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Version: 2025-12-18

How feasibility works

This article explains the underlying principles and various factors that contribute to Cint's feasibility calculations, providing insights into how the tool predicts audience availability, optimal pricing, and expected fieldwork timelines for your surveys.

What is the Cint feasibility tool?

Cint's feasibility tool is a sophisticated, predictive system designed to give customers realistic estimates for their survey projects. Its primary goal is to help you understand:

  • What is feasible: The estimated number of completes you can expect to achieve for a given set of targeting criteria.
  • In what timeframe: The projected duration needed to gather your desired completes.
  • At what price: The suggested cost per interview (CPI) to achieve your goals effectively.

The tool is dynamic and flexible, constantly evolving and not solely reliant on historical data.

Why use the Cint feasibility tool?​

The feasibility tool is invaluable for:

  • Estimating feasibility: Gaining a clear picture of whether your target audience size and criteria are realistic and achievable.
  • Estimating pricing: Receiving data-driven suggestions for your Cost Per Interview (CPI) to optimize both cost-efficiency and speed of fieldwork.
  • Project planning: Making informed decisions about your survey design, budget, and timeline before launching.

Factors influencing feasibility calculations​

Cint's feasibility mode takes a comprehensive set of factors into account, going beyond simple demographic matches to provide accurate predictions:

  • Incidence rate (IR): Your estimated proportion of the target population that will qualify for the survey. A lower IR typically means higher costs or longer field times.
  • Length of interview (LOI): The anticipated duration of your survey in minutes. Longer surveys can affect respondent willingness and overall feasibility.
  • Time in field: The specified duration (number of days/hours) you plan for your fieldwork. Longer field times often allow for more flexible pricing and a higher chance of reaching niche segments.
  • Time of year / Seasonality: Predictions account for seasonal fluctuations in respondent availability, such as holidays, public holidays in specific countries, or peak periods for other surveys.
  • Target group niche vs. broadness: Whether your target audience is very specific and hard-to-reach, or broad and easy to contact. Niche targets may require higher CPIs or longer field times.
  • Respondent availability dynamics: Cint predicts how the platform's respondent pool will be at the precise time you plan to run your survey, including current supply and demand.
  • Dynamic CPI & respondent willingness: For dynamic pricing customers, the tool considers how changes in CPI might influence respondent attraction and overall traffic to your survey.
  • Incidence rate consistency: The tool considers whether your incidence rate is likely to remain consistent throughout the fieldwork or vary, which can impact filling predictions.

Tip for dynamic pricing customers:

Adjusting your survey's start and end dates in the feasibility request can significantly impact the suggested CPI and overall costs. Generally, a longer fieldwork duration (more time in field) offers greater flexibility for the CPI, potentially allowing for lower average costs or a higher likelihood of achieving challenging goals.