ensure that the survey invitations include clear and succinct privacy information. While you will be responsible for the privacy information that is included in the invitation and the survey, we can help you to understand your obligations.