When we do Discovery Driven Growth™ planning, we put options values for assumptions in uncertain projects and that requires market research to test assumptions
Market research is fundamental to mitigating risks and driving growth initiatives. When we do Discovery Driven Growth™ planning, we put options values for assumptions in uncertain projects and that requires market research to test assumptions, for instance. Most businesses do one or the other types of research today and mostly of the qualitative type to get deeper insights on assumptions. Focus groups and observation research form the essential ones in this regard.
Given the frequency at which businesses do such research, there are several Market Research organisations that deploy the conventional research tools and processes to satisfy such needs. These agencies will tell you about the conventions regarding such research. But given our experience with clients and associates, I have reasons to believe many of this conventional wisdom are misplaced. These agencies may not be all that right, after all. Let us look at some of these beliefs they try to push to their clients.
Belief 1: A researcher should start each project with a clean slate. Past research by other agencies or clients, information about the clients’ gut feel or internal politics in the client organization concerning the current research will result in a bias in the researcher.
This is absurd. The moderator should have a clear understanding of the genesis of the issue and the real objectives of the study. Certainly, the information could bias a moderator, but a good researcher needs to know what to look for. The moderator then will be able to probe responses that do not fit hypotheses. That way, he or she can confirm well-accepted knowledge.
The briefing should include the product or service description, how it works, what it does, how it is different or not from the competition, its history and so on. As a client, many of you would have asked the research agency to probe respondents what their perceptions about a particular product or service are. When asked about the product, some clients would have responded by saying they wanted to know what respondents think. In the focus groups, moderators should first probe for respondents’ perceptions unaided. But if respondents are unaware or confused, the moderator can raise issues for them to consider.
Belief 2: Focus groups should not have more than seven respondents so each one gets to participate in the discussion reasonably well.
The right number of respondents depends on the type of respondents, the subject and the moderator’s style. Most of the focus groups we propose for our clients have 9 to 10 respondents. The smaller the group, the lower the chance for good chemistry, which sometimes results in less energy and lackluster discussions.
The exception to this is small focus groups of four to six respondents. For example we have seen companies conducting smaller focus groups when executives who are highly opinionated are involved. There is also the added reason that it is very difficult to get senior executives to participate in any kind of focus groups. Smaller focus groups are also done within B2B industries where one needs to probe within one client-company or when detailed probes of decision-making are needed; and, in some cases, to explore reactions to advertising.
Belief 3: Lots of good ideas die in focus groups because consumers are not ready to accept new concepts.
If Apple had done any focus groups they would never have launched the highly successful iPad – It is a popular saying, but Apple does research without focus groups. Qualitative research offers researchers the opportunity to probe what underlies consumers’ reactions. If an idea meets immediate rejection, a good moderator explores the reasons why, whether the product might fit a real need and what – if anything – could change the respondents’ minds. Do the respondents lack knowledge?
Are they anxious about new things? Or are they rejecting specific features? The moderator can probe reactions deeper in order to get additional information, and to learn advantages they have not yet seen, and so on. One of the major breakthroughs for the banking industry, the omnipresent ATMs, came about as an after effect of a focus group discussion.
At that time people showed their frustration to the bank for not being able to get money outside conventional banking hours. This suggested that the machines did correct a common problem, that a real need existed and that there might have been ways of dealing with any consumer resistance.
Belief 4: Focus groups should have demographically homogeneous members – Respondents should be the same gender, in the same age and income group, and so on.
This is another myth. Most research budgets do not afford the luxury of focus groups that differ demographically, with one group per type in each market. Some diversity is, in fact, more beneficial. The thumb rule is simple: Respondents must feel comfortable with one another talking about the subject.
There are three key reasons for separating focus groups demographically:
> To allow for respondents’ comfort level on sensitive or intimate issues.
> To give respondents the freedom to speak freely about people not in the room.
> To give the moderator and client the opportunity to observe and compare groups for a clear perception of their differences.So now you know how to handle external research agencies next time you plan to do a focus group.