The use of focus groups in marketing is not new, but the use of Internet-online focus groups is. What are the pros and cons of the “old tried and true” in-person focus group versus the “new online” variety. Are “online focus groups” ready yet for “prime time?” This article will address some of these issues regarding this type of “qualitative research” for the reader’s consideration.
First, a word about focus groups in general, what are, and aren’t they, designed to accomplish for the user or client. Most users of focus groups recognize that they are not reflective of the population as a whole. Focus groups may or may not be representative of the total population they attempt to investigate… and that is very important to keep in mind when using them.
What Are Focus Groups Really For?
These discussion sessions are really just intended to provide insight and perspective regarding how a select group of respondents view a particular topic, subject or research inquiry. Group sizes range from 6-8 for mini-groups to 10 for the traditional-sized session. In order to ensure enough participants show up for the session, most knowledgeable researchers “over-recruit” in order to obtain the desired number of group members.
Groups are also an excellent method of “fleshing-out” and determining what are the important or key issues to be explored in a subsequent phase of a larger-scale survey or quantitative study. Many times clients have come to us after rushing headlong into a survey, only to find out, that key, strategic questions had been overlooked or missed entirely. This could have been averted through the use of qualitative methodology, such as focus groups.
Focus groups are wonderful for exploring new product ideas, concepts, packaging, advertising, promotional or other issues dealing with the “what if”. They can provide great feedback about a customers’ or potential target audiences’ views and perspectives on a wide range of issues regarding the subject.
Examples of issues typically probed during focus groups include:
> Likes/dislikes of a product-service,
advertising, packaging or new concept
> Expected pricing for an item
> The degree of uniqueness or specialness
of the subject
> How one item or idea compares to current
competitive offerings
> What changes should be made prior to
execution or commercialization
> Frequency of purchase for the product
> Reaction and/or strength of positioning or
branding of the product
> How and where an existing item could be
modified or improved
> What level of satisfaction or
dissatisfaction exists with the item
> Who would be the most optimal target
audience for the product
> What advertising or copy points are most
effective in conveying the “unique
selling proposition” of the product or
concept
> Any other attributes that need adjusting
or reconfiguring
The Real Benefit of Focus Groups
The key to focus group usefulness is that they are “cheap insurance” regarding potential business and/or financial disasters that could take place in the absence of customer input. Unfortunately, we have seen many instances where a client rushes to market with what is felt to be a wonderful new idea, product, advertising or packaging, only to find out later (after a huge investment of thousands… sometimes millions of dollars), that there are some major deficiencies in terms of product performance, attributes or communications which should have been corrected prior to introduction.
Our clients have found that by investing a few thousand dollars in understanding their customers’ needs, wants, and desires, they can save millions of dollars in mistakes… its the old adage, “there’s never enough time to do it right, but there’s always enough time to do it over!” And in focus group research, as well as other research methodologies this has never been so true!
Traditional In-person Versus Internet Focus Groups
With the advent of the Internet, researchers and marketers are constantly evaluating new and potentially more effective or efficient methods of gaining feedback and understanding of their customers.
The question is which method is most effective in accomplishing the task of gaining optimal understanding of customers and what are the pitfalls? As mentioned earlier, regardless of whether it is traditional or online focus groups, the issue of “representativeness looms large.” The major question is which approach is most valuable and fruitful in yielding optimal results, given the inherent nature of focus groups in general.
In our experience, and at this juncture, we believe that traditional, in-person sessions are much preferred to Internet-online groups. There are several reasons this is true in our opinion.
First, and most important, is the “interpersonal dynamics” associated with in-person groups. When conducted at an off-site, neutral facility, the client gets a tremendous value and benefit in watching the respondents from behind the “one-way glass”. The viewer can hear, see, witness and begin to understand all the feelings, perceptions, and beliefs of the customer. These aspects just don’t exist in the execution of online focus groups.
Second, with in-person groups the access to a significantly broader and potentially more representative target audience is readily available to the client. The reason this is so important is that, given that focus groups are “qualitative research” to begin with, clients usually want the widest spectrum of representation that’s possible; and traditional focus groups and recruiting procedures better enable this to occur.
Third, and in contrast to traditional group respondents, with online focus groups it just isn’t possible to have the interactivity and spontaneity that one finds in regular groups. This is true for both the interactive dynamics between respondents themselves and with the moderator.
Fourth, a key aspect of in-person groups is the ability to watch respondents’ non-verbal reactions, communications, facial expressions and overall enthusiasm regarding the project or concept topics. This element is lost entirely with online groups and is in our opinion, among the single most important reasons to favor in-person groups.
Fifth, it’s important to understand that by their nature, online respondents can be quite different from the population as a whole. While Web users are changing over time, currently they tend to be more upscale, more affluent, more technically savvy and better educated than the U.S. population as a whole. So to the extent these factors are important for a client’s project, these issues could dramatically impact research findings, and subsequent direction based on the research.
Finally, if the topic involves visuals or reacting to actual or prototype products, packaging, advertising or other 2-D or 3-D materials, this just cannot be accomplished effectively through online focus groups.
So where or when is online research appropriate? Well, our point of view is that for most instances, online focus groups just aren’t the best methodology right now. This may change in the future, but with the technology as it stands today, that is our belief. The best uses of online research in general that we have seen, relate to dealing with a captive audience, such as customer or employee research.
