Going Digital: Online Focus Groups

Weymouth Design recently completed two online focus groups for one client and we’re starting the process for another client. What excited me about the set just completed was that it changed the client’s –  and our own — thinking on priority content and functions for a new large website. It was qualitative research, but coupled with analytical data and creative insights, it provided actionable intelligence. We worked with a partner, a third-party market research firm, to conduct the focus groups.

An online focus group is a moderated discussion conducted online. Think of a large chat room, with visuals that can change. The moderator asks questions and probes while the comments scroll down the page. The groups last about 90 minutes. The client, and us, are behind the mirror, in essence, viewing the online chat, and able to interject questions, if needed, and get those to the moderator.

During our two sessions there were 12 and then 16 participants, from all over the country, which is more than the typical 6 to 8 participants in live focus groups. There is obviously a larger geographic reach, and recruiting is typically much shorter. We had 6 observers on both sessions, which would have been costly to duplicate in two different cities. Transcripts were available the next day. The biggest advantage is that all participants are talking simultaneously online vs. one-by-one offline. Also, there is no one participant physically dominating the stage and conversation. Costs are also less.

We were able to show the target audience content and function of different websites in the same peer group, and look at specific likes and dislikes in terms of design, function and content. We went into the focus group with a preconceived idea of the videos the target audience would like to see, and went out with a different idea. There were nomenclature ideas, believability issues, and cross-channel and social media insights that will prove helpful to the information architecture and design of the site.

The participants were energized; the client was ecstatic; the web designers are entering the design stage with a strong understanding of what the end user wants to achieve on the website, and how he or she wants to achieve it.

So where might you consider online focus groups? Obvious candidates include branding campaigns and advertising programs. Major websites are also prime candidates. Measurement is important to management; listening to the customer is the right thing to do to getting the design, functions and message right.