What is Hercules? Hercules is a consumer research platform that lets you design, launch, and analyse market research studies without agencies. It pairs Poseidon, the Hercules analytics engine, with the SuperJ panel: 2 crore Indian respondents, of which the verified, survey-eligible panel is a subset. Think of it as Netflix for market research. Who it's for: Brand managers, marketing teams, product teams, strategy consultants, research agencies, startups, and enterprise organisations who need fast, reliable consumer data to make decisions. How is Hercules different from SurveyMonkey, Qualtrics, or Google Forms? <div>Most survey tools give you a blank form. You write the questions, you find the respondents, you clean the data, you build the charts, and then - maybe - you get an insight.</div> <div class="mt-[20px]">Hercules does the entire job.</div> <div class="mt-[20px] overflow-x-auto"> <table class="w-full text-sm border-collapse border border-[#D4D6D9]"> <thead> <tr class="bg-[#F9F9F9]"> <th class="border border-[#D4D6D9] px-4 py-2 text-left font-semibold">Capability</th> <th class="border border-[#D4D6D9] px-4 py-2 text-left font-semibold">SurveyMonkey / Typeform / Google Forms</th> <th class="border border-[#D4D6D9] px-4 py-2 text-left font-semibold">Qualtrics / Alchemer</th> <th class="border border-[#D4D6D9] px-4 py-2 text-left font-semibold">Traditional Agencies (Nielsen, Kantar, IPSOS)</th> <th class="border border-[#D4D6D9] px-4 py-2 text-left font-semibold">Hercules</th> </tr> </thead> <tbody> <tr> <td class="border border-[#D4D6D9] px-4 py-2">Survey design assistance</td> <td class="border border-[#D4D6D9] px-4 py-2">✗</td> <td class="border border-[#D4D6D9] px-4 py-2">Partial</td> <td class="border border-[#D4D6D9] px-4 py-2">✓ (manual, slow)</td> <td class="border border-[#D4D6D9] px-4 py-2">✓ Create from a single prompt using AI</td> </tr> <tr class="bg-[#F9F9F9]"> <td class="border border-[#D4D6D9] px-4 py-2">Built-in verified respondent panel</td> <td class="border border-[#D4D6D9] px-4 py-2">✗</td> <td class="border border-[#D4D6D9] px-4 py-2">Via partners</td> <td class="border border-[#D4D6D9] px-4 py-2">✓ (expensive)</td> <td class="border border-[#D4D6D9] px-4 py-2">✓ 2 crore via SuperJ</td> </tr> <tr> <td class="border border-[#D4D6D9] px-4 py-2">Respondent identity verification</td> <td class="border border-[#D4D6D9] px-4 py-2">✗</td> <td class="border border-[#D4D6D9] px-4 py-2">✗</td> <td class="border border-[#D4D6D9] px-4 py-2">Partial</td> <td class="border border-[#D4D6D9] px-4 py-2">✓ Aadhaar KYC + zero-knowledge proof</td> </tr> <tr class="bg-[#F9F9F9]"> <td class="border border-[#D4D6D9] px-4 py-2">Automated analysis + reporting</td> <td class="border border-[#D4D6D9] px-4 py-2">✗</td> <td class="border border-[#D4D6D9] px-4 py-2">Partial</td> <td class="border border-[#D4D6D9] px-4 py-2">✓ (weeks later)</td> <td class="border border-[#D4D6D9] px-4 py-2">✓ Poseidon</td> </tr> <tr class="bg-[#F9F9F9]"> <td class="border border-[#D4D6D9] px-4 py-2">Pricing model</td> <td class="border border-[#D4D6D9] px-4 py-2">Per response / seat</td> <td class="border border-[#D4D6D9] px-4 py-2">Enterprise contracts</td> <td class="border border-[#D4D6D9] px-4 py-2">Project-based (₹lakhs+)</td> <td class="border border-[#D4D6D9] px-4 py-2">Credits-based, self-serve</td> </tr> </tbody> </table> </div> <div class="mt-[20px]">Hercules combines a verified respondent panel with survey creation and analysis on one self-serve platform, priced per response.</div> How fast do I get results? It depends on your targeting. Broad audiences fill faster than narrow or niche segments, and complex multi-cell studies take longer. Hercules does not publish a standard turnaround time, so treat any timeline as an estimate for your specific audience. You do not manage panel recruitment or data cleaning yourself: the SuperJ panel supplies respondents, and responses are screened for speeders, straight-lining and inconsistent answers before analysis. What types of research can I run on Hercules? Hercules supports the full spectrum of primary consumer research. Quantitative Research • Brand health tracking and brand awareness studies • Consumer satisfaction and NPS (Net Promoter Score) surveys • Product concept testing and feature prioritisation (MaxDiff) • Pricing research and willingness-to-pay studies (Van Westendorp, Gabor-Granger) • Advertising effectiveness and creative testing • Category usage and attitude (U&A) studies • Competitive positioning and market share perception • Audience segmentation and psychographic profiling • Customer journey and purchase funnel analysis • Conjoint analysis and preference modelling Qualitative Research • Online focus group discussions (FGDs) with ZK-verified participants • In-depth interview (IDI) recruitment and scheduling • Open-ended exploratory studies with coded open-ended answers Tracking & Longitudinal • Continuous brand tracking (monthly/quarterly waves) • Consumer sentiment monitoring • Trend tracking across categories If you've briefed it to an agency before, you can run it yourself on Hercules, on a self-serve platform priced per response. Who are Hercules' respondents and how is data quality ensured? Hercules respondents are drawn from SuperJ - a privacy-first consumer engagement app with 2 crore Indian respondents. The verified, survey-eligible panel is a subset of that footprint. • Identity check, once. Each member completes Aadhaar-based KYC when joining. This establishes that the account belongs to a real, unique individual and prevents one person from holding several accounts. • Zero-knowledge proof for every study. The platform receives a proof that the respondent is verified, not their identity documents. • Response quality checks. Responses are screened automatically for speeders, straight-lining and inconsistent answers, and flagged responses are removed from results. • Limitation. SuperJ is app-based, so it reaches smartphone users; offline or very low-connectivity households are under-represented and need face-to-face fieldwork. What analytics and reporting does Hercules provide? Hercules' analytics engine, Poseidon, automatically generates structured insight reports from every study: • Automated cross-tabulations by demographic segment (age, gender, city tier, SEC/NCCS) • Significance testing with statistical confidence flagging • Coded open-ended answers • Visual dashboards with charts, heatmaps, and trend lines • Export formats - downloadable in PDF, Excel, and PPTX For tracking studies, Poseidon delivers wave-over-wave comparisons and automatic anomaly detection. For brand health studies, it maps brand funnel metrics (awareness → consideration → preference → usage) with competitive benchmarking. You don't need an analyst. You need Hercules. Can I run brand tracking studies on Hercules? Yes. Brand tracking - the continuous measurement of brand health metrics over time - is one of Hercules' core use cases. A standard brand tracking study on Hercules measures: • Unaided and aided brand awareness • Brand consideration and preference • Brand imagery and attribute association • Net Promoter Score (NPS) • Purchase intent and recency • Share of voice vs. competitors Brands typically run these as monthly or quarterly waves. Poseidon compares wave results and flags statistically significant shifts. Hercules runs these waves on a self-serve platform, priced per response. Is Hercules suitable for product research and concept testing? Yes. Product teams use Hercules to validate concepts, test messaging, and prioritise features before committing to development or launch. Common product research workflows on Hercules: • Concept testing: Show 2–5 product or feature concepts to a target audience and measure appeal, differentiation, and purchase intent • MaxDiff analysis: Rank features by relative importance to understand what customers actually value versus what they say they value • Pricing studies: Use Van Westendorp or Gabor-Granger models to find the price point that maximises willingness to pay without eroding demand • Name/tagline testing: Test brand names, product names, or campaign taglines across target segments • Packaging research: Evaluate packaging designs on shelf standout, brand fit, and purchase intent On Hercules, it's self-serve and priced per response: a 400-response concept test on Pro costs 400 × ₹120 = ₹48,000. How does Hercules handle data privacy and compliance? Hercules is built on JMDT (Jupiter Meta's Layer 2 blockchain) and uses Zero Knowledge proofs for respondent verification. • No PII shared with