Why Research Requests exist
Two structural problems most PMMs deal with:You can’t reach your own customers directly. Customer-contact protocols, central research queues, sales asking why you want a call with their account. By the time the right intro happens, the launch is over. Research Requests sidestep the whole machinery — you describe the audience, our team finds and interviews them.Internal research is a scarce resource that gets prioritized away from your work. PMMs are usually outnumbered by the research function many times over, and your requests sit in a queue with the rest of the org’s. Research Requests are your own queue, run by a team that’s paid to move on your timeline.
When to file one
File a Research Request when:- Chat’s citations feel thin, or the answer is leaning on general LLM knowledge instead of real interviews
- You’re entering a new market, persona, or category that GetWhys hasn’t covered yet
- You need primary research to back a launch, repositioning, or strategic call
- You want firsthand buyer voice on a specific question, not extrapolation
- The room is going to ask “have you actually talked to these buyers?” and you need a yes
What makes a good Research Request
Specificity. Include:- Target audience — job titles, company size, industry, geography
- What you’re trying to learn — the actual question, in concrete terms
- Context — how you’ll use the insights, what’s driving the request
- Good example
- Less effective
I work for a cybersecurity company targeting mid-market IT directors. We’re trying to understand what drives them to evaluate new endpoint detection solutions — specifically, what pain points make them start looking for alternatives to their current tools.
How to file one
Open Chat and submit through the request flow, or go to Research Requests in the left navigation and click New Request. Fill in the brief and submit.How many people GetWhys interviews per request
As many as needed to give a confident answer — there’s no fixed number. It depends on how complex the question is, how niche the target audience is, and how much consensus we find early. Once the request is complete, you can use Citations to see how many interviews informed the answer and the titles and firmographics of who was interviewed. That’s the proof you bring to the room.AnswerSLA
AnswerSLA is the guaranteed turnaround time for a Research Request, measured in business days.- Standard: 10 business days
- Scale (optional upgrade): 5 business days
Holidays excluded from AnswerSLA
US federal holidays and observances
US federal holidays and observances
- New Year’s Eve (Dec 31) and New Year’s Day (Jan 1)
- Martin Luther King Jr. Day (3rd Monday in January)
- Washington’s Birthday (3rd Monday in February)
- Memorial Day (last Monday in May)
- Juneteenth (June 19)
- Independence Day (July 4)
- Labor Day (1st Monday in September)
- Columbus Day (2nd Monday in October)
- Veterans Day (November 11)
- Thanksgiving long weekend (4th Thursday in November plus the Wednesday before and Friday after)
- Christmas holiday week (the entire week Christmas falls in)
Why “unlimited” matters
Most research tools make you think twice before running a query because every request costs you something. That changes how you work — you only validate the things important enough to justify the cost.Unlimited Research Requests change the behavior. You stop rationing. You validate the small calls too. Continuous validation, not occasional research.
Tracking status
Open Research Requests in the left navigation to see the full list with status:- Pending — awaiting team review
- In progress — recruiting and interviewing
- Completed — findings are in your account