Focus groups

Both online and offline focus groups are suitable for solving most problems. Online focus groups became more widespread during the COVID-19 pandemic and have since become firmly established among qualitative marketing research methods because they have a number of strengths:
- Research participants are in a comfortable environment (at home or at work), so they behave more naturally than in an unfamiliar office space
- This approach allows reducing time and travel costs for the moderator (accordingly, the Customer receives results faster and at lower costs)
- Since the respondents go to a place known to them before the focus group, they arrive on time
- Respondents have time to have a snack / do not experience hunger or thirst, which has a positive effect on their engagement in communication
- Respondents spend less effort on logistics and participate more effectively in focus groups
- The ability for the Customer to see all participants at once (offline, as a rule, you can see only half / slightly more than half of the participants)
- The moderator constantly sees all participants and can manage their involvement

Dyads, triads, and personal in-depth interviews may be suitable for solving some problems.

At the same time, the choice of method strongly depends on the tasks and specifics of the category under study. Unlike personal in-depth interviews, focus groups provide the opportunity to use the effect of “group dynamics”, which often allows you to obtain useful insights.

A quality recruit is a key element of focus group results.
The locations and approach to the recruit are determined based on the assigned tasks and parameters of the target audience.
To recruit focus group participants, we use a screener, that is, a questionnaire, the answers to the questions of which allow us to determine whether the respondent is suitable for us to participate in the study or not.
For complex categories (for example, cars), we recommend and always check that respondents have documents that will confirm the data specified in the questionnaire.
Moreover, the screener adds questions that allow you to understand psychological characteristics and immersion in the category, which can be important in certain marketing studies.