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\nWith prior planning focus groups can provide valuable information for your business. Here are 15 important points to help you make your next customer focus group a success.<\/p>\n\n
Maybe you are the owner of a small business who wants to find out what your customers are thinking. Maybe you work for a business, and you’ve been assigned to get some customer feedback.\u00a0Here\u2019s a warning: it is very easy to do bad focus groups\u2014groups that do not end up obtaining worthwhile information from the participants, or worse yet, obtain incorrect information.<\/p>\n
There is more to a focus group than just talking with a set of people. A focus group is a well-thought-out discussion on topics of interest to you with six to ten individuals who represent a target market\u2014usually a set of your customers or potential customers. It\u2019s purpose often is to understand their true motives and decision processes. Sometimes the purpose is to generate new product ideas or get initial reaction to potential products or promotions, brand names, positioning strategies, etc.<\/p>\n
As moderator (and group leader), you are responsible for getting useful information from the group during its 1 to 2 hour session. Here are 15 important points to help you conduct great customer focus groups:<\/p>\n
Have a clear understanding of the purpose of your focus groups.<\/strong> Don\u2019t go into groups with the hope that you will learn something interesting. Know what it is you want to find out before you start. List three or four areas and assign an amount of time to discuss each. Start with general topics and move into those that are more specific. List a few questions under each topic, again moving from general to specific. This document becomes your \u201cmoderator\u2019s guide\u201d and will help you keep the group on track.<\/p>\n Make sure participants represent the market of interest. <\/strong>Use\u00a0proper screening questions (e.g., have purchase in the last six months, have used the product\/service a required number of times, etc.).<\/p>\n Consider the topic.<\/strong> Select respondents so they will feel comfortable talking with each other. Consider, for example, will men and women feel comfortable discussing the topic together? If not, they will require separate groups. How about participants in their 20s with others in their 60s. Again, they will often not feel comfortable being in the same group depending upon the topic.<\/p>\n Never have more than ten in a group.<\/strong> There won\u2019t be sufficient time for them all to talk. It is common to recruit a couple of extra participants in case some don\u2019t show. But if more than ten show up, thank the extras, pay them (if payment was used as an incentive) and send them home.<\/p>\n Always try to do more than one group per target segment.<\/strong> The more consistent the responses across groups for the same segment, the more comfortable you can feel about the value of the results you are obtaining.<\/p>\n Make a test run with a friend or colleague.<\/strong> Informal run-throughs with someone you can depend on will help iron out issues before you go live. Do you have too many questions? Are you spending time on the right topics? Now is the time to perfect your approach.<\/p>\n Start the group by introducing yourself. <\/strong>Explain the general purpose of the group (don\u2019t give them too much information). Tell them that they are all expected to participate but must talk one at a time. Let them know if the group is being recorded (they should sign a waiver) or they are being observed. Then go around the table and give them each 5-10 seconds (no more) to introduce themselves.<\/p>\n Audio record the session. <\/strong>You won\u2019t have time to take notes.<\/p>\n Make the initial questions general and easy.<\/strong> The first ten minutes should be designed to get everyone comfortable with talking.<\/p>\n Do not ask a question and go around the table to get each person\u2019s response.<\/strong> Instead, the interaction should take the form of a discussion. Ask a question, wait for a response, and then ask the group to chime in (e.g., \u201cEveryone, what do you think?\u201d). If they don\u2019t talk, just stay quiet and look at them. They will become uncomfortable with the silence and will start to respond.<\/p>\n Use probing questions after a response as appropriate.<\/strong> Questions like, \u201cWhy is that?\u201d \u201cWhat do you mean?\u201d \u201cAnd that\u2019s important because. . .?\u201d will get the respondent to clarify and help get to his\/her true feelings.<\/p>\n Watch for facial expressions.<\/strong> A participant might grimace, smile or widen his\/her eyes at another participant\u2019s response. You can then address this respondent and ask for his\/her thoughts (e.g., \u201cJane, I get the feeling that you don\u2019t agree. How do you feel about Steve\u2019s comment?\u201d)<\/p>\n Get quiet participants to respond by looking at them when you ask a question.<\/strong> Or prod them with statements like, \u201cJane, you haven\u2019t said very much, but I can tell from your expressions that you are thinking about the topic. What are your thoughts?\u201d<\/p>\n Play devil\u2019s advocate to help force discussion.<\/strong> Or ask participants, \u201cWhat do others like you think?\u201d Often they are more willing to talk about \u201cothers\u201d than themselves.<\/p>\n Be flexible.<\/strong> Your moderator\u2019s guide is just that\u2014a guide. Depending upon the discussion that develops you may change the order of questioning, rephrase or add questions and spend more or less time on a topic.<\/p>\n Focus groups can provide valuable information and are not hard to conduct if you keep in mind what it is you are trying to accomplish. Plan the group and select participants accordingly. Let the participants do the talking, and guide them to stay on topic. Probe to get to true feelings. The results can be very rewarding.<\/p>\n