Recently, my colleague and I attended a focus group conducted by Hebert Research for one of our clients. The aim of the session was to get feedback on a nonprofit’s website and other marketing materials, and it was a productive event.
As a result of our experience at Hebert, we thought we’d share a few of our thoughts around best practices for successful focus groups. Here are our thoughts:
- Be clear on the purpose of the focus group and what you want to achieve. For example, our client was particularly interested in obtaining feedback on its website and a video it created so it could determine what enhancements or changes needed to be made.
- Develop a set of questions. Ideally, you want to develop questions that encourage discussion and solicit honest perspective. Before finalizing the questions, think about what response it will elicit in order to ensure the questions will enable you to gather the information you seek.
- Identify participants. A key component of a successful focus group is the right mix of participants. In our session, Herbert Research invited men and women between the ages of 40 and 50 years of age, which is representative of our client’s target audience.
- Make sure you have a strong moderator. Jim Hebert was the moderator at our session. He was tactful, kept the participants on track, and was able to engage everyone in the room. He was really adept at building a rapport with the range of personalities within the group.
- Analyze results. This was the best part of the session. Clear themes emerged from the discussion about the design of the site as well as the video. At the end of the session, which we listened to from behind a one-way mirror, we revisited the feedback and decided how to make it actionable in the coming weeks and months.
Our client successfully achieved its objectives from the session. Clearly, focus groups can be a treasure trove of insight but only when they are well-planned and efficiently conducted. We’d love to hear your thoughts on other best practices for conducting a successful focus group.