October 17, 2005
The human touch | Focus groups are an inexpensive way to gauge reaction to new products, candidates and ad campaigns
By Douglas Rooks
MaryEllen FitzGerald of Critical Insights in Portland has conducted focus groups in many states and averages 150-200 groups a year. One of her clients, a large health insurer based in New York, was seeking to expand to Texas, and designed a promotional campaign whose slogan included the phrase, "an integrated health partnership."
"It was in all the promotional material," FitzGerald said. "It was a key part of the campaign."
But neither the New York insurer nor those who designed the focus group test realized that the word "integrated" would have a much different context in the deep South than it did in the Northeast, even decades after federal school desegregation orders. "I could see from the very first moments of the group that something was wrong," she said. "It just never occurred to us how it might be perceived." The company's campaign went back to the drawing board.
When it comes to marketing tools, few techniques surpass focus groups, which have become a vital part of introducing a new product, launching a big advertising campaign or testing a political candidate's appeal to the voters. In fact, it has become unusual, if not unthinkable, for a company to make a major ad buy without first testing the material on a focus group audience ˆ often while the promotion is still being developed.
While focus groups are undeniably a powerful means both of predicting customer response and of testing product appeal, they are not foolproof, the experts agree. Much depends on how the sessions are designed and conducted, and how the results are interpreted. Perhaps most important, they provide qualitative research, not the quantitative data produced by polls and surveys.
One of their most important functions is to make sure the messages businesses want to convey are those that actually are conveyed. While most focus groups produce less dramatic results than the one FitzGerald described, there are almost always some surprises, said Patrick Murphy of Strategic Marketing Services, another Portland firm that has considerable experience with focus groups. "If you don't learn something unexpected, you probably have not done a good job of designing the test," he said.
He's had clients from out of state who've had to learn from the mouths of Mainers that audiences for advertising are different here. "There's not as great a tolerance for negative advertising," Murphy said. "Mainers prefer a softer, more subtle approach."
The responses from focus groups sometimes result in fine-tuning of commercials, such as an actor dressing more casually. Sometimes, the ad is scrapped altogether, as in a legal services promotion that was seen as too hard-hitting for Maine viewers. "It would have worked in Boston, but not here," Murphy said.
Under the surface
The techniques behind focus groups emerged from consumer psychology research conducted in the 1960s, said Kim McKeage, associate professor of marketing at the Maine Business School at the University of Maine. The research showed, convincingly, that what people say is not always what they are thinking and that, in a controlled setting, a group moderator can probe beneath the surface to gain insight into individual responses. "It's a good method for getting at the deep-seated motivations people have," McKeage said.
Hence, "it's very good for projective testing" about a product or service. In a political context, focus groups can accurately gauge "how competing opinions may play out against each other," she said.
After several decades of fine tuning, focus groups are now better designed to prevent misleading results. Still, clients have to understand what they can and cannot do. "A focus group is not an opinion survey, and should not be used as one," MaryEllen FitzGerald said. "You can't take a look at the responses and say, 'Well, 25% of the public will buy this product.'"
The basic format of focus groups is by now well established. The focus group script is designed and approved in advance, and the marketing firm in charge will recruit the necessary members. Most groups are jury-sized, with 10 to 12 members, although sometimes smaller groups are used. Occasionally ˆ as when a customer wants to observe how its website is used ˆ interviewers may work one-on-one with the participant. Sessions usually run no longer than 90 minutes, and focus group members are paid; $50 is a typical fee. (See "Getting focused," p. 32.)
Participants are screened to eliminate those with special knowledge of the process ˆ marketing professionals and journalists, for instance ˆ and care is taken to provide a random sampling of the specified target audience.
Other precautions are sometimes needed. Focus groups have become so popular that some cities seem to have focus group junkies, just as quiz shows attract would-be professional contestants. "We're always careful to specify that we don't want the regulars," FitzGerald said. "The usual rule is to include no one who's been on a focus group in the past year."
Everyone seems to agree on the crucial role of the moderator, who makes sure that those with strong opinions do not dominate the discussion, and who can call on more reticent members to flesh out their responses. Follow-up questions are often critical in testing whether initial statements tell the story, or whether participants respond differently when asked to consider the implications of their answers.
Patrick Murphy says he prefers it when a client conducts several focus group sessions at a variety of locations. "It's rare, but it's possible you encounter an aberrant group," he said. Even though focus groups provide qualitative, and not quantitative research, it's important to have cross-checks before drawing conclusions, he said.
