How to Make the Most of Your Next Focus Group

First, video it if you can. 

Every good researcher videos the focus group.  This is because a focus group is a psychological experiment and you will have to use your ability to read and understand human behavior.  The info you gather will need to be interpreted, and having a recording of the group really, really helps.

Second, come up with good questions. 

Lots of them. Then, PRIORITIZE your questions, because a good focus groups almost always runs over time. To come up with good questions, think about what you want to know in order to make decisions.  So, think first of all the decisions you have to make. Then, think about what you would like to know to help you make a better decision. Then, think what you would like to know from the target audience that might provide that info. 

Third, let the conversation flow.

While you need to have your questions prepared, at the same time, be ready to let the conversation flow and be more free form in order to get at the "whys" behind the answers your participants give.  Again, its psychological - you want to know the rational AND, more importantly, emotional reasons people behave a certain way.

Finally, remember success relies on your skills to interpret & understand human behavior.

If you don't know how to do this, hire a professional who can.  Participants will not be able to articulate the "whys" behind their behavior very often.  You will have to draw it out of them with questions that will flow from the answers they give.

How well do you know your customer?

How well do you know your customer?  

Do you know them as well as you know your best friend?  You should.  

You should understand their aspirations, their dreams, their fears & deepest desires.  And you should absolutely understand where you create value in their life and why they love you for it.

Take Anthropologie as a great example.  During the economic downturn, while retailers such as Gap struggled, Anthro, and therefore its parent company, thrived.

Why?

Because they continued to deliver what their core customer values about them, and nothing else.   And I'm not talking about just merchandise, but the entire shopping experience is built around her.  That has created extremely passionate customers who don't fade away when economic troubles arise.  

How did they do that?  And, how can you do that?

By knowing the core customer intimately:

 Ask anyone at Anthropologie who that customer is, and they can rattle off a demographic profile:  30 to 45 years old, college or post-graduate education, married with kids or in a committed relationship, professional or ex-professional, annual household income of $150,000 to $200,000. But those dry matters of fact don't suffice to flesh out the living, breathing woman most Anthropologists call "our friend." They can go deeper and describer her in psychographic terms: She's well-read and well-traveled. She is very aware -- she gets our references, whether it's to a town in Europe or to a book or a movie. She's urban minded. She's into cooking, gardening, and wine. She has a natural curiosity about the world. She's relatively fit.

These insights infuse everything Antrhropologie does, from designing its stores to be "a world of discovery, as if she (the core customer) is on a journey or trip."  Stores are designed using local artists that also understand the overall Antrho brand to create a consistent, yet unique & local feel to each store.  Catalogs are shot in different countries all of the world to appeal to "her".  Merchandise sets trends, just like "she" does.  

You can create passionate customers too, but you have to take the time to get to know them first.  Then, you have to build everything around them - from your messages to packaging to the way your customer service reps answer the phone.  

You can read more about Anthro's approach here.