ATTACHMENT D

Moderator’s Guide for Consumer Focus Group Session

OMB Control No. 2070-NEW

Approval expires XX/XX/XX 

The annual public burden for this collection of information is estimated at 0.17 hours per response for screened respondents 

and 2 hours for respondents that participate in the focus groups. Send comments on the Agency's need for this information, the 

accuracy of the provided burden estimates, and any suggested methods for minimizing respondent burden, including through the 

use of automated collection techniques to the Director, Collection Strategies Division, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency 

(2822T), 1200 Pennsylvania Ave., NW, Washington, D.C. 20460. Include the OMB control number in any correspondence. Do 

not send the completed application to this address.
Moderator’s Guide for Consumer Focus Group Session

Testing Visuals and Names for EPA Design for the Environment Program

DRAFT – May 3, 2013

Need in the room: Pencils and highlighters for all participants; an easel for the moderator.

Introduction [15 minutes]

Welcome and thank you for joining us. My name is __________ and I will be your moderator for this 

focus group session, which is about providing information to help consumers select products that are 

safer and better for the environment and families. I’d like to hear how you feel about this topic, and I’m 

also interested in your perceptions about some visual materials, which I will show you a bit later. I want 

to let you know that I am not an expert in this topic; rather, I am an independent moderator trained to 

facilitate our discussion. 

Our client for this research is the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), located in Washington, 

D.C. The mission of the EPA is to protect human health and the environment, and the Agency provides 

information for consumers to help them select products that can help protect the environment and are 

safer for families and pets. Our discussion should take about an hour and a half. 

Disclosure

- Observation: There is a one-way mirror with observers in the next room who are interested in 

hearing your views, but don’t want to interrupt the conversation.

- Audio taping and video recording: This session will be recorded by audio and video tape to enable us 

to capture everything that is being said today. We will use the tape to write our report to our client. 

- Confidentiality assured: All of your answers will be confidential, so feel free to say exactly what is on 

your mind. Nothing will be attributed to any particular person in our report.

Ground rules

- We need to hear from everyone, but one at a time, please.

- There are no right or wrong answers; we want your personal opinions.

- As the moderator I am impartial, please be candid.

- It’s okay to be critical. If you dislike something you hear, it’s fine to disagree but please be willing to 

offer your own views and opinions.

- If anyone needs to use the rest room, they are located [specify]. There is no need to stop the 

discussion.

Do you have any questions before we get started?

Participant introductions

- Brief introductions around the table – name, occupation, family

Awareness and Use of Certification Seals [10 minutes]

Let’s start our session by taking a look at some products you may have seen in a local supermarket or 

retail store. 

[Show several products in a category, perhaps cleaning products – include at least one with a green 

certification and at least one without]
- Which one of these products would you choose to purchase in the supermarket?

o Why?

- Let’s look more closely at this product [pick up a product that has a green certification mark on it] 

o Have you seen this mark before?

o What does it mean?

The mark on this product indicates a green certification program, which is a program intended to help 

consumers purchase safer and/or more environmentally sustainable products. These programs are also 

known as “eco-label” programs or “green seals”. 

Are you familiar with green certification programs? 

- Which ones are you familiar with? [Prompt if necessary: Green Seal, Good Housekeeping Green Ratings, 

EcoLogo, Home Depot’s Eco Options, USDA Organic, ENERGY STAR]

- Have you ever used any of these programs to help you decide which products to buy?

Perceptions of Design for the Environment Program [15 minutes]

Different certification programs have different purposes – for example, ENERGY STAR specifically helps 

consumer purchase products that are more energy efficient, whereas the USDA Organic program lets 

consumers know which products are certified organic. I want to talk about an EPA program intended to 

help consumers select products that can help protect the environment and are safer for families and 

pets. I’ll distribute a description of this program, and you can read along with me.

EPA's Design for the Environment (DfE) Program works in partnership with industry, 

environmental groups, and academia to reduce risk to people and the environment by finding 

ways to prevent pollution. For more than 15 years, DfE has evaluated human health and 

environmental concerns associated with traditional and alternative chemicals and processes in a 

range of industries. These analyses have empowered hundreds of businesses to select safer 

chemicals and technologies. EPA allows safer products to carry the DfE label. The label enables 

consumers to quickly identify and choose products that can help protect the environment and 

are safer for families. When you see the DfE label on a product it means the DfE scientific review 

team has screened each ingredient for potential human health and environmental effects and 

that—based on currently available information, EPA predictive models, and expert judgment—

the product contains only those ingredients that pose the least concern among chemicals in 

their class.

 Has anyone ever heard of the DfE Program?

o Have you used it to help you decide which products to buy?

 What’s your overall impression of this program?

o Does it sound useful to you?

