Angelfish Fieldwork

"When you get insight wrong, it's not just inefficient spend. It's missed impact."

That line from our latest article sums up why research in the third sector deserves a different approach.

The people charities most need to understand are often the hardest to reach.

Which means good research isn't just about methodology. It's about accessibility. Trust. Representation. And making sure the right voices are in the room.

Our latest guide explores some of the challenges (and opportunities) that come with conducting research in the third sector.

Conducting Market Research in the Third Sector | Angelfish Fieldwork A practical guide to market research in the third sector. Learn how to reach the right audiences, run qualitative studies, and uncover meaningful insights.

The Angelfish Fieldwork team had a smashing time at Cheltenham Science Festival last week.

We were delighted to support the festival team by speaking to visitors across the site and gathering feedback on the free events taking place throughout the week.

Despite the on-and-off weather, it was a fantastic atmosphere as always, with lots of activities for families and children to get involved in, and plenty of people happy to stop and share their thoughts with us.

As researchers, we always enjoy capturing feedback while experiences are still fresh in people's minds, and events like this are a great reminder of the value of speaking to people in the moment.

It's also especially meaningful because Cheltenham Science Festival is such an important local event and supports a fantastic charity.

A big thank you to everyone who took the time to chat with us, and to the festival team for having us involved.

20% of new Angelfish Opinions members complete their first study within their first two months 👏

It’s something we’re really proud of, because it reflects the kind of community we’ve built: engaged, reliable people who genuinely want to take part and share their thoughts.

For our clients, that means stronger participation, smoother recruitment, and better-quality conversations.

That’s why we focus on community quality, not just numbers.

Find out more here 👉 https://hubs.li/Q04fZqv00

Sales data tells you what people bought, but it doesn’t tell you what they nearly bought, what they missed, or why a competitor won at the shelf.

That’s where accompanied shopping research can be so useful.

By joining people on a real shopping trip, researchers can see the hesitation, the distractions, the confusing fixtures, the packaging that catches attention, and the decisions that happen in the moment.

But it’s not right for every brief.

Our latest article looks at when accompanied shopping research works best, when another method might be more useful, and how it can help brands get closer to real customer behaviour.

Read it here:

When to Use Accompanied Shopping Research (And When Not To) Not sure when to use accompanied shopping research? Discover when it works best, when it doesn’t, and which methods to consider instead.

What happens when you stop interpreting customer insight and start experiencing it?

We recently worked with a major retail and home goods brand to deliver an in-store customer closeness workshop. The brief was broad: get stakeholders closer to real customers, and use that to ground their planning for the year ahead.

The approach combined guided store walks with live in-person focus groups; customers and stakeholders in the same space, reacting to the same things in real time.

The result? Conversations that were grounded in real behaviour, not recall. Alignment that didn't require weeks of internal debate. And a client team that left the day feeling genuinely clear on what their customers value.

The quality of the room shaped the quality of the conversation and that starts with recruitment.

Read the full case study here: https://hubs.ly/Q04fY-F70

Customer Closeness Workshop | In Store Immersion Case Study Discover how Angelfish Fieldwork delivered a customer closeness workshop that brought stakeholders and real customers together for an in store immersion day.

The truth is, without good participants, there wouldn’t be good research.

At Angelfish, we know that keeping our community happy is a huge part of delivering great research. That’s why we go above and beyond throughout the recruitment process to make sure participants feel comfortable, engaged, and proud to be part of your research.

We’ve shared some lovely testimonials from our community below.

If you’d like to find out more about the Angelfish community and who’s on it, you can take a look here: https://hubs.li/Q04dkR1G0

Here’s a quick look at some of the brands our Angelfish Opinions community (45,000+ people) feel closest to.

Different sectors, different audiences, but strikingly similar reasons.

Not big campaigns or bold messaging.

Just small, everyday interactions, and how brands show up in people’s lives.

Read the full article to see who came out on top: https://hubs.ly/Q04d_Zp30

AI is now part of everyday market research. Most teams are using it in some form already.

But it can’t show you what’s actually happening in-store. Why a loyal customer switches. The impulse decisions. The quick move to a cheaper option.

That’s where accompanied shopping comes in. It gets you closer to real behaviour and the small moments AI misses.

We’ve broken it down in this article:

Accompanied Shopping Market Research in the AI Age Accompanied shopping market research helps brands stay close to real behaviour in an AI age – grounding insight in lived, in-store experience.

You might have just headed into a new financial year, and if you’re a charity, you’re probably thinking about how to make the most impact with your budget.

When budgets are tight, research can sometimes feel like a “nice to have”, but it’s often the thing that helps you spend smarter, not more.

This , we’re resharing a piece on how charities can approach market research in a cost-effective way, without losing the depth of insight.

Worth a read if you’re planning projects for the year ahead.

Cost-Effective Research for Charities | Angelfish Fieldwork Discover 9 expert tips for cost-effective market research for charities. Learn how to recruit smarter and maximise your budget with Angelfish.

There’s something different that happens when you bring customers and stakeholders into the same space.

Not just to observe, but to experience things together.

We worked with a long-standing retail client who wanted to step back and sense-check how they were planning for the year ahead. The brief wasn’t rigid, it was more a feeling that they needed to get closer to how customers were really experiencing the store.

So we designed a customer closeness workshop built around a shared, in-store experience.

Customers walked the store as they normally would, talking through what caught their eye, what felt easy, what felt frustrating, and the small decisions they were making along the way. Those same moments then carried straight into the sessions afterwards, while everything was still fresh.

Because everyone had just been in the same environment, the conversations felt more open and more grounded. People weren’t talking in hypotheticals, they were reacting to things they had just seen and felt.

You could feel the difference in the room.

The client described the approach as a game changer compared to previous remote-only research. It gave the team real confidence in their direction and reminded them of the value of stepping directly into customers’ world.

Here's the full case study if you’d like to see how the day came together.

Customer Closeness Workshop | In Store Immersion Case Study Discover how Angelfish Fieldwork delivered a customer closeness workshop that brought stakeholders and real customers together for an in store immersion day.