What is a Focus Group?

A focus group is a meeting where 5-10 potential consumers get together with a moderator to answer a series of questions about a business’s name, brand, product and etc for market research purposes.

The participants give their feedback, criticisms and opinions for the questions asked and the moderator may record them.

The key to success is finding the right participants. You have to niche down to the ideal target market of your business, for example, women in the age of 25-35.

No one really cares about the success or growth of your business (Other than yourself). They won’t spend their precious time answering questions about your business for free. So businesses which conduct focus groups often give each participant $30 or so per hour.

A focus group is a really efficient method of conducting primary market research for small businesses. You can find participants in your local shopping malls, parks and colleges. In case you didn’t know, you need to conduct market research in order to create a business plan.

You can have your participants answer anything from direct questions about your business’s name, logo, and products/services to making them go through your email campaigns and getting their opinion on what’s missing or needed.

You can either organize and conduct a focus group yourself or hire a firm to do if for you.

When should I conduct a focus group?

A focus group is deemed appropriate in any of the following situations.

• You are starting a new business in a market you know nothing about.

• You are expanding your existing business in other markets.

• You are in the process of creating a new product and you want to get feedback on how the product should be packaged, designed and etc.

• You want to discover new ideas that will help your business grow in the current market that you just couldn’t think of all by yourself.

• You want to change the pricing of all your products/services to gain a competitive edge.

• You want to know how people think about, your business and its products/services.

Benefits of focus groups

Focus groups are so powerful because they let you tap into the mindset of your target market better than any other form of market research.

Because of the open-ended nature of discussions in focus groups, participants will most likely express clear and in-depth opinions.

Some of the benefits of conducting a focus group are:

• Participants will be more truthful and straightforward in their answers in the presence of a group rather than during a one-on-one interview.

• Participants will be more willing to share their opinions and insights in a group setting.

• You will be able to know how your customers think about you, your business and the products/services your business offers.

• You will be able to get feedback from people with diverse backgrounds and perspectives.

• You will be able to learn from the body languages and actions of the participants.

Drawbacks of focus groups

Focus groups require more time, effort and money than simple one-on-one interviews or online surveys.

Some of the drawbacks of focus groups are:

• Finding the ideal participants who reflect your target market and getting them to participate in a focus group can be very challenging at times.

• You need to reserve a nice and quiet place to conduct the focus group. In most cases, this will cost you (Unless you have your own business conference room).

• You need to pay your participants for the time they spent answering your questions and giving their feedback. Typically businesses pay $30 per participant per hour.

• If you are not planning run the focus group yourself, you will need to locate and hire a skillful moderator. And again, this will cost you.

• If the discussion is too open-ended there will be the risk of participants going off-topic. This leads to more hours required to cover the questions you prepared, which ultimately leads to more money you will have to pay for the participants.

• The moderator’s biases may alter the natural outcome of the discussion.

• Participants may not be comfortable enough to express their negative feedback in a group setting.

What contributes to the success of a focus group?

• Make sure you ask simple and straightforward questions from your participants. Questions which are too complicated or technical will annoy them and often discourage them from speaking up.

• Don’t let the influential speakers in the group intimidate others or make others uncomfortable about sharing their feedback. Give everyone a change to speak up and closely observe them.

• Don’t drag a question for too long. Remember, the more time you spend with the participants, the more you will have to pay them. That said, don’t try to cut short too much as well. You need to give everyone ample time to think.

• The moderator should not be too serious. No one likes serious people. Just chill and have a nice and smooth open discussion.

Have focus groups changed over time?

Somewhat, yes.

Earlier, businesses used to conduct large focus groups with hundreds of participants. The more participants, the harder it is to observe them all and the more money you will need to spend to reserve a bigger hall, pay the participants and etc.

But nowadays focus groups typically consist of 5-10 people. Also, the lesser the number of participants, the more deep the conversation goes.

Another thing that’s changed over time is the increase in the diversity of participants.

A focus group may have participants from different countries, ages, religions, genders and wealth. Focus groups let people who are marginalized by society communicate comfortably with people in power.

I hope you now understand why focus groups are so important for market research. If you still have any questions, leave a comment down below.