 As you shop in your local supermarket or retail outlet, would it be helpful to you to have some 

easy way of knowing if a product has been determined to be safer for families or if it can help 

protect the environment? 

o If you could get that information at a glance just by looking at the product, do you think 

it might influence your purchase decision?

 Why or why not?
o If the products in a particular category all cost about the same, do you think you’d 

choose the product that has been certified by EPA to be safer for families and helpful in 

protecting the environment?

 Which of those two claims would motivate you more to purchase a certified 

product – safer for families or helpful in protecting the environment? 

Testing DfE Logo Redesigns and Names (45 minutes)

EPA is in the process of renaming the DfE program to make it easier for consumers to understand the 

program’s benefits. EPA is also developing designs for a visual mark that will appear on product 

packages to let consumers know which products have been certified under this program to be safer for 

families and helpful in protecting the environment. I’d like to show you some combinations of names 

and visual marks to get your impressions of them and determine which is the most effective for the 

program. We’ll go through three of them, and discuss each separately. [Show one graphic at a time, 

each on a separate board] 

Green Certification Mark #1:

 SaferChoice

Meets EPA Criteria for Safer Products

 How would you sum up your first impression of this mark? 

o Would you notice it if you saw it on a product? 

o Is it attractive?

 Why or why not?

 What does this mark promise to you, the consumer? 

o How well do you think the promise comes across in this mark? 

o Is it easy to understand at a glance?

 Is this mark credible? Do you believe it will deliver on the promise it is making?

o Why or why not?

 Does this mark give you any information about the safety of the product?

o If so, what does it tell you?

 Does this mark give you any information about the product’s impact on the environment?

o If so, what does it tell you?

 Does this mark provide enough information to help you choose between various products in a 

category? 

o Why or why not?

 How well do you think the name “SaferChoice” conveys what the program is trying to do? 

 How well do you think the visual label conveys what the program is trying to do? 

 Is there anything you would change about this label to make it more effective? 

o What would you change?

Logo
 How likely would you be to use this mark to help you decide on a product to purchase?

o Why or why not?

Design Comp #2:

 ChooseSafer

Meets EPA Criteria for Safer Products

 How would you sum up your first impression of this mark? 

o Would you notice it if you saw it on a product? 

o Is it attractive?

 Why or why not?

 What does this mark promise to you, the consumer? 

o How well do you think the promise comes across in this mark? 

o Is it easy to understand at a glance?

 Is this mark credible? Do you believe it will deliver on the promise it is making?

o Why or why not?

 Does this mark give you any information about the safety of the product?

o If so, what does it tell you?

 Does this mark give you any information about the product’s impact on the environment?

o If so, what does it tell you?

 Does this mark provide enough information to help you choose between various products in a 

category? 

o Why or why not?

 How well do you think the name “SaferChoice” conveys what the program is trying to do? 

 How well do you think the visual label conveys what the program is trying to do? 

 Is there anything you would change about this label to make it more effective? 

o What would you change?

 How likely would you be to use this mark to help you decide on a product to purchase?

o Why or why not?

Logo
Green Certification Mark #3:

EPA’s SmarterChoice

Safer Products for People & Planet

 How would you sum up your first impression of this mark? 

o Would you notice it if you saw it on a product? 

o Is it attractive?

 Why or why not?

 What does this mark promise to you, the consumer? 

o How well do you think the promise comes across in this mark? 

o Is it easy to understand at a glance?

 Is this mark credible? Do you believe it will deliver on the promise it is making?

o Why or why not?

 Does this mark give you any information about the safety of the product?

o If so, what does it tell you?

 Does this mark give you any information about the product’s impact on the environment?

o If so, what does it tell you?

 Does this mark provide enough information to help you choose between various products in a 

category? 

o Why or why not?

 How well do you think the name “SaferChoice” conveys what the program is trying to do? 

 How well do you think the visual label conveys what the program is trying to do? 

 Is there anything you would change about this label to make it more effective? 

o What would you change?

 How likely would you be to use this mark to help you decide on a product to purchase?

o Why or why not?

In any of these combinations, is there any where you liked the name but didn’t like the visual? Or vice 

versa – where you liked the visual but didn’t like the name? 

o Which?

o What would you change?

Let’s see a show of hands to determine which of these three you think is most effective [Show each in 

turn - #1, #2 or #3 – to have them vote].

 

Logo
Communication Preferences and Wrap Up (5 minutes)

As a result of our discussion tonight, are you interested in learning more about the EPA program we 

have discussed this evening?

What would be the best way to provide additional information for you? Where would you be most 

likely to pay attention to it? [e.g., website, product packaging, point of purchase information or display, 

magazines or newspapers]

On behalf of EPA, I want to thank all of you for your input today. Please stop by the reception desk to 

receive a token of our gratitude. [Collect all materials]