The importance of maps
Steve Mason of Swardlick Marketing Group in Portland uses Murphy's SMS to conduct focus groups for a variety of clients. Some of them, like New England Coffee, are interested in different groups' responses along the entire Atlantic coast, where its products are sold. Others have a more specific Maine orientation, such as Bay Ferries, the company that runs the Cat from Bar Harbor to Yarmouth, Nova Scotia, and expects to add Portland as a port of call next year, replacing the now-departed Scotia Prince.
Focus groups were useful to Bay Ferries both in understanding its potential market and in testing specific advertising, Mason said. Unlike other cruise lines, the Cat relies on speed as a factor its appeal; as a result, the company was able to successfully promote day trips to Canada. "The typical stay for a customer is three days in Maine and five in Canada, so [day trippers are] not a big part of the base, but it is an important source of revenue," Mason said.
Advertising tests produced equally suggestive results. "We found it was really important to have a map in all the print ads," he said. "It seems that a lot of Americans are geographically challenged."
The Maine Turnpike Authority has been using focus groups for more than a decade, beginning when it decided to become the first state in New England to use electronic toll collection. "We really didn't know the first thing about it," said Dan Paradee, the MTA's long-time spokesman and a former legislative aide. "Because it was such a visible process, we wanted to make sure we got it right."
The focus groups produced a clear preference for the technology employed by Transpass, which included such user-friendly features as an instant readout of a turnpike user's remaining balance. (Ultimately, as more highways began using electronic tolls, the EZ Pass system won out in the national competition and Maine had to convert. "The [Tranpass] technology was superior, but it turned out there were other factors involved," Paradee said.)
The MTA turned to focus groups again after the widening of a 30-mile section from York to Portland was approved by voters in a 1997 referendum. Given its scope, the five-year widening project is considered to have gone exceptionally smoothly, and Paradee said the focus groups were helpful in providing guidance. "People really wanted a lot of information about what we were doing," he said. "They were curious, but they were also concerned about what it would do to their daily commute."
One result was that the MTA sent out daily e-mail alerts to everyone who requested them, a practice Paradee be-lieves is still unique among major road projects in the region. "Drivers are much more likely to be patient with delays if they know what's going on. That's one of the things we learned," he said.
The power of perception
While focus groups are likely to be associated in the public's mind with high-profile political campaigns and big business ventures, much smaller businesses also can benefit from them, said Bob Cott of CD&M Communications in Portland. He has used focus groups successfully for restaurants ˆ often small companies whose previous marketing was based on casual observation of who walked through the door. "You can pinpoint exactly what appeal the restaurant has, its weaknesses and those of its competitors," he said.
In a relatively short time, a focus group can explore questions about the food, service, image and ambience. Even seemingly minor perceptions can be telling, he said. "You may hear that the portion sizes are skimpy compared to those at another restaurant, even though you know they're the same." The solution may be as simple as using a smaller plate to make the portion appear larger.
Another appeal of focus groups for small businesses is that, compared with the expense of most media campaigns, they're relatively cheap, with sessions starting at about $2,000; most businesses will need three or four sessions to get meaningful results. "A couple of focus groups isn't going to cost that much," Cott said. "And depending on what you need to know, it can make a big difference for your business."
Cott's firm has done a lot of tourism promotion, both for the state and for regional groups. And indeed, the focus groups sometimes produce surprises beyond the need of many tourists for an accurate map. In the Machias area, for instance, where CD&M was exploring barriers to increased pedestrian use of sidewalks and trails, it emerged that tourists' fears of encounters with wild animals, such as bears and mountain lions, was a significant concern.
Indeed, the information and attitudes elicited by focus groups is so broad, and can be provided in such depth through probing questions, that, as Bob Cott said, "It almost seems unfair, how you can get inside people's heads."
Kim McKeage at UMaine said that the ethical use of focus groups has emerged as a significant concern. Companies that commission and carry out focus groups need to be aware of this, she said: "If you were an unethical researcher, you could be very invasive." The human subject requirements in ethics codes adopted by the American Marketing Association and other organizations specify that focus groups "should not go beyond the information you need, and not knowingly prompt participants to reveal personal information," she said.
Dan Paradee thinks that public organizations and government could take a cue from business and use focus groups more widely. While news reporters may envision a public cynical about focus group-testing of candidates, people actually respond well to organizations that honestly seek out their opinions, he said. When the Maine Turnpike Authority began using focus groups, it was in the aftermath of referendum campaigns that first barred, then approved the widening of the road.
"From phone calls and letters, we had the impression of widespread hostility. But when we saw the results of focus groups, we got a different picture," he said. "People are more interested and engaged than they're usually given credit for."
