Working with Focus Group Facilities

By Ron Sellers
Originally published in The NonProfit Times, May 1997

The more you understand about someone, the more you can connect with them. This is especially true when you don't have the benefit of personal interaction, but are trying to connect on a mass scale – such as in donor communications or prospecting. When a non-profit organization truly understands what makes their target market tick, that organization has a much greater chance of pulling in new donors, cutting down on donor turnover, and developing them into loyal supporters.

One excellent way of understanding donors is through focus group marketing research. Focus groups delve deeply into people's thoughts and feelings. While survey research can answer the question of how many, focus groups do more to answer the questions of how and why. Through focus groups you won't find out how many people are loyal to your organization, you'll learn what causes loyalty to develop. You can't predict the response rate of a particular prospect mailing, but you can explore how that mailing will be received and interpreted, what it makes recipients think about your organization, and what changes are necessary to clearly communicate your message in a way which will get response.

Done properly, focus groups can be one of the most rewarding and important investments an organization can make to gather knowledge and understanding. But they also have the potential to become a nightmare of missed opportunities, unexpected costs, and vendor management headaches.

A primary source of frustration is often the relationship between the researcher and the focus group facility. There are myriad opportunities for important details to fall through the cracks. More than one organization has gotten an unpleasant surprise from a focus facility. Usually, with experience and communication, these problems can be avoided. Here are a few tips for making your association with a focus group facility, and your entire focus group research project, as trouble-free as possible.

Work with a professional facility.
Some researchers try to cut costs by renting a hotel conference room for focus groups, rather than using a professional facility. Facilities provide an enormous advantage over alternative arrangements: one-way mirrors for viewing the groups live, hidden professional audio and video recording equipment, and employees who will handle all the little details (like providing snacks or working the video equipment), so you can concentrate on the research.

Lloyd Parker, General Manager of the non-profit K-LOVE Radio Network, switched from hotels to professional facilities. His experience? "It's night and day. The focus group facility is staffed by professionals, and the rooms are set up for what you need them for. It makes things a lot easier as opposed to using a hotel room." Parker also feels that it improved the research information they got. "I think everybody was a lot more comfortable. In a hotel room there are cables exposed, people see microphones, they see video cameras, they know something's going on, and they get a little antsy."

Select the right facility.
There are often multiple facilities in any location. According to one directory, Chicago alone has 43 facilities. A good directory is a first step. Comprehensive directories include the GreenBook (from the American Marketing Association in New York), the Blue Book (from the Marketing Research Association in Chicago), and the Impulse Survey (from Impulse Research in Culver City, CA). The Impulse directory is particularly useful because it carries ratings of each facility from professional moderators.

Gather a list of potential candidates from the directory, and from recommendations by colleagues. Fax a standard request to each one, seeking information. Some important questions to ask include the following:

Once you've narrowed the list, don't be afraid to call and talk to the staff. If the facility director doesn't have time to answer your questions, or seems evasive and can't or won't provide you with solid information, you can be sure you'll receive that same treatment throughout the project.

Know where your respondents are coming from.
Many focus groups will be recruited from a list, such as your donor file. For others, you'll want a group from outside of your file. Unless otherwise directed, most facilities will recruit from their own database. This usually means people who have participated in groups before, sometimes repeatedly.

The quality of the database will vary considerably from facility to facility. It's a good idea to request a bid if recruiting is from the database, plus a bid if recruiting is from the general population. If the cost difference is enormous, or the facility is nervous about not relying on their database, that's a hint that the database may be a problem (for instance, it's filled with people who do focus groups all the time – called "professional respondents" in the industry – who are undesirable but easy to recruit).

One reason to use a database is if you're looking for a certain type of person who would be hard to find out of the general population. For instance, the facility The Question Shop in Orange, CA has a database which includes people's church denomination. If you're looking in the general population for Lutherans in Orange County, for instance, you're trying to reach a very small proportion of all Californians (about 3%). This will be expensive. You could cut down recruitment costs by as much as 50%, saving hundreds of dollars, by using that facility and their database to recruit your Lutheran groups.

Whether or not you decide to use a database, don't assume you're getting "virgin" respondents unless you specify that requirement to the facility.

Insist on progress reports.
Good facilities aren't defined by their ability to sail through a recruiting project with no obstacles – they're defined by what they do to overcome those obstacles. Getting daily progress reports encourages the facility to bring up problems before it's too late. It also makes them accountable for defining what is causing the problem, and suggesting solutions.

Get your pricing up front.
Focus group facilities are masters of hidden costs. Besides the expense to recruit respondents, host the groups, and provide the facility, most facilities have separate charges for providing food to respondents and viewers, providing equipment for the groups (e.g. easels, video monitors), and videotaping the groups. Some facilities also charge extra for sending or receiving faxes, making copies, calling you long-distance with questions or progress reports, looking up phone numbers, and other services.

When getting a bid, be sure to know exactly what is included in that bid, and what extra costs will apply. First, this will allow you to compare the bid directly with others in that same market. Second, it will save you the surprise of added expenses when you receive your bill. In contracting with a facility, come to a clear written understanding with them what the bid includes, and what any additional charges are likely to be.

One difference to look for in the bid is how many respondents will be recruited per group. Some will recruit 12 for ten to show up; others will recruit 13, 14, or more. It's best to provide a standard number in your bid request so all facilities are bidding on the same parameters.

A final cost difference is often the respondent incentive. Some facilities will be flexible on the payment (which usually runs $35 to $50 per person, depending on the market). The higher the incentive, the easier it will be for the facility to recruit respondents, which is why some facilities will quote a low price for recruiting but require high incentives. Have the facility recommend the incentive that their market requires, and take this into consideration in the total bid.

Look for ways to lower costs.
To be blunt, focus groups are not inexpensive. Combining the recruiting costs, facility rental, incentives, moderating, and other expenses, groups can easily run $2,500 to $4,000 each. There are ways to cut down costs without cutting down quality.

Let facilities know that you want to partner with them to make the project run smoothly. Let them know you're open to their suggestions (after all, they are the experts in their market). Then follow through on your promises. Consider that most facilities simply want to do a good job for you and have you return for more business. The more help you can give them, especially by specifying exactly what your requirements are for the project, the less likely they are to provide any unpleasant surprises.

Sidebar Article: Typical Focus Group Expenses
Focus group expenses will depend on many factors. The two largest are how difficult it is to recruit the respondents you seek, and what markets you're using. Below are some general ideas of what typical expenses might be per group, assuming two groups per night are conducted.