How to Conduct Research on Your Research
There is no arguing that researching your customers is essential. How can you learn what you're doing right and wrong if you have no gauge to see? It's always a healthy idea to do market research to ensure that you're at least going in the right direction. However, in your excitement to get things going, what should you keep in mind before deciding to conduct a big research project?
Research Your Research
You know how the first episode of a new TV show is called the pilot because it is just taking off? The same idea applies before deciding to do a full-on launch into your research. Pilot testing is a fantastic way for you to start a "pretend" market analysis to see if your methods are working. This is to ensure that your tests are effective; after all, you don't want to sink a bunch of time and money only to find out afterward that the tests you were conducting were inconclusive or ineffective.
Hosting a focus group is one way to do this. Gather a small group of customers and ask them if they'd be willing to act as your guinea pigs while you perfect your market research.
Ask Away
The most important part of a focus group is the questions that you ask. These include things like:
How much would you spend on a product like this?
What do you think of the packaging? What would you change about it?
What is the first thing that your eye is drawn to?
Your goal here is not to get answers to the questions themselves, but to ensure understanding. Have you worded them properly? Does the client understand what you are asking? If not, ask other questions to clarify:
How could I have worded that better?
What was your first thought when you heard that? Did you understand what I wanted from you or did you need more clarification?
Did you follow everything I said, or was there too much information?
Test-Fire Your Equipment
You always want to be prepared so that you look as professional as possible to the clients, and if your research involves equipment of any kind then you must ensure it works ahead of time. For example, if you need to set up a laptop and a projector, does it work? Have you made sure that all the connections are hooked up properly and that the source search works?
This is also important if you are expecting your focus group to use any equipment and also a great time for your pilot testing to come into play. Ask more questions as they use the equipment or setup that you've provided:
On a scale of one to ten, how easy was it for you to use that? Do you feel like you were in control the whole time or was it a little confusing?
Did you need clear directions on using it, or was it self-explanatory?
How comfortable would you be using it on your own? Would you be able to show someone else how to do it?
Look At The Time
Another huge facet of your pilot testing focus group is going to be how long it takes. Not only the meeting from beginning to end, but each task and discussion that you have throughout.
Is there a particular question that spurred a lot of talk? Did your pilot group seem especially fired up about a certain topic?
If you've asked the pilot group to complete a certain task, take note of how long it takes. This is to see if you need to tweak something to make it easier, etc.
How long did the whole experiment take? Do you anticipate that it will be longer, shorter or about the same when you do your real focus group?
You want to learn about your audience, but you want to be sure that you're doing it right. Test out on a sample group before deciding to spend an entire afternoon doing something that might ultimately end up ineffective.
