Focus groups are one of the most popular methods used in market research, and for many good reasons! To understand why people make certain choices and act the way they do, focus groups are often one of the best market research methods.
While surveys can tell us a lot about our markets and communities, we need a solid understanding of a market to use them effectively. Understanding consumer decisions requires insights into what creates the need, what criteria are used and why, and barriers and enablers of behaviour.
Focus groups are an excellent way to efficiently understand, from another’s perspective, how they engage with products and services, and how changes in design, delivery and communication can influence their choices and behaviour, before an organisation commits to increased investment.
These are some of the reasons why focus group market research, when done well, is powerful.
Focus groups let us explore how customers or communities think and behave, understand the language people use, uncover unmet needs, test ideas, and identify issues that surveys and other quantitative methods might miss.
To be effective, a focus group is much more than putting people in a room and asking what they think. Research using focus groups requires careful design, recruitment, interviewing and activity techniques, skilled moderation and rigorous analysis.
Focus groups are a type of qualitative research methodology. To understand more about the other qualitative research methods, see our article ‘Qualitative Market Research: What It Is, How It Works and When to Use It’.
In this article, we provide several case studies of research conducted by Eris Strategy that used focus groups either as part of a broader study or the main method. To read case studies we have conducted, see our full range of case studies section.
What is a focus group?
A focus group is a moderated qualitative research discussion involving a small group of six to eight people who are interviewed about a specific focus topic. Unlike surveys, where people are selected to be representative, focus groups select participants to maximise the potential for uncovering critical insights.
For consumer research, participants might all be users of a particular product category. For business-to-business research, they may share responsibility for purchasing or specifying a service. For local government research, participants may be residents of a particular area or people with experience using specific council services.
A typical focus group in market research involve around six to eight participants, although the right number depends on the audience and topic complexity. Sessions commonly last between 90 and 120 minutes.
A trained moderator guides participants through a semi-structured but flexible discussion using a discussion guide. Rather than administering identical questions as in a survey, the moderator adjusts wording and flow to reflect the discussion, asks follow-up questions to probe for clarity and deeper understanding, explores differences between participants, and investigates new areas that emerge during the conversation.
By interviewing people in a group, a focus group leverages interactions to draw out contrasting views and experiences. Someone may make a comment that reminds another participant of an experience. Another may disagree. A third person may explain why the distinction matters. The researcher can then explore the reasoning behind those different views.
When managed well, this dynamic interviewing aspect is one of the focus group method’s defining strengths. When poorly managed, it can become a source of bias that affects results.
When are focus groups used in market research?
Focus groups are particularly useful when the research objective involves exploration, explanation, development or evaluation.
They can be used at the beginning of a project to understand an unfamiliar market or customer problem before committing to a structured survey, or toward the end to understand why customers gave particular responses in a survey, or to understand behaviour in sales and customer experience data. In customer experience and employee projects, teams often run focus groups after a survey to understand a particular issue and test solutions.
In a study by a client looking at revitalising the hair care brand, Eris Strategy conducted a series of exploratory focus groups among young and middle-aged women, and women from different ethnic backgrounds to understand how changes in their lifestyle, hair styles and self-perceptions changed their needs from hair care products, which showed how brands became markers for this journey and a way to trial new personas.
For a technology client, we used focus groups to develop and test changes in service models. We recruited users who were either heavy users of our client’s products or very new. This meant we could understand and test service delivery models with the two groups most likely to use and be critical of any change.
Research focus groups follow the same general process as other market research by starting with what decision you need to make. Our practical guide on the research process provides you all the key steps in getting the insights you need.
