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Why focus groups don’t work
The issue with focus groups is with the concept as much as the respondents. It’s not merely that they’re artificial, though that is undoubtedly true, but rather that the social situation itself distorts the response.
Focus groups are awkward, particularly in the artificial environment of a viewing studio. Respondents acclimatise but they’re still watching their responses carefully, taking part in research is not a normal social, let alone purchasing, situation.
That’s not to suggest that respondents are lying to you, the truth is your customers can’t tell you why they buy your product because most of the time they don’t know. Respondents post-rationalise purchases made for emotional reasons to provide a more understandable or, in some cases, a more palatable explanation.
This issue isn’t limited to understanding purchasing decisions, excessively rational answers are a problem when dealing with product development. Respondents have problems grasping new ideas, particularly if they’re described rather than demonstrated. I’ve sat in rooms watching respondents lay waste to genuinely innovative online product ideas (social networking, tabbed browsing) while heaping praise on the mundane (an online organiser anyone?). Respondents assign themselves far higher motivations than they genuinely have, and as a result are very poor at predicting future behaviour. Consumers insist they’ll take their carbon footprint into account but it has little genuine impact when they decide to fly Easyjet.
Fundamentally, in much of the current qualitative research you can’t trust the results.
This is particularly a problem in more ‘developed’ markets like the UK where respondents are over-exposed to both the end products of marketing and its planning process. Talking about positioning statements, brand values, key demographics, respondents think they’re being employed as amateur marketing consultants and talk accordingly.
No sane company would employ amateurs to develop their strategy, yet some compound the typical issue of respondents not knowing what they want by asking them to comment on the strategy rather than the execution. Respondents relish the opportunity to be seen as marketing experts, but they’re not and they shouldn’t be allowed to be.
The notion that all it takes is a ‘skilled moderator’ to fix all these problems is nonsense, though a useful justification for staid research agencies unwilling to appreciate the need for a more enlightened approach.
Focus groups can be a great way of putting together like-minded individuals and challenging them to create new ideas as a basis for your own creative team; they’re not the place to decide the shade of blue for use in your new brand campaign.
Which leaves us in a quandary, how to research without prejudicing the results?
A good start is avoiding focus groups unless they are absolutely necessary, interviewing respondents one-on-one or in small friendship groups allows interviewers to dig deeper into the personal motivations of customers and provides information about their past attitudes and behaviours that can’t be accurately elicited from respondents in a focus group situation.
- Never ask respondents the question you want the answer to, respondents are eager to please, they tell you what they think you want to hear
- Don’t confuse researchers with creatives. Some research agencies, particularly those involving ex-admen want to control the creative as well as the research process. Focus groups are a great resource for generating lots of ideas or providing creative guidance, but they’re no replacement for proper creative work.
- Make sure the location of the research is appropriate to the project. If consumers interact with a product at home, then research in their home
- Consider utilising techniques from the fields of neuroscience and psychology to explore topics in more depth, try Gerald Zaltman’s “How Customer’s Think”
Focus groups are an imperfect tool but they remain one of the best tools we currently have for understanding consumer issues in depth.
The problem lies not in the intentions of qualitative research but rather in the execution; too much research is carried out based on habit rather than a desire for genuine insight.
