Fathom Open Ended Analysis FAQs:

How It Works, Who It’s For & Why It’s Different

1. What is Fathom and how does it work?

Fathom is an AI-powered text analytics platform that helps you analyze large volumes of open-ended data. It combines advanced AI with human oversight to turn raw text data into accurate, decision-ready insights — much faster than manual coding and with greater accuracy than AI alone.

2. How is Fathom different from other text analytics tools?

Unlike generic AI or DIY coding tools, Fathom fuses AI speed with expert human review. This human-in-the-loop model ensures every theme, sentiment, and code frame is precise, context-aware, and trustworthy.

3. Who uses Fathom?

Market researchers, strategists, and customer insight teams at leading brands, agencies, nonprofits, and media organizations use Fathom. They rely on it to analyze customer feedback, audience sentiment, campaign messaging, and public opinion data.

4. What types of data can Fathom analyze?

Fathom works with any open-ended data from surveys, customer feedback or IDIs — survey verbatims, NPS comments, IDI transcripts, campaign tests, social media feedback, and more.

5. How does Fathom use human-in-the-loop text analytics?

Fathom’s human-in-the-loop solution means humans review, refine, and guide AI results. This ensures your final insights are accurate, nuanced, and actionable for your needs, even for complex or sensitive topics.

6. Can Fathom create custom code frames and codebooks?

Yes — you can build new code frames from scratch, upload your own or reuse codebooks that have been saved in the platform. Fathom lets you expand, customize, and refine your codebooks with AI plus human validation.

7. How does Fathom handle sentiment analysis?

Fathom combines sentiment detection with thematic coding in one workflow. You see not just whether feedback is positive or negative, but also the reasons behind it. Teams can also create more detailed emotional analysis using latent thematic coding workflows in Fathom.

8. How accurate is Fathom’s thematic analysis?

Fathom’s hybrid approach delivers higher accuracy than fully automated tools, and cuts turnaround time by ~95% compared to manual coding.

9. How fast can I get results with Fathom?

Timelines depend on your dataset size and scope, but most teams cut days or weeks of manual coding down to minutes or hours with FathomPro (DIY) and 24 hours with Fathom Magic (Fully Supervised).

10. What is Qual at Scale and why does it matter?

Qual at Scale means analyzing thousands of open-ended responses with the rigor of qualitative research — but at the speed and scale of quant. Fathom was purpose-built to make this possible.

11. Does Fathom work for content testing and message testing?

Yes — brands and agencies and media companies use Fathom to test programming, messaging and creativity. Fathom's ability to produce context adaptive code frames based on any data set make it an ideal tool to interpret what resonates, in the audience’s own words.

12. What metrics does Fathom provide for quality and coverage?

Fathom includes built-in coverage metrics, quality checks, and editable code frames, so you always know how thoroughly your themes cover your data.

13. Can I use Fathom alongside for my quant survey data?

Absolutely — Fathom is designed for mixed-methods research. You can connect coded open-ends with any closed-ended metrics like NPS or CSAT to see what’s driving your score.

14. When should I use Fathom vs. a general-purpose AI like ChatGPT?

ChatGPT is fine for a quick gist. But when you need repeatable, accurate, transparent thematic analysis — especially at scale — Fathom’s human-in-the-loop model gives you reliable, professional-grade results. >More about when ChatGPT is good enough for open ended analysis.

15. How does Fathom protect my data?

Fathom is SOC 2 certified to ensure your data is handled securely and confidentially. Learn more about our Trust & Security practices.

16. Can I integrate Fathom with other tools?

Yes — you can easily import data from any survey platform and export results as CSV or SPSS files.

Ready to turn open-ended feedback into actionable insight?

Fathom combines AI speed with human precision to turn unstructured feedback into trustworthy insights — whether you're analyzing sentiment, testing messages, or scaling qual, it’s everything you need to understand the “why” behind your data.

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