MaryEllen FitzGerald says focus groups are popular with her clients because they provide "easy to understand results that you can use right away." And she enjoys them herself because, unlike many marketing devices, they provide contact with customers that's both human and immediate. "I don't think I'll ever get tired of doing them," she said.
"It was in all the promotional material," FitzGerald said. "It was a key part of the campaign."
But neither the New York insurer nor those who designed the focus group test realized that the word "integrated" would have a much different context in the deep South than it did in the Northeast, even decades after federal school desegregation orders. "I could see from the very first moments of the group that something was wrong," she said. "It just never occurred to us how it might be perceived." The company's campaign went back to the drawing board.
When it comes to marketing tools, few techniques surpass focus groups, which have become a vital part of introducing a new product, launching a big advertising campaign or testing a political candidate's appeal to the voters. In fact, it has become unusual, if not unthinkable, for a company to make a major ad buy without first testing the material on a focus group audience ˆ often while the promotion is still being developed.
While focus groups are undeniably a powerful means both of predicting customer response and of testing product appeal, they are not foolproof, the experts agree. Much depends on how the sessions are designed and conducted, and how the results are interpreted. Perhaps most important, they provide qualitative research, not the quantitative data produced by polls and surveys.
One of their most important functions is to make sure the messages businesses want to convey are those that actually are conveyed. While most focus groups produce less dramatic results than the one FitzGerald described, there are almost always some surprises, said Patrick Murphy of Strategic Marketing Services, another Portland firm that has considerable experience with focus groups. "If you don't learn something unexpected, you probably have not done a good job of designing the test," he said.
He's had clients from out of state who've had to learn from the mouths of Mainers that audiences for advertising are different here. "There's not as great a tolerance for negative advertising," Murphy said. "Mainers prefer a softer, more subtle approach."
The responses from focus groups sometimes result in fine-tuning of commercials, such as an actor dressing more casually. Sometimes, the ad is scrapped altogether, as in a legal services promotion that was seen as too hard-hitting for Maine viewers. "It would have worked in Boston, but not here," Murphy said.
Under the surface
The techniques behind focus groups emerged from consumer psychology research conducted in the 1960s, said Kim McKeage, associate professor of marketing at the Maine Business School at the University of Maine. The research showed, convincingly, that what people say is not always what they are thinking and that, in a controlled setting, a group moderator can probe beneath the surface to gain insight into individual responses. "It's a good method for getting at the deep-seated motivations people have," McKeage said.
Hence, "it's very good for projective testing" about a product or service. In a political context, focus groups can accurately gauge "how competing opinions may play out against each other," she said.
After several decades of fine tuning, focus groups are now better designed to prevent misleading results. Still, clients have to understand what they can and cannot do. "A focus group is not an opinion survey, and should not be used as one," MaryEllen FitzGerald said. "You can't take a look at the responses and say, 'Well, 25% of the public will buy this product.'"
The basic format of focus groups is by now well established. The focus group script is designed and approved in advance, and the marketing firm in charge will recruit the necessary members. Most groups are jury-sized, with 10 to 12 members, although sometimes smaller groups are used. Occasionally ˆ as when a customer wants to observe how its website is used ˆ interviewers may work one-on-one with the participant. Sessions usually run no longer than 90 minutes, and focus group members are paid; $50 is a typical fee. (See "Getting focused," p. 32.)
Participants are screened to eliminate those with special knowledge of the process ˆ marketing professionals and journalists, for instance ˆ and care is taken to provide a random sampling of the specified target audience.
Other precautions are sometimes needed. Focus groups have become so popular that some cities seem to have focus group junkies, just as quiz shows attract would-be professional contestants. "We're always careful to specify that we don't want the regulars," FitzGerald said. "The usual rule is to include no one who's been on a focus group in the past year."
Everyone seems to agree on the crucial role of the moderator, who makes sure that those with strong opinions do not dominate the discussion, and who can call on more reticent members to flesh out their responses. Follow-up questions are often critical in testing whether initial statements tell the story, or whether participants respond differently when asked to consider the implications of their answers.
Patrick Murphy says he prefers it when a client conducts several focus group sessions at a variety of locations. "It's rare, but it's possible you encounter an aberrant group," he said. Even though focus groups provide qualitative, and not quantitative research, it's important to have cross-checks before drawing conclusions, he said.
The importance of maps
Steve Mason of Swardlick Marketing Group in Portland uses Murphy's SMS to conduct focus groups for a variety of clients. Some of them, like New England Coffee, are interested in different groups' responses along the entire Atlantic coast, where its products are sold. Others have a more specific Maine orientation, such as Bay Ferries, the company that runs the Cat from Bar Harbor to Yarmouth, Nova Scotia, and expects to add Portland as a port of call next year, replacing the now-departed Scotia Prince.
