Yes, Focus Groups Are Still Relevant: Why High-Touch Input is Important in High-Tech Startups

To many, focus groups might seem like a throwback - they came to prominence in the middle of last century – and this practice has often been deemed outdated in the last several years. However, always the champion of vintage, and sometimes the odd woman out in an analytical approach, I relish a good, sticky focus group.  I’m always a fan of digging a little deeper and believe that context adds volumes to any truth.

I also offer up that focus groups are arguably more relevant now than in past decades. In this era of influencers, instant sharing and social currency, focus groups are a window into how relationships can shape destiny and success. Not only are focus groups a front row seat to how individuals react and respond to a product or brand, but also why they react and respond in the manner they do.  The relationships of those individuals – to the brand and to each other – are key to understanding why. 

A Recent ExperienceA few weeks ago, I had the pleasure (genuinely enjoying myself) of facilitating a series of focus groups for an up-and-coming technology company. The company culture is creative and collaborative with no shortage of big ideas. What I appreciated most is their willingness to test and validate those same big ideas. As you would expect in a fast-paced tech environment, the need to get to validation quickly is key and “quantitative over qualitative” wins out almost every time, as the race to market heats up.

 In today’s market, my clients (like many others) have endless access to quantitative data--demographic and psychographic information about users, non-users, direct competitors and non-competitors who might one day be competitors. Uber-analysts and marketers have the capabilities to slice, dice and dissect any download, algorithm or spreadsheet, quickly turning them around in to the next big idea. After reviewing the mountain of data, my question back to this group of tech stars was, “but how does the idea make them feel?” 

Finding Details Beyond the DataSo…how to get this quintessential, data-driven group to dig a little deeper?  I pointed out, as their own collaborative environment suggests, sometimes there is no substitute for an honest, face-to-face conversation with your target audience (read: there is a relationship here).  While data is dependable and numbers never lie, the rich dialogue, eye contact and underlying nuances coming out of an intimate discussion group are invaluable to this relationship.  As my Great Aunt Millie used to say, “The Devil’s in the details.”

After curating a set of questions for each of the participant groups, (ensuring direct query while not leading the witnesses), I was certain all bases were covered. We would test the data-driven company direction, measure support for the big ideas and tease out the pain points on current user experience. As any focus group authority will attest, validation is key - if there are too many surprises, it’s time to regroup.

Using a mindset of learning versus directing, we validated, gained support and found a few new pain points.  But surprisingly, three consistent themes emerged across all groups.   These themes were all grounded in the participants perceived direct relationship to the brand or products and added significant dimension to our discussions:

 1.    The relationship to the brand fostered a sense of ownership and advocacy of the brand
and those who felt the strongest connection quickly assumed the role of influencer to
the rest of the group.

2.    When participants were asked to describe features of the products, they invariably defaulted
to how the products made them feel versus how the products functioned.

3.    When participants were asked to describe frustrations or pain points with the products, they also
immediately (unsolicited) offered up suggestions or improvements to those pain points.

There was great excitement around this critical, value-added information that had not been uprooted previously and revealed entirely new connection points to the brand and product users.  The team quickly went to work with these results, building a compelling strategy that is actionable by the company and meaningful to the business.

 With this latest Focus Group project, I re-commit the importance of this high-touch exercise.   The “new” focus groups are setting a much higher bar by bringing sharper, more interactive, relationship-driven insights to the table. When paired with quantitative data, the power of the why can make a very compelling case.  It turns out; Great Aunt Millie was right about the details…you just have to know what to do with them once you have them.