Are Focus Groups Dead?

Aug. 11, 2011 - PRLog -- A marketer from a mid-size company recently shared his thinking on research. “The web has changed everything. I don’t do focus groups anymore. I just do web surveys. It’s fast and cheap and I can do them myself.”  Do you agree?

The web is an outstanding tool for conducting research. It offers a great opportunity for unstructured and unsolicited feedback (directly from customers or through other websites). It’s good for implementing larger sample surveys, as the executive noted. The web also provides for an outstanding opportunity to experiment (if you have two headlines to test, for example, create two landing pages, purchase some Google ads – and test which headline pulls best). However, the web doesn’t do everything equally well.

According to Richard Nagele, President & Senior Analyst, Advantage Marketing Information, it’s important to think about three types of research: secondary, exploratory and conclusive research. “The web is great for conducting secondary research (research published by others for their purposes – but useful to you). We use it all the time, from Google searches to detailed searches within proprietary databases like Highbeam or Dialog.”

Nagele continued, “Exploratory research is about looking for new ideas or hypotheses to test. When you’re not sure what survey questions should be, or the likely answers, exploratory research can help a lot. It’s not statistical, usually involves small samples and less structured questioning. Focus groups or depth interviews are both examples of exploratory research. Conclusive research uses larger samples, often a significant level of statistical analysis, and as the name implies, these studies try to conclude very specifically about the research question.”

Sue Jennison, also of Advantage Marketing Information added, “The web is very good for reaching customers when you need to do conclusive research. But when you don’t know what questions to ask, the web isn’t necessarily the right tool. You can get lots of data – but if you’re not asking the right questions, the data won’t help you very much.”

Marketing research has often been described as ‘The systematic gathering, recording and analyzing of information.’ There are many techniques you can use given your problem and budget. Focus groups and other exploratory techniques still have a place in asking ‘Why questions.’ These questions are often hard to ask well and even more challenging to analyze. These questions are often best asked by people experienced in the techniques and who don’t have preconceived ideas about the answers. Also, the answers people write in web surveys are often unclear, sometimes contradictory.

The web has certainly made conducting conclusive research cheaper and faster for many projects. If you’ve got email addresses, you can get data tomorrow. Further, web survey tools that host surveys have made the technical issues of publishing a survey very easy. “At Advantage Marketing Information,” says Nagele, “we use Novi Systems (www.novisystems.com) and we recommend it highly.” For elaborate projects or those requiring sophisticated databases, custom programming may still be required.

Nagele cautions, "Remember, there is a research process. It often starts with background data collection and moves to exploratory research – or the asking of why questions. This provides hypotheses to test in conclusive research. It’s during both the exploratory and conclusive stages where the web can be most effective." For more ideas about how to improve the power of your marketing and marketing research, visit our reference library at http://www.advantage411.com/library.htm.

For additional information or for an informative interview, call Rick Nagele, President & Senior Analyst, Advantage Marketing Information, 35 Steamboat Avenue, Historic Wickford, Rhode Island 02852 USA at (401)294-6910 or on the web at http://www.advantage411.com.

Advantage Marketing Information is a market research, marketing strategy and public opinion polling firm. The team is comprised of ‘Marketers Who Do Research.” The company has transformed research into profitable marketing insights for international clients including GE, Starwood Hotels & Resorts, Jewelers of America and DeBeers (the Diamond People), Nielsen - as well as local organizations ranging from BankNewport and the Preservation Society of Newport County to professional services firms.

# # #

We're Marketers Doing Research, creating value by transforming research into your markets, prospects, customers and competition into profitable new insights that drive marketing activities.

We focus on:

• Asking the right marketing questions the best way.
• Organizing and presenting the information clearly – in simple language.
• Suggesting innovative ways to use the results.