Some of the common questions and applications for focus groups include:
| Business question | How focus groups can help |
| What do customers need? | Explore met and unmet needs, frustrations, expectations |
| Why are customers choosing one brand/ solution over another? | Explore perceptions, decision criteria, competitive differences and barriers to change |
| How should we position a new product or service to improve uptake? | Explore propositions, benefits, language, reasons to believe and positioning of competitors |
| How can we improve our customer service experience? | Reconstruct experiences and identify pain points |
| How should we communicate our offer? | Explore reactions to advertising strategies, executions, messages, claims, packaging and creative ideas |
| What does our brand mean to customers? | Explore brand associations, role in their lives, imagery and emotional responses |
| How might customers react to a service change? | Explore expectations, concerns and potential barriers |
| What do residents think about their community or a community issue? | Explore impact, likely reactions, experiences, priorities, trade-offs and communication needs |
The flexibility of focus groups in market research makes it effective across industries including financial services, FMCG, healthcare, retail, technology, utilities, property, education and government.
For local government, a focus group can provide depth on issues such as community satisfaction, service delivery experience and feedback, planning journey experience, waste services, community facilities use and experience, communication, disaster preparedness/ experiences, and local policy development.
Focus groups allow not only exploration, but also the testing and development of interventions, changes and services that better serve the community.
They should not, however, be treated as a substitute for statistically representative community consultation or quantitative measurement. A focus group helps explain perspectives; it does not establish how prevalent those perspectives are across a community.
Focus groups versus surveys: what are the benefits?
Focus groups and surveys answer different types of questions.
A survey is generally best when an organisation needs to measure something: awareness, satisfaction, preference, behaviour, likelihood to purchase or the prevalence of an attitude and to estimate how generalisable the results are across the population. For example, how likely are people to use this new product or service?
Focus groups are generally better when the organisation needs to understand something.
A well-designed quantitative survey might tell you that 64% of customers do not find your service appealing, or that roads are not well maintained. Focus groups we conducted for a banking client following testing of a product change uncovered confusion about what was actually different compared to the previous product and concern that they would be worse off.
For a local government client, Eris Strategy investigated the roads most often complained about in community surveys and focus groups with residents and businesses that regularly used them. The issue wasn’t that there were many potholes, but that the roads symbolised other concerns about the council. Concerns about how money was spent in different council areas, and a general sense of decline.
To understand more about using surveys and choosing the right type, see our guide ‘Survey Method: Choosing the Right Research Approach’.
Below are five key differences between focus groups and surveys:
- Depth rather than just measurement. Because moderators can probe participants’ answers, focus groups can explore the reasoning behind a response. The conversation may reveal that the problem is not the underlying product at all. It might instead be the wording, price expectations, perceived complexity, credibility of a claim or previous experience with the category.
- Consumers use their own language. Structured questionnaires impose some of the researcher’s language and assumptions on respondents. Focus groups allow participants to describe products, services and experiences in their own words. This can be particularly valuable when developing communications, large surveys, or strategies because it reveals the language customers and the community naturally use when talking about the category.
- Addressing unexpected issues can emerge. Surveys are largely limited to the questions and response options researchers anticipate before fieldwork begins. Qualitative discussion is more flexible. When an unexpected issue emerges in a focus group, an experienced moderator can investigate it. Sometimes these unanticipated findings become the most valuable insights from the research.
- Participants stimulate ideas from one another. A participant may remember an experience after hearing somebody else discuss theirs. People may debate terminology, compare behaviours or challenge assumptions. Watching where participants readily agree — and where they do not — can reveal how customers categorise and interpret an issue.
- Concepts can be developed, not simply scored. Focus groups let researchers explore why elements work or fail and how to improve them.
Focus Groups vs Surveys Infographic
The two methods are therefore often complementary rather than competing. Eris Strategy frequently uses qualitative research to identify and understand issues, then uses quantitative research to measure and validate them.
What are the different types of focus groups?
There is no single format that works for every research problem.
