How the Internet Helps Focus Groups for Marketing Research

Customarily, marketing research methods were done with a lot of physical involvement. It consisted of a lot of traveling and face-to-faces meetings. This was not just on the side of the researcher, but also on the side of the respondent. One of the tools for marketing research is organizing a focus group and only until not so recently have market researchers incorporated the power of the internet connection into their methods.

Focus groups are made of members who share similar tasks at given times. In the duration of the research project, they are committed to a regular meet-up in order to discuss a variety of topics about a specific topic, product, idea or method of service. Most times a focus group is created to provide feedback about products that are about to or have just been released to the public.  Imagine how one day in the week of going through the hassle of going out of the way to meet each week in a venue that may not be the most convenient place for everyone at a time that only MOST but NOT all can regularly attend. Well, thanks the internet, focus groups are no longer as difficult as it was nor is it as bothersome for both the facilitator and the participants.

One of the greatest gifts of the internet to marketing research is how much it has cut its research expenses; many online apps are FREE! Nowadays, focus groups can be done online through conference calls, individual calls or video/voice chatting. Most researchers feel that applications like Skype and join.me are applications sufficient enough to be utilized as the medium of keeping in touch with the members of the group and since they are used worldwide, most people have a chat ID for Skype, join.me, tango or the like.

No discouragement there. They are the most used apps these days, business or not, but of course marketing research companies have also created their own apps for conducting focus groups with a lot of tools added to the chat rooms. They have incorporated the video conferencing with the tools to do file sharing, show presentations and visuals that allow the researcher to make visual notes or explanations for the entire focus group to see. It also provides links to their online bulletin for continued discussions outside their scheduled meetings. The best thing is that they are flexible enough to be downloaded on Apple, Android phones and MS and MAC PCs.

Tips in Conducting a Successful Online Focus Group

Companies conduct focus groups in order to gather opinions, reactions and perceptions from customers about a product, service or advertisement.  It can become a very powerful research tool because the results of study can help provide a deeper understanding of human behavior.

Online focus groups are a new type of marketing research study which many companies are trying out as the internet makes it possible to connect various people from different locations at the same time.  However, if one chooses to conduct an online focus group, it is essential to plan it properly to maximize the results.

First of all, the respondents must be carefully selected.  In any type of marketing research, including online focus groups, the respondents to be recruited must fit the description of the company’s target market.  This will ensure the validity of the information collected.  The questions to be used when screening respondents will guarantee that only the right people will participate.

The proper equipment must be set up before conducting this type of research method.  The participants may be connected through a website, forum or conferencing software.  The moderator asks questions, and the respondents give their answers.  It is also a common misconception that reactions and interactions are limited when conducting online focus groups, but utilizing webcams can easily fix this.  Webcam marketing research studies makes it possible to record the facial expressions and reactions of respondents while they answer questions or interact with the other respondents, further enriching the research analysis.  In other words, the addition of a webcam in an online focus group enables the researchers to also collect this type of data, including audio and visual cues of all the respondents as they accomplish the tasks given to them or answer questions and interact with the rest of the group.  Webcam focus groups are a good substitute to face-to-face group sessions.

Moderating the online study is easy, because one can just throw a question at the respondents with a simple mouse-click.  However, it is a requirement that a moderator must be able to type fast in order to manage the group discussion, or if not, have an assistant who will support the moderator. The moderator will not only be facilitating the dialogue, he or she will also be reading and evaluating the responses, entering questions, and possibly be dealing with potential technical issues at the same time. The proper combination of good ethics and marketing research software support will ensure your projects success.