How can you use focus groups to improve your creative strategy?

1 Define your objectives

Before you recruit participants and design your focus group, you need to have a clear idea of what you want to achieve. What are the main questions you want to answer? What are the hypotheses you want to test? What are the key metrics you want to measure? Your objectives will guide your selection of participants, the format and duration of the session, the type of questions and activities you will use, and the criteria for evaluating the results.

2 Choose your participants

Your focus group should include a representative sample of your target audience, as well as some potential outliers or critics. You want to hear from people who have different perspectives, experiences, and opinions about your topic, product, or service. Depending on your objectives, you may want to segment your participants by demographic, behavioral, or psychographic criteria. You should also consider the size and number of your focus groups. Generally, a group of 6 to 10 people is ideal for generating a rich and diverse discussion, and you may want to run multiple groups to increase the validity and reliability of your findings.

3 Prepare your questions and activities

Your focus group should be structured around a set of open-ended questions and activities that elicit feedback on your creative strategy. You may want to start with some icebreakers and warm-up questions to build rapport and engagement among the participants. Then, you can introduce your creative concept, message, or prototype, and ask questions that explore their initial impressions, emotional responses, understanding, and preferences. You can also use activities such as ranking, rating, or sorting to measure their attitudes, behaviors, and motivations. Finally, you can end with some closing questions that summarize their main takeaways, suggestions, and recommendations.

4 Facilitate your focus group

As a facilitator, your role is to create a comfortable and conducive environment for the participants to share their honest and candid opinions. You should introduce yourself and the purpose of the focus group, explain the ground rules and expectations, and obtain their consent and permission. You should also moderate the discussion, ensuring that everyone has a chance to speak, that the conversation stays on track and relevant, and that the participants respect each other and avoid conflicts or biases. You should also probe deeper into their responses, asking follow-up questions that clarify, elaborate, or challenge their views.

5 Analyze and apply your results

After conducting your focus group, you need to analyze and interpret the data you collected. You should transcribe and code the audio or video recordings, identifying the main themes, patterns, and insights that emerge from the participants' comments. You should also quantify and visualize the results of the activities, such as the ratings, rankings, or preferences. You should then compare and contrast the results across different groups, segments, or criteria, and look for any gaps, inconsistencies, or surprises. Finally, you should apply your results to your creative strategy, highlighting the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats, and making recommendations for improvement or validation.

6 Here’s what else to consider

This is a space to share examples, stories, or insights that don’t fit into any of the previous sections. What else would you like to add?