Originally used over 65 years ago by US government sociologists investigating the impact of military propaganda movies the focus group has been the mainstay of the market research industry.

By the middle of the twentieth century, advertising agencies started to jump on the bandwagon hiring researchers to reveal out why certain kinds of products and services were appealing. The focus group gained popularity because its format prompted the participants to explain their reasons and beliefs behind product appeal, understanding and ultimately purchase. The use of focus groups grew, especially amongst politicians as policy setting instruments. Focus groups even gained credence in academic research despite having no established process for the gathering or capture of the outputs produced. It looked like the focus group was here for the long-haul.

So what’s gone amiss? In his recent Slate Magazine article, “Lies, Damn Lies and Focus Groups?” Daniel Gross challenges the efficacy and value of focus groups for informing product development and advertising. He exposed the widely documented mismatch between what people claim about product concepts in focus groups, and the way they in reality behave when it comes to making purchases. A small point, which costs companies millions in ill-suited product development and misguided marketing.

But more worryingly there is an widening endemic difficulty with focus group research that simply refuses to go away. The ‘Focus Groupie’ is a term used to describe people who for whatever reason spend increasingly large amounts of their evenings contributing to focus groups. You can’t really blame them, the promise of about $90 and a free meal is very attractive. And nothing is sacred for these part-time professional opinion givers. Yesterday they were early adopting gin lovers, today cautious supporters of animal rights, tomorrow who knows? Yet, in the words of one such ‘focus groupie’ the only thing they have in common is that “after a while the stories don’t seem like lies – more like acting – and it’s quite fun to pretend to be someone else”.

The industry is not laughing. In a recent issue of Research the magazine of the Market Research Society (UK) it made front page news. But what about the clients who pay for this false and potentially deceptive research. Torben Jessen, Saga’s Research Manager said that clients should be concerned about professional respondents, the fraudsters in particular because “The issue cuts to the credibility of research”.

Not surprisingly, research into this dilemma carried out by BMRB between November 1999 and March 2000 found that; One in ten people who had taken part in a focus group within the previous 12 months had done so at least three times that year and one in 100 had 16 or more visits. That’s one focus group misled every three weeks. The only thing we know for sure is that the problem is getting worse not better. Liz Sykes, committee member of the UK’s Association for Qualitative Research commented “nobody really knows the scale of the headache”. Yet, whatever the scale, it’s the advertisers who pay for the research that are counting the cost. It’s no surprise that that many are now moving away from the old focus group model. It’s lasted well, remember the focus group was developed when the bi-plane was still state of the art.

Perhaps it’s no surprise that a modern approach is expanding its market share dramatically. The move to online qualitative/quantitative research has doubled in the last three years. The reasons for this are understandable. It’s quick, economical and by using in-house data, can tap into existing customers and prospects who have already embarked upon the desired behaviour. Thus eliminating the ‘focus groupie’ fraudsters.

Many marketeers are using highly developed psychometric models to help their understanding. Marketing, a leading UK magazine reported recently that for Sainsbury’s Bank “Marketing consultancy ESP are running and analysing an online questionnaire included in the bank’s monthly e-zine, which is e-mailed to the customer database. Their plan is to build a clearer picture of consumers’ product purchasing behaviour, using psychographic data.” Surely this type of fast intelligent, ‘focus groupie’ free research is a good way forward.

That is unless you are still happy donning your flying cap and climbing into your aging bi-plane. Tally Ho! Chocks Away!

Author Bio: A free booklet on research for marketing is available to all marketing professionals who wish to improve their response rates from espconsultancy.com the market research specialists. Jim Brackin is a Director of ESP

Category: Advice
Keywords: research for marketing, marketing, research, advertising, focus group,