40 Years of Giving Consumers a Voice

This year marks an incredible milestone for American Consumer Opinion: 40 years of giving consumers a voice. For four decades, millions of panel members around the world have shared their opinions through surveys, product tests, and research studies. Those opinions have helped companies improve products and services that people use every day.

You might not realize it, but something as simple as answering a survey can help shape the future of products. Honest feedback from real consumers is one of the most important tools companies have when developing and improving the things we use in our daily lives—from food and household products to technology, cars, and even pet products. As we celebrate our 40th anniversary, we wanted to take a moment to look back at how American Consumer Opinion began.

The Early Days: 1986

When ACOP launched in 1986, the world looked very different. There were no smartphones, no social media, and the internet was still years away from becoming part of everyday life. American Consumer Opinion was created by Decision Analyst, a family-owned market research company based in Arlington, Texas. The goal was simple: build a community of people willing to share their opinions to help improve products and services.

Recruiting members was a very hands-on process. The team gathered phone books from cities across the United States and highlighted every “nth” name on each page to create a random sample of households. Those names were manually typed into databases, and thousands of invitation letters were mailed asking people if they would like to join the panel. The surveys themselves were six pages long and filled out with a pencil. Each survey included a $2 bill clipped to the questionnaire as a thank-you for completing and returning it. At its peak as a mail-based panel, about 30,000 people across the United States were regularly participating in surveys, home-use product tests, phone interviews, and focus groups.

Moving to the Internet: 1995

In 1995, American Consumer Opinion moved online with the launch of ACOP.com. Existing members were mailed letters and reminders inviting them to join the website. At the time, the internet was still new for many people, often accessed through dial-up connections and free AOL discs.

What happened next surprised everyone. Within hours of launching the website, people from around the world began signing up. ACOP quickly expanded internationally and translated the site into eleven languages to accommodate the growing global audience. By 2010, the panel had grown to more than 10 million members worldwide.

American Consumer Opinion Today

Forty years later, American Consumer Opinion continues to thrive. Some of the original members from the 1980s and 1990s are still actively sharing their opinions today, alongside millions of newer members from around the world. Over the years, panel members have participated in an incredible variety of research projects. These have included in-home tests of appliances like washers and dryers, kitchen tools, cosmetics and personal care products, food and beverages, and even pet products. Many panelists have also participated in in-person focus groups and interviews.

American Consumer Opinion is still family-owned and operated, with headquarters in Arlington, Texas. In the early days, the team behind American Consumer Opinion was deeply hands-on—highlighting names in phone books, preparing mail surveys, and personally managing every step of the process. As technology evolved, that same team helped bring ACOP online in 1995, shaping the global panel it is now.

Today, ACOP is widely recognized as one of the highest-quality consumer panels in the market research industry. Our panel consistently maintains one of the lowest rates of invalid responses and one of the highest completion rates for product tests. Over the past 40 years, more than $35 million in incentives has been paid to ACOP members as a thank-you for their participation. But the real impact goes far beyond that. For four decades, millions of consumers have helped shape products, improve services, and influence the decisions companies make every day. And it all starts with one simple thing: your opinion.

Thank you for being part of the American Consumer Opinion community.

- Anne Parks
American Consumer Opinion