Focus group research is a useful strategy-building tool for harvesting information from customers, competitor customers, suppliers, and employees. Focus groups are often an excellent starting point when scanning and uncovering opportunities for new products, branding, naming, positioning, and generating strategic options. A well designed focus group study can help decision makers understand the range of beliefs, opinions and buying behavior among key segments.

Management people like focus groups because it literally puts them in the same room as 8 to 10 segment members talk about their brand and the competitors’ brands; about what they’d really like to have if they could; and the sometimes unusual ways they use the product or service. (Remember the ads about putting a box Arm and Hammer baking soda in refrigerator as a deodorant? That extended, years-long campaign to expand product use came from a comment by one person in one focus group.)

This face-to-face qualitative research experience with prospects and customers is a way to get the strategy team “next to the customer.” Expressions and attitudes are seen on faces and in body language, and heard from their voices. Often heard is the VP or CEO in the group observation room after two or three groups, “Now I know what they really want. I heard it several times tonight. We’ve got to explore this opportunity.” This first hand involvement is good: it provokes creative thinking about how to attack the future.

While focus groups are one of the most popular qualitative techniques, it’s important to understand the “do’s and don’ts” and situations where they should be used, and where they should be avoided. Because of the popularity and familiarity of the focus group method, it’s easy to call out, “Let’s do some groups.” It’s a technique that’s easy to misuse and abuse. Here are some basic rules for any executive thinking about including focus groups on the menu of strategy-building tools. I hope to give you enough information to guide use and management without unnecessary detail.

Basic Focus Group Rules

Rule 1. Use a focus group study only for an appropriate purpose.

Here’s what’s appropriate:To learn about the range of beliefs, attitudes, and usage habits of the target segment. The goal is to hear and understand the range: if it’s said once in a focus group, it’s important.

• To become acquainted with unfamiliar territory . Group research is achieves some fast track knowledge about new market, new segment or new product categories. If you’ve found an interesting opportunity, but know little about the market, it’s an excellent use of groups.
• To screen concepts. Concept screening is valuable in the opportunity scanning stage. The focus group setting is suitable for screening a range of concepts: product ideas, advertising themes, store design, web experience, and brand names. Remember, however, that this is for screening, gathering ideas, and harvesting attitudes and perceptions about the concepts, not measuring the magnitude of their appeal.
• When observing group interaction is important to the research:  This is the single most important criteria for moving ahead with focus group instead of other good qualitative techniques such as depth interviews, online forums, or online research communities.

Rule 2. Carefully manage the group recruitment and setting. Get the right people in the right setting.

• Insist on ‘fresh respondents’ if conducting a study among consumers. This means they haven’t participated in a group in over a year. Avoid using lists of pre-recruiting willing participants offered by research field services.
• Think through the exact profile of people desired for each group. If your objective is to reposition your brand, for example, it might be smart to have group participants be aware of or have bought two different brands in the category. A recruitment questionnaire should be tailored to screen for exactly the people appropriate for the group.
• For hard-to-recruit people consider remote techniques. These include phone conference call groups, web-based groups; or as a substitute use telephone depth interviews. (You don’t get the group interaction, but the results can be better than group settings.)

Rule 3. Talk to the moderator about moderation style; suggest giving weight to a non-directive approach.

I’ve observed some groups where the moderators guide is merely a list of direct, structured questions that are better suited for a survey.

• A non-directive approach is one that constructs questions that suggest a topic and then encourage participants to talk freely. The conversation is extended by using non-directive probes such as, “Tell me more about that…” or “What came to mind about using that product?”
• Projective techniques are often useful in easing participants out of an analytical mode. One projective technique, asks, “If this company were an animal what animal would it be? What would the competitors be?” In this way, they talk about brand image without being peppered with a series of brand questions.
• Use advance written questionnaires. This primes respondents on key issues to be discussed, and it gives them a reference for the group discussion, thus making it easier for the unpopular viewpoint to be mentioned. (“Well, no one else has said this, but…”)

Rule 4. Don’t count heads!

It’s tempting, but this is not a projectable quantitative method, no matter how many groups are done. (“Let’s see we did eight groups of ten, what percent liked our strategy scenario A.”) A positive thing about groups is that the group interaction can stimulate thoughts and discussion which is valuable. (I always know the group has been good, if participant start asking questions of the group.) The negative to this is the interaction nag “group effects” that can easily affect reported views.