The design should reflect the subject matter, audience and decisions the research needs to inform. Below are some common focus group formats. Even within these basic designs, there are many options, including groups that split into smaller groups, reconvene over time or into another type of group to focus on the next stage of development.
| Focus group type | Design | Best suited to |
| Traditional face-to-face groups | 6 to 8 people | Rich discussion, physical product testing, packaging research and topics where group interaction is important |
| Online focus groups | 5 to 7 people | Geographically dispersed participants, efficient national research and audiences comfortable using online platforms |
| Mini groups | 3 to 4 people | More complex or sensitive subjects where participants need more opportunity to speak |
| Triads or small-group discussions | 2 to 3 people | Detailed exploration while retaining some participant interaction |
| Extended focus groups | Group reconvenes | Complex topics requiring exercises, product evaluation, journey mapping or creative development |
| Co-creation groups | 4 to 8 people | Developing ideas collaboratively with customers or users |
| Community forum groups | 15+ people | Understanding resident experiences, expectations, service perceptions or reactions to proposed initiatives |
Sometimes multiple formats should be incorporated into the same project.
For example, senior executives may be better suited to individual depth interviews because arranging several executives at the same time can be difficult and competitive confidentiality may limit discussion. A focus group could start as a larger group, then split into min-groups, or reconvene online to discuss an experience.
For example, Eris Strategy conducted focus groups with teenagers about college. Because teenagers are not the most reliable demographic and are very aware of how they may appear to others, we used a combination of online focus groups and friendship triads. The online group allowed us to cover a wide geographic range and school types for high-level issues, while the triads allowed us to explore in detail at-school experiences
Research design should follow the problem rather than forcing every audience into the same methodology.
How do focus groups differ from other qualitative research methods?
Focus groups are only one form of qualitative market research.
Choosing the right approach depends largely on where and how insight is most likely to emerge and who you are researching; your audience needs. In studies, more than one approach can be used, and often are used in collaboration to uncover the needed insights.
Focus groups versus in-depth interviews
When either the target audience is hard to bring together, the topic requires detailed in-depth understanding around a specific situation, group interactions are likely to bias the results, or it relates to a sensitive area, in-depth interviews are often a better choice.
Focus groups are like conducting multiple in-depth interviews at the same time, and when one-on-one interviews aren’t needed, focus groups are faster and more cost-effective… seven interviews at once!
Focus groups versus ethnographic research
Ethnographic market research examines people within or close to the environments where behaviours naturally occur. If this is not possible, being in the context of the decision behaviour is not needed, or observing how a person interacts through their journey is not needed, then focus groups can be more effective.
Rather than asking customers to remember what happens when they shop, use a service or undertake a task, ethnography allows researchers to observe aspects of the behaviour directly. This approach reduces the need to rely on memory, reducing the effects of distortion and forgetting.
Focus groups are more controlled and efficient for discussing a range of issues with several participants simultaneously. Ethnography is particularly valuable when what people say and what they actually do differ significantly.
To understand more about using ethnography in market and community research, see our guide ‘Ethnographic Market Research: A Guide to Understanding Customers in the Real World’ on what they are and how to use them to gain actionable insights.
Combining focus groups with ethnographic methods, Eris Strategy conducted a study for client needing to understand how they chose hair removal products and brands. The research used ethnography before the focus groups to follow consumers as they bought and used different products, then used the focus groups to better understand brand image and the broader category journey.
Focus groups versus online communities
Online qualitative communities allow participants to contribute over several days or weeks. Unlike an online focus group, participants may not interact with each other; instead, they undertake activities and answer questions with the facilitator.
They are useful where researchers want participants to complete activities, record experiences as they occur or reflect on issues over time, and interview people who are unable to be easily interviewed. For example, researching chefs who keep unsociable hours but can interact for a few moments over a week. Or interviews with young adults about personal care who live in regional areas.
Focus groups versus workshops
Research workshops tend to place greater emphasis on creating or solving something collaboratively, while traditional focus groups place greater emphasis on understanding participants.
The distinction can become blurred, particularly with co-creation projects, but the underlying purpose should always be clear when the methodology is designed. Using workshops as focus groups can, and does, lead to false insights because the working group creates consensus or educates itself and others on a topic, which is not what happens in the real world. For example, in a community workshop, the group may develop an understanding of why the council does what it does and how it should deliver services based on people having deeper knowledge, but when launched, the community responds without that built-up view and not show the same level of agreement that was manufactured in the group.
What happens in a focus group?