Focus groups were useful to Bay Ferries both in understanding its potential market and in testing specific advertising, Mason said. Unlike other cruise lines, the Cat relies on speed as a factor its appeal; as a result, the company was able to successfully promote day trips to Canada. "The typical stay for a customer is three days in Maine and five in Canada, so [day trippers are] not a big part of the base, but it is an important source of revenue," Mason said.
Advertising tests produced equally suggestive results. "We found it was really important to have a map in all the print ads," he said. "It seems that a lot of Americans are geographically challenged."
The Maine Turnpike Authority has been using focus groups for more than a decade, beginning when it decided to become the first state in New England to use electronic toll collection. "We really didn't know the first thing about it," said Dan Paradee, the MTA's long-time spokesman and a former legislative aide. "Because it was such a visible process, we wanted to make sure we got it right."
The focus groups produced a clear preference for the technology employed by Transpass, which included such user-friendly features as an instant readout of a turnpike user's remaining balance. (Ultimately, as more highways began using electronic tolls, the EZ Pass system won out in the national competition and Maine had to convert. "The [Tranpass] technology was superior, but it turned out there were other factors involved," Paradee said.)
The MTA turned to focus groups again after the widening of a 30-mile section from York to Portland was approved by voters in a 1997 referendum. Given its scope, the five-year widening project is considered to have gone exceptionally smoothly, and Paradee said the focus groups were helpful in providing guidance. "People really wanted a lot of information about what we were doing," he said. "They were curious, but they were also concerned about what it would do to their daily commute."
One result was that the MTA sent out daily e-mail alerts to everyone who requested them, a practice Paradee be-lieves is still unique among major road projects in the region. "Drivers are much more likely to be patient with delays if they know what's going on. That's one of the things we learned," he said.
The power of perception
While focus groups are likely to be associated in the public's mind with high-profile political campaigns and big business ventures, much smaller businesses also can benefit from them, said Bob Cott of CD&M Communications in Portland. He has used focus groups successfully for restaurants ˆ often small companies whose previous marketing was based on casual observation of who walked through the door. "You can pinpoint exactly what appeal the restaurant has, its weaknesses and those of its competitors," he said.
In a relatively short time, a focus group can explore questions about the food, service, image and ambience. Even seemingly minor perceptions can be telling, he said. "You may hear that the portion sizes are skimpy compared to those at another restaurant, even though you know they're the same." The solution may be as simple as using a smaller plate to make the portion appear larger.
Another appeal of focus groups for small businesses is that, compared with the expense of most media campaigns, they're relatively cheap, with sessions starting at about $2,000; most businesses will need three or four sessions to get meaningful results. "A couple of focus groups isn't going to cost that much," Cott said. "And depending on what you need to know, it can make a big difference for your business."
Cott's firm has done a lot of tourism promotion, both for the state and for regional groups. And indeed, the focus groups sometimes produce surprises beyond the need of many tourists for an accurate map. In the Machias area, for instance, where CD&M was exploring barriers to increased pedestrian use of sidewalks and trails, it emerged that tourists' fears of encounters with wild animals, such as bears and mountain lions, was a significant concern.
Indeed, the information and attitudes elicited by focus groups is so broad, and can be provided in such depth through probing questions, that, as Bob Cott said, "It almost seems unfair, how you can get inside people's heads."
Kim McKeage at UMaine said that the ethical use of focus groups has emerged as a significant concern. Companies that commission and carry out focus groups need to be aware of this, she said: "If you were an unethical researcher, you could be very invasive." The human subject requirements in ethics codes adopted by the American Marketing Association and other organizations specify that focus groups "should not go beyond the information you need, and not knowingly prompt participants to reveal personal information," she said.
Dan Paradee thinks that public organizations and government could take a cue from business and use focus groups more widely. While news reporters may envision a public cynical about focus group-testing of candidates, people actually respond well to organizations that honestly seek out their opinions, he said. When the Maine Turnpike Authority began using focus groups, it was in the aftermath of referendum campaigns that first barred, then approved the widening of the road.
"From phone calls and letters, we had the impression of widespread hostility. But when we saw the results of focus groups, we got a different picture," he said. "People are more interested and engaged than they're usually given credit for."
MaryEllen FitzGerald says focus groups are popular with her clients because they provide "easy to understand results that you can use right away." And she enjoys them herself because, unlike many marketing devices, they provide contact with customers that's both human and immediate. "I don't think I'll ever get tired of doing them," she said.
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