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IT decision maker survey sample

Directors and above with real budget authority over technology, verified against an employment record, not a screener checkbox.

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IT decision maker survey sample is technology buyers recruited for a quantitative survey, screened on seniority, budget authority and company size. Typical US incidence against broad business supply is 18%, meaning about six people start a screener for every one who qualifies. The audience is heavily over claimed, so the useful question is not who can reach ITDMs but who verifies that the title is real.

Feasibility

What is the feasibility for IT decision makers in the United States?

Current numbers for a standard seniority screen at the default company size. Tighter screens move every figure, and we quote the exact read for your spec rather than asking you to work from these.

Reachable in the US
3,400
Incidence in broad supply
18%
Recommended interview length
14 min
Field window, 300 completes
6 days

What moves these numbers

Table comparing If you add this to the spec, Incidence moves and Field window
If you add this to the specIncidence movesField window
Add a named platform or vendor in use18% to about 11%Add 2 to 3 days
Raise the company size floor to 5,000+ employees18% to about 9%Add 3 to 4 days
Restrict to security or infrastructure ownership18% to about 12%Add 2 days
Drop the seniority screen to any IT employee18% to about 40%Save 1 to 2 days
Reviewed quarterly. Reachable n counts our own panel plus the partner supply we would use for this audience, which is why it is larger than the panel on its own. Incidence is the expected screener yield against broad business supply, the basis a quote is built on, for the screener described here; a different screener gives a different rate, and targeting from a profiled panel does better than these figures. Field windows assume a study of 300 completes, a 10 to 15 minute interview and no industry quotas. Reachable n is the size of the qualified pool, not the number of invitations. Cost per complete is quoted per spec and holds through field.Get the CPI for your spec
Why it is hard

Why is IT decision makers sample hard to get right?

IT decision maker sample is the most overclaimed audience in B2B research. "I influence technology purchases" is true of almost anyone with a laptop, so consumer panels routed into ITDM studies produce 40% incidence and data nobody trusts. Genuine ITDMs at 500+ employee companies are scarce, busy, and surveyed constantly. Reaching them means verifying seniority and company size before the first question, then keeping the interview short enough that they finish it.

Who qualifies

Who counts as IT decision makers?

  • CIO
  • CTO
  • VP of IT
  • VP of Infrastructure
  • IT Director
  • Head of Security
  • Head of Cloud or Platform
  • IT Manager with sign off authority

What company size and firmographics apply?

500 or more employees as the default, with cuts available at 1,000+ and 5,000+. Industry quotas on request. Company revenue as a secondary screen.

What does the screener actually ask?

"Which of the following best describes your involvement in decisions about technology products and services at your organization?" with only "final decision maker" and "part of the decision making team" qualifying. Followed by a budget authority check and a company size question asked as a number, not a range, to catch guessing.

How do you verify IT decision makers?

Corporate email domain matched against the company the respondent names. A category question that asks about the actual environment, for example which identity provider or cloud platform is in use, reviewed by a person for consistency with the stated role and company size. Speeders and duplicates are removed at entry.

Read the full data quality process

What kinds of study can this audience support?

Online quant, tracker waves, concept and message tests, willingness to pay, MaxDiff and conjoint at longer LOI with pricing adjusted, and IT decision maker recruitment for follow up interviews.

Delivered by redirect into any hosted survey platform. We pass a respondent identifier and any quota variables on the way in, and test the links with you before launch.

Study types

What do clients usually run with this audience?

  • Vendor selection and shortlist research for infrastructure, security and SaaS categories
  • Message and positioning tests among buyers of a named product category
  • Willingness to pay and packaging research for enterprise software
  • Brand health trackers where wave to wave incidence has to hold
  • Post purchase satisfaction among verified customers of a platform, recruited by domain
Illustrative

What does a typical project look like?

A US enterprise software company runs a quarterly ITDM tracker, 300 completes, director and above at 500+ employees, 14 minute instrument. Soft launch confirms 18% incidence against the 22% a previous vendor had assumed. Field closes in six days. Thirty one raw completes are removed, mostly seniority inflation at companies under 500 people, and replaced before delivery.

An illustrative scenario built from typical figures for this audience, not a named client engagement. It will be replaced with a real case once one is cleared for use.

Questions

IT decision makers sample: frequently asked questions

Can you screen on the technology a respondent actually uses?

Yes, and it is the most common way this audience gets narrowed. Naming a platform in use roughly halves incidence, from about 18% to about 11%, and adds two to three days in field. We quote the effect before you commit rather than discovering it at soft launch.

What is the difference between an IT decision maker and an IT influencer?

A decision maker has final or shared sign off on the purchase. An influencer shapes the decision without owning the budget. Most inflated ITDM incidence comes from counting influencers as decision makers, so our screener qualifies only final or shared authority unless you ask for both.

How do you verify that a respondent is actually an IT decision maker?

Three ways. Corporate email domain is matched to the company they name. Company size is asked as a number. And a category question about their real environment, such as identity provider or cloud platform, is reviewed by a person for consistency with the stated role. Respondents who fail any of these are removed before delivery and replaced.

What incidence should I expect for ITDMs at 500+ employee companies?

Around 18% in the US with a standard seniority screen. Tighter screens, such as a specific technology in use or a named job title, move it toward 8 to 12%, and CPI rises accordingly. We quote exact incidence on the spec, not a range.

What does IT decision maker sample cost per complete?

Priced per spec at feasibility, and the CPI we quote holds through field. Incidence, interview length and company size cuts are what move it. The cost per complete estimator shows the direction and rough size of each effect using typical market figures.

Can you fill quotas by industry or company size?

Yes. Industry, company size, region and seniority quotas are standard. Very narrow quotas, such as a specific vertical at 5,000+ employees, are quoted as hard to reach B2B with a different field window.

How long does an ITDM study take in field?

Six days is typical for 300 completes in the US at standard incidence. Shorter windows are possible for smaller n. Feasibility comes back the same business day with a field estimate you can plan around.

Send the spec. Get real numbers back.

Audience, market, target n, expected interview length. Feasibility the same business day for standard audiences, with reachable counts, an estimated qualification rate we believe and a quoted cost per complete that stays fixed for the agreed brief.

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