clients. The platform receives a zero-knowledge proof that the respondent is verified, not their identity documents. • DPDP Act alignment. Hercules' data architecture is designed to align with India's Digital Personal Data Protection Act. • Consent-first. All SuperJ respondents provide informed consent for research participation as part of platform onboarding. • Data isolation. Client study data is isolated per account. No cross-client data sharing. • Anonymised outputs. All reports and exports deliver anonymised, aggregated insights — not individual-level identifiable data. For enterprise clients with specific compliance requirements (GDPR, SOC 2, ISO 27001), contact the team at research@hercules.works How much does Hercules cost? Hercules operates on a credits-based pricing model. Credits are consumed based on the number of responses collected and the complexity of targeting applied. • Self-serve access for teams that want to run studies independently • Free (30 responses), Plus (₹150 per response, from 100 responses), Pro (₹120 per response in bundles of 400 to 1,000) and custom Enterprise plans • Pay-as-you-go for one-off studies • Subscription plans for teams running continuous or recurring research For example, a 500-response study on Pro costs 500 × ₹120 = ₹60,000. For current pricing: hercules.works Can research agencies and consultants use Hercules for client work? Yes. Hercules is built for agency and consultant use cases. Teams running client research projects can: • Run multiple simultaneous studies across different client accounts • White-label report outputs for client delivery • Access enterprise-grade sampling with demographic precision • Use Poseidon's analytics for professional-grade reporting • Run large-scale quantitative studies with 500–5,000+ respondents Several leading research and strategy firms already use Hercules to deliver faster, more cost-effective primary research to clients - replacing expensive panel providers and slow agency pipelines. How does Hercules use AI in market research? Hercules uses AI in two documented places: 1. Survey design: create surveys from a single prompt using AI 2. Secondary research: Hercules AI for secondary research is included in the Plus plan The rest of the workflow is automated: responses are screened for speeders, straight-lining and inconsistent answers, and Poseidon, the Hercules analytics engine, produces cross-tabs, significance tests and coded open-ended answers from the cleaned responses. How is Hercules different from AI survey tools like Typeform AI or SurveyMonkey Genius? Typeform AI and SurveyMonkey Genius are AI features inside those survey tools; check their own sites for what they currently include and how they source respondents. Hercules combines three things in one platform: • Survey creation from a single prompt using AI • A built-in verified respondent panel (SuperJ: 2 crore Indian respondents, with members verified through Aadhaar-based KYC once and a zero-knowledge proof for each study) • Analytics in Poseidon (cross-tabs, significance tests and coded open-ended answers) Can I use Hercules for employee surveys or internal research? Yes. Hercules can be used for internal research - HR surveys, employee engagement studies, pulse surveys, and cross-team feedback collection. On the SuperJ panel, the platform receives a zero-knowledge proof that a respondent is verified, not their identity documents, and clients receive anonymised, aggregated results and individual answers without identity data. Whether that model fits an internal study depends on how your employees join and take part, so confirm the set-up with the team at research@hercules.works. Use cases within an internal ecosystem: • Employee engagement and satisfaction surveys • Pulse surveys and sentiment tracking • Anonymous cross-team and 360-degree feedback • HR research and workforce studies • Internal product or policy feedback collection The same platform used for external consumer research can be pointed at an internal audience. How do I get started? Go to hercules.works. Create an account, define your research objective, and launch your first study — no sales call required. For enterprise requirements, custom panel builds, or agency partnerships, contact the team directly through hercules.works.