To Focus or Not to Focus (Group)
Focus groups. You gotta love them. Even when they go wrong, at least they're fun (more on that later). But the point of focus groups is to get meaningful information about your target audience and how they react to a particular set of concepts, positioning statements or product promotion materials. If done right, a focus group can give you excellent results – giving you the information you need for your program development. But, if done wrong, they can be disastrous – leaving you with a big bill, not much useful information and an unhappy client. So how do you make sure that you have a good experience?
Stay Focused: Often people say they want to test a message or ad concept using a set of focus groups, but during the development process other things start to creep into the scope of research. Often it is a hope to kill two birds (or more) with one stone – and save money. But the problem with scope creep is we lose focus. For the best result, stay on track. Use the focus groups to find out the answer to a specific set of questions about one specific problem.
Use the best research method: Focus groups can be an effective "qualitative" way to understand how your target audience will react to a positioning statement or concept. But, remember, a small group of people will only give you a glimpse into what the larger audience will do – and what that larger audience will be like. Qualitative results really can only be used for general direction. If you need "quantitative" or "statistically significant" results, then a telephone or Internet study with a much larger audience sample will be required.
Visuals need to be simple: Testing specific visual images and asking a few specific questions can be very effective in a focus group. For example, it would be okay to show a diagram of a knee with osteoarthritis and ask people if the image would be helpful in gaining a better understanding of osteoarthritis of the knee. However, focus groups are not generally the right place to show complex concept visuals such as a an ad that states: how "sweet" a cable TV product is, and uses a visual of a woman eating chocolate cake. For the former, some people may look away from the knee diagram at first, but mostly they will come back and say, "yes, that is helpful," or "no, it is not." But with the cake ad concept, you are likely to have more comments about the cake than an answer to your questions: "I don't like chocolate cake." or "Wow, she doesn't need to eat that." Or "What does chocolate cake have to do with my cable TV?"
Use a great moderator: Focus groups can be brilliant with an experienced moderator who tells a great story and manages the focus group well. Be sure you know the moderator's track record. Are they better with certain age groups? Are they able to keep people on track and on time? Do they have experience with your type of product? Are they industry specific? This can be especially important for regulated industries such as pharmaceuticals, medical devices, healthcare, investment products, etc.
A well-developed moderator’s guide: Work with the moderator to develop a moderator's guide for the focus groups. Make sure the moderator understands your objectives, your product and your audience. A well developed guide will help the moderator keep the focus groups moving and will help them gather the information needed for the final report.
Screening attendees: You need to know who your target audience is and who you want to have in each group. Screeners at the focus group facility will contact people for the focus groups and ask a series of questions to find your target audience. For example, If you have a type 2 diabetes product and you need two groups, one that has control of their diabetes symptoms and the other that does not, it is important to ask the right questions and get the right people in the right groups.
Have fun: I love focus groups because they are entertaining. You get to sit in the back room behind the one-way mirror, watch the focus groups, eat good food, and hang out, all while paying attention and taking great notes of course, but the best part is the people watching. There is almost always one person who is a bit crazy. There is always one person who loves to talk and has more opinions than you can imagine. Sometimes people even get into arguments and the moderator has to get them back on track. All of the personalities and interactions are fun to watch. Think of it as a reality TV show.
So, good luck with your focus groups. Be sure to follow these simple rules for an effective focus group experience. Have fun. And get the best results for your marketing or advertising program.
