Today’s marketers are always on the lookout for ways to help Singaporean businesses reach their goals and objectives. They may either adopt revolutionary new methods or look back on traditional approaches for evaluating business strategies.
One of the most preferred methods in most industries in the Asian country is research, specifically through focus groups. Hiring a focus group discussion Singapore-based company, therefore, is the most sensible way to gather valuable data.
A focus group research focuses on a small group of individuals from a business’s target market. A UI UX company will contact qualified participants and conduct a guided discussion regarding the client company’s business idea.
If you are running your own business in Singapore, it helps to learn what focus groups can do for your company and how to conduct one for business strategy evaluation.
What are the Benefits of a Focus Group?
Service providers conducting user research use focus groups as an exceptional way to understand what target audiences might think about a brand, their products, services, or overall image. The activity allows companies to receive feedback that may be challenging to obtain if the researcher or assigned agency uses a different method.
Experts from Small Business Administration recommend against focusing on a business idea during a focus group session. For instance, startup owners tend to use focus groups to validate their business ideas instead of listening to the input of the participants. To accurately plan the proposed features of your products or services, you must ask the group about the benefits that they expect from similar products or services.
Other key benefits that businesses can get from conducting a market research focus group include: (1) gaining more unique and personal responses from participants than if you ask them individually; (2) finding more potential competitors that you may not have initially considered as the group discussions progress; (3) getting great opportunities to observe the target market’s non-verbal actions like body language, and other useful qualitative data.
How To Ensure the Success of Your Focus Group?
There are several steps to make sure that conducting focus groups will help improve your business strategy.
Step #1: Define Your Goals
Focus groups usually last for two hours. Since you only have a limited time to get everything you need, it is necessary to narrow down your goals to ensure everything is covered.
Your focus group objectives should be specific and attainable within the time period. For example, you want to analyse how the market will perceive a particular product. You may also evaluate what the participants think about your brand’s name, your marketing strategies, or even your pricing.
Did you know that with the help of focus groups, Mattel created a more realistic Barbie in the 1950s? They were also able to release a curvier version of the toy in 2014, which looked more adult-like.
Step #2: Look for the Right Respondents
Finding qualified participants is one of the most crucial steps to evaluate the usability testing for your company. Ideally, focus groups must consist of at least eight to 10 people to bring out the results that you’re aiming for. Your user research team may invite participants through social media or other means of invitation.
The research team may also ask for recommendations from their friends, colleagues, and family members to point them to the right people who can join the discussions.
Step #3: Concentrate on the Customer
Focusing on your business idea may not help you get the answers you need all the time. Instead of asking target users if they want to buy your product, you may ask them what items or services they would invest in to solve a particular problem or satisfy their needs.
You may also ask them the features that they like or dislike about the products. By getting their answers, you will have a better idea about how you can customise your offers to meet their expectations.
Aside from these steps, it is important to pay attention to the participants during the discussion. You must listen to every word that they say and observe all their reactions. It is also necessary to take down notes to record all your impressions aside from recording the entire session.
Conclusion
Focus group discussions can definitely help your business stay on the right track to achieve all your goals. But these market research focus group sessions may be too tedious to conduct by yourself.
Experts from User Experience Researchers, a leading UX design agency in Singapore, can take care of all your focus group discussion needs. Reach out to us to talk about the latest focus group methods through our contact page.