For participants, a well-run focus group should feel more like a structured conversation than an interrogation.
The moderator begins by explaining the session’s purpose and format, setting confidentiality expectations, and helping participants feel comfortable contributing.
Discussion generally starts broadly, then drills down into the focal areas.
Participants might initially talk about their experiences with a category, service or situation, or their roles. The conversation then becomes progressively more focused as the moderator introduces the central research topics. This earlier information provides context for later insights and helps the participants introspect and think about the topic more accurately.
Exercises and activities are often included before group discussion when the topic is not something people readily think about, or when their experiences are not something they are always aware of. For example, in a toothpaste study, we asked participants not to brush their teeth for a day and to photograph their oral care products, because their behaviour is highly routine.
The moderator explores the differences in views . . . and does not look for consensus.
Why did one idea stand out? What did participants think was promised? Was it believable? Who would it appeal to, and who wouldn’t? Why do some people have a different perspective?
Stimulus materials might then be introduced. These could include prototypes and descriptions of proposed products, policies and interventions, advertising concepts, packaging, product claims, storyboards, websites, service designs or customer journeys. Anything that is being developed or can help participants explore their own views.
Researchers and clients may observe the session remotely or from an observation room, depending on the research format and consent arrangements.
Sessions are recorded to support detailed analysis.
That final point matters.
The objective of professional qualitative analysis is not to compile interesting quotes. It is to identify patterns, differences, underlying explanations and implications across the research.
What techniques are used in focus groups?
Simply asking direct questions is often insufficient.
People often find it difficult to articulate emotions, explain habitual behaviour or describe subtle differences between brands. Participants can also rationalise decisions after the event and present their views in a more favourable light.
Experienced qualitative researchers use a range of techniques to help participants access and express different types of thinking and feel comfortable in sharing those views and experiences.
Listed below are some techniques we often use in focus groups to uncover insights.
| Technique | What it helps explore |
| Projective techniques | Feelings, associations and attitudes that are difficult to express directly |
| Brand personification | Brand personality and imagery that impacts behaviour |
| Word association | Immediate reactions and category language to undestand meaning |
| Metaphor elicitation (Image or collage exercises) | Emotional and symbolic associations. Beliefs and values participants may not consciously recognise or readily articulate. |
| Card sorting | How participants mentally organise products, needs or attributes |
| Perceptual mapping | How brands or propositions relate to competitors |
| Laddering | Connections between product attributes, benefits and deeper values |
| Customer journey mapping | Experiences, pain points and moments that matter |
| Ranking and prioritisation | Relative importance of needs, benefits or concepts |
| Trade-off exercises | Which benefits customers prioritise when choices become difficult |
| Role playing or scenarios | Reactions to situations, services or possible future experiences |
The technique should always serve the research question. Using an entertaining exercise simply because it is engaging can produce plenty of activity without generating useful insight and prevent insights from emerging.
How long does focus group research take?
The timeframe depends on the audience’s complexity, the number of groups, and the amount of stimulus development required.
For a relatively straightforward project, an indicative timeline might be:
| Stage | Indicative timing |
| Briefing and research design | 2–4 business days |
| Recruitment and fieldwork preparation | 1–2 weeks |
| Discussion guide and stimulus development | Conducted alongside recruitment |
| Focus group fieldwork | Dependent on number of groups (a week is often needed for up to six groups) |
| Analysis | Around 5–10 business days |
| Reporting and recommendations | Approximately 1 week |
| Typical overall project | Approximately 3–5 weeks |
Specialist B2B recruitment, difficult-to-reach audiences, multiple markets or extensive product development may require longer.
The important point is not simply to run groups quickly. Recruitment and analysis need sufficient time to protect research quality. For projects that use stimulus material, you may need time between groups to allow changes, rather than keep testing what keeps failing.
What should you include in a market research brief for focus groups?
A useful brief does not need to specify every methodological detail. A good market research agency can help design the methodology. It should, however, give researchers enough context to understand the problem and recommend an appropriate approach.
