Remember how in the story of The Three Bears, Goldilocks samples the porridge and one is too hot, the other – too cold, and the third is just right?  We feel that video focus groups may frequently be the “just right” method between in-person focus groups and online bulletin board focus groups, offering the benefits of both.

As you may know, online bulletin board focus groups offer the convenience of respondents being able to participate from their own locations at times of their choosing throughout the day.  We also find they’re less influenced by others’ opinions when they’re participating from the psychological safety of their home or office.  And of course, we’re able to get geographically dispersed respondents and not spend any time or money on travel.

However, participants in online bulletin board focus groups do tend to interact less than they would in regular focus groups.  And we miss the body language and spontaneity that we see in traditional groups.

Now that video focus groups have overcome their technical hurdles, they offer the best of both worlds.  They offer the visual benefits of seeing spontaneous reactions in real-time, but also provide the psychological safety, geographical dispersion and travel savings (they can even be used for overseas research).  In the past, video was slow, sound quality was questionable and respondents had to download special software.  But, nowadays, with the use of Flash, we can easily conduct small groups of 4-5 respondents with great audio and video.

With today’s decreased travel budgets and overworked executives, video focus groups are something most companies will want to consider.  Give us a call at (818) 752-7210 and we can discuss the best method or methods to answer your research questions.