Home A-Z Beyond the Focus Group Focus groups are the most widely used market research tool in the Western world. Virtually every new product, and certainly every advertising campaign, will not see daylight until a group of eight to ten respondents and a moderator participate in a group discussion about it. But when it comes to high-tech products, our evidence suggests that relying on focus group data alone will mislead you badly. David Travis explains.
Focus groups are popular amongst marketing professionals for good reason.
They are relatively quick to organise and the feedback is instantaneous. A wide range of views can be assembled from people from a wide range of backgrounds. When focus groups go well, the data can be extremely useful in identifying profitable design routes. Plus any technique that gets companies closer to their customers can't be all bad. The difficulty arises when participants are shown high-tech products that are entirely new.