Tired of Focus Groups? Here Are Some Alternative Options for Effective Market Research

  
Consumer insights are an essential step in determining whether a new product or service is primed for success. Traditionally, this research would have been conducted with focus groups. A small sample of your target audience discusses an idea to highlight issues and benefits. 

Focus groups have their place in the world of market research. Still, these days, modern alternatives are making this tested and proven strategy feels a little old fashioned. 

Suppose focus groups are no longer suitable for you or are looking for ways to supplement your research phase for a more holistic approach. In that case, you are in the right place. Here are some alternative tactics to secure the insights you need.

 

Focus Groups Alone Don’t Cut it - Here’s why.

If focus groups are an integral part of your process, there is no need to worry. This strategy is advantageous, after all, for getting in-person and real-time impressions from your target audience. In addition, focus groups let you collect qualitative data and observe the emotions and behaviours that your product elicits.

Nonetheless, the method comes with some downsides: 

 

  • Focus Groups are expensive. Often, it would be best if you compensated participants. For instance, paid for travel, prepared a venue, printed questionnaires, and provided drinks and food. You also need to set time aside specifically for this process. Aside from the monetary cost, this also makes them very time-consuming. It can be challenging to host enough focus groups to interview a sufficiently representative sample.
  • Not everyone voices their opinions in a group discussion. More introverted members of your target audience may struggle with expressing their views freely in a group setting. This means you might only get insights from a vocal minority that is not always reflective of your whole customer base. More quiet participants may have important things to say - but they won’t always tell them in a focus group.
  • Results risk bias. Because focus group research is opinion based, you will often get biased perceptions from your participants. Moderators may also influence how a particular topic is perceived. It is challenging to keep bias out of such an innately human process.
  • Sensitive issues are harder to address. Even in small groups, participants may be uncomfortable giving their opinions on sensitive matters. This makes it difficult to discuss some of the most essential considerations in an economy where social conscientiousness is more and more critical. 
  • Focus groups can’t be your only method of research. As effective as focus groups are for product launches, you can never call it quits with this strategy alone. Focus groups only draw insights from a comparatively tiny sample of your target audience. They can’t be relied upon to represent your whole audience. 

Alternatives to Focus Groups

Focus groups are not your only option if you want to collect impressions and opinions from your target audience. Here are some alternatives that are quickly gaining popularity.

Social Listening: Social media is one of the most essential tools for brands to engage with their audiences. It is often where said audience shares their most honest and immediate opinions. In addition, the software allows brands to “listen” out for specific keywords, like mentions of their own products or their competitors. The benefit of this method is that it provides a constant stream of insights from a large, varied sample and is very cheap to obtain.

Diary Studies: A downside of focus groups is that participants are taken away from their day-to-day interactions with a product and put into a more focused, clinical setting. Diary studies encourage participants to take the product home to think about it as they use it. They then record their own observations over a more extended period.

Insight Platforms: Insight platforms are online forums and communities in which specific target audience groups can discuss, communicate and weigh in on brand decisions. These platforms can facilitate open and honest discussion in which even sensitive topics can easily be moderated. In addition, they can attract consumers without time or geographical constraints and offer a much larger sample size than focus groups, with many benefits.

This is Selfhood is a market research company that uses its thriving network of U-30 audiences on its own insight platform. We access this active and insightful community to discuss trends in the market, introduce new products, and get reactions to current cultural and social movements. Your brand can benefit from the same insights. Get in touch with us today to learn more about how an insight platform could take your consumer research to the next level.

 

Location: Television Centre, 101 Wood Ln, London W12 7FW, UK

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