Bureau West

Sometimes clients wonder if focus groups are an effective way of learning what customers think.  After many (many!) years of conducting all kinds of research, including focus groups and interviews (both in-person and online), ethnographies, mobile research and surveys, I can authoritatively say, yes, traditional focus groups do indeed work!

I’ve had clients worry about the group dynamic in focus groups, or that “one person will dominate the conversation and take over the group.”  Of course, you need a skilled moderator to make sure that doesn’t happen.  But beyond that, it’s important to remember that group dynamics are an important part of customers’ decision processes.  People don’t make decisions in a vacuum – they discuss things with their friends, read reviews, overhear colleagues.  And yes, some of their friends might even have stronger opinions than others!

I’ve been asked if one-on-one interviews might be a better way to collect more accurate information, since the respondent isn’t influenced by others’ opinions.  In many cases, I feel that one-on-ones are actually less effective than focus groups.  There are several reasons for this:

• In a one-on-one interview, the “spotlight” is always on the respondent.  They tend to feel they need to sound logical and are less likely to admit to the emotional aspects of their decision-making (and those are the very aspects that have the most influence on their decisions).
• In focus groups, as soon as one person “lets their hair down,” others are willing to follow.  For example, once I asked moms about the food they give their children.  At first, everyone was only admitting to healthy food and plenty of vegetables.  Then one mom confided, when time is short, it’s so much easier to go with the McDonald’s Happy Meal.  That opened the floodgates, and almost everyone else in the group agreed that fast food is part of their routine!
• Unlike our clients, research participants don’t think about the research topic 24/7 and may not immediately remember all of their opinions and impressions about the topic.  Hearing others’ comments help people come up with ideas they may not have thought of otherwise.  There’s synergy in the group discussion.

How can you ensure your focus groups will be effective?

• Hire a professional moderator.  That may sound self-serving, but it’s true!  A professional knows how to handle the group dynamic most effectively.  He or she will be sensitive not just to what participants say, but also to their facial expressions and body language and know when to probe further.
• Make sure your professional research consultant has a deep understanding of your objectives and the background.  That will ensure they don’t miss opportunities to probe further when participants make a comment that may lead to important nuggets of information and can result in valuable insights.
• Work with your professional research consultant to develop the best discussion guide possible.  It’s usually most effective to include a mix of direct questions and indirect questioning techniques.  When asked a direct question, people provide the logical answer.  But we know that emotions, context and past experiences play a major role in people’s decisions.  There are many indirect techniques we use to go beyond the rational answers – techniques which work particularly well in focus groups.  For example, metaphorical techniques (“if x were a car, what kind of car would it be?”).  Or role-playing techniques (“what do people say about x?  And what do they really think about x?”).  Those are just two of many effective indirect questioning techniques we can use in focus groups.

To conduct the most effective focus groups to answer your research questions, give me a call at 818-752-7210 or email info at bureauwest.com

Even beloved brands can lose their luster, and in most cases it can be attributed to one thing – complacency.  A brand sitting on top of its category can start taking success for granted.  It stops innovating, loses its soul by not focusing on cultural strengths, core values, and delivery of the expected ‘brand experience.’  The result is predictable; earnings and shares value start to plummet.

A great article in Inc. Magazine tells the story of how Starbucks started losing its leadership position and how CEO Howard Schultz put Starbucks on a trajectory to regain category leadership.  He lamented that Starbucks had become a fat-and-happy company that forgot how to innovate …”playing defense instead of trying to score.”  As ‘re-inventor-in-chief’, his main goal was to return the company to one that not only sold fresh brewed coffee, but also served as a ‘third place’ between home and work that was not simply transactional.  What guided Starbucks back to leadership?

• Research to inform the brand.  Listen to customers and employees for that critically important feedback that helps fix the problems, leverage strengths, and orchestrates renewed success.
• Executive introspection.  Gather key executives and dig deep to identify how the brand is doing operationally – good and bad – with regard to product innovation and delivering excellent service.
• Invest in employees and community.  Provide renewed training and motivation to boost morale so that store managers and baristas alike provide a unique, consistent brand experience.  And, use the brand’s scale for good, and maintain a socio-corporate conscience.
• Innovate and re-invent.  Guided by research, gut and serendipity, expand and introduce new product lines into new markets and delivery systems. Set the bar for utilization of digital technologies and social media techniques that put you on the top of the category.

Starbucks has returned to its position of supremacy.  By re-employing disruptive reinvention, it has introduced new products, reinvigorated staff, modernized technology, and runs a shrewder operation –  all of which have turned the company around in a rebirth as impressive as Apple’s.

Is your brand as healthy as it could be?  Are your customers and employees as happy as they should be?  Is a brand experiencing operational issues that impede optimal success or squander leveragable opportunities because of complacency?  We can help you answer these questions with proven techniques, tools and research.  Call me at 818-752-7210 or email info at bureauwest.com.

Source: “Starbucks: The Art of Endless Transformation,” Inc., June, 2014 

Brand loyalty has great value to advertisers: loyal customers refuse to purchase competitive brands and are even willing to pay more for your brand.  How do companies engender brand loyalty?  They do it by developing an emotional connection to their brands among their customers.

When we work with clients to create brand strategies, one of our main goals is to figure out how to develop that emotional connection.  We utilize a combination of market research along with a brand workshop with client executives to answer the following questions:

• How do customers feel about the brand and its competitors?
• What would get them to love a brand in this category?
• What is the “DNA” of our brand, the values we can leverage?
• Gap analysis: how do get to from our present situation to the desired emotional attachment?

Of course, the above is easier said than done.  When asked, customers don’t always want to admit to having “feelings” when it comes to a brand.  And company executives don’t always want to admit to the gap between where their brand is and where it needs to be.  But there are techniques to overcome those challenges.  We have a presentation that goes into detail about how to do so: “Charting the Course to Successful Brand Strategies,” and would be happy to present it, either in-person or via online meeting.  Just call me at 818-752-7210 or email info at bureauwest.com.

As you may know, I’m part of an international alliance of researchers, ThinkGlobal Qualitative.  We recently conducted multi-country research with dog owners.  One of the goals was to generate new product ideas.

We utilized a hybrid methodology, starting with a mobile diary, where dog owners in each country answered questions each day on their smartphones over the course of a week.  We then conducted an online bulletin board focus group, where participants could interact with each other.  This combination of methods was particularly effective: the mobile diary increased participants’ awareness of the details of dog ownership and primed them for the group discussion.  The diary, followed by the synergy of the group discussion, led to a large number of new product ideas.

One benefit of conducting the research in multiple countries: we were able to learn from each other.  After we saw some diary responses such as “nothing new to report today,” we came up with the idea of adding a “question of the day” for the U.S. research: each day, in addition to reporting about their interaction with their dogs, participants were also asked to focus on a more general question that helped prepare them for the coming discussion (e.g., best ways to teach your dog something new, biggest challenges of dog ownership).

Are you looking for new ideas?  Please contact us to discuss.

Sources: “Mobile Unleashed: Dogs Go Mobile and Connect Online,” ThinkGlobal Qualitative, 6/5/14; Bureau West research