A strong brief typically covers the same core areas as other research project briefs. Our guide to writing an effective research brief also includes templates you can use. Below are core areas to cover when focus groups are being considered for your project:
| Brief component | What to include |
| Business background | What has led to the project and what is changing? |
| Business decision | What decision will the research inform? |
| Research objectives | What specifically do you need to understand? |
| Existing knowledge | What research, data or assumptions already exist? |
| Target audiences | Who needs to participate and why? |
| Important segments | Which customer, user or community groups need to be distinguished and why? |
| Stimulus | Concepts, communications, packaging, prototypes or other materials available for testing |
| Geographic scope | Locations or markets that need to be covered |
| Timing | When are findings required and what business deadlines drive the schedule? |
| Outputs | Presentation, report, workshop, video clips, recommendations or other deliverables |
| Stakeholders | Who will use the research and who needs to be involved? |
| Budget guidance | Where possible, an indicative budget helps the agency propose the most useful design within available resources |
Perhaps the most valuable sentence in a brief is:
“At the end of this research, we need to be able to decide…”
It forces the research back to the decision it needs to support.
Who should be included in the focus groups?
Like other qualitative research, the focus is on uncovering insights, not on finding general consensus. This is because the number of people in a qualitative study is often too small to provide statistically generalisable results.
Instead, select focus group participants to maximise the likelihood of uncovering insights critical to business decisions. In community research, this may also mean including people from groups that could affect policy development and acceptance if left out.
To illustrate, in a study Eris Strategy undertook for a telecommunications provider about a potential new product, we targeted frequent users. In a study for a local government on waste management, we focused on hospitality businesses and people living in apartments and large households because they represented high-impact groups.
How many focus groups do you need?
There is no universal number.
The right design depends on how many genuinely different audiences must be understood and how much variation researchers expect within those audiences.
Two groups with the same audience may help determine whether an observation is repeated rather than unique to one particular discussion.
More groups may be required where the research needs to compare different markets, customer types, behavioural segments or demographic groups.
The objective is not statistical sample size. It is to achieve sufficient qualitative coverage and depth to understand the relevant patterns and differences.
A good research agency should be able to explain why each proposed group is necessary rather than simply recommending a standard number.
When should focus groups be combined with quantitative research?
One of the strongest research designs combines qualitative and quantitative methods.
You can conduct focus groups before a survey to determine which issues to measure, develop hypotheses, refine language, and identify appropriate response options.
A survey can then establish how widespread those attitudes or behaviours are.
Alternatively, focus groups may follow quantitative research when it is needed to understand an emerging issue or be using in finding a solution.
If customer satisfaction has fallen or a tracking study reveals an unexpected shift, qualitative research can investigate possible explanations.
In practice, strong market research frequently needs both.
Why use Eris Strategy for focus group market research?
Don’t start with “we need some focus groups”. Start with the decision you need to make.
Designing qualitative research that produces insight clients can act on with confidence is considerably more complicated than what may appear to be just siting down with some people to have a conversation.
At Eris Strategy, our focus is not simply on conducting discussions. We connect market research, behavioural understanding and strategy so that the research addresses the commercial or organisational decision behind the brief.
Our approach starts with the problem.
We work with clients to clarify what they need to learn, identify which audiences can provide that insight and select the most appropriate research method rather than defaulting automatically to focus groups.
Where focus groups are appropriate, we design sessions that encourage participants to move beyond superficial reactions. We use probing, projective techniques, behavioural questioning and structured exercises to understand the reasoning behind attitudes and decisions.
And critically, our work does not end with a collection of quotations.
We look across the evidence to identify patterns, tensions, opportunities and implications, and translate the findings into recommendations that can support decisions about customers, brands, communications, products, services and growth.
Focus groups work best when the organisation commissioning them is prepared to do more than listen to customers.
The real value comes from knowing what to ask, what to listen for and what to do with the answer.
Planning focus group market research?
Talk to Eris Strategy about the business question you are trying to solve. We can help determine whether focus groups, depth interviews, ethnographic research, quantitative research or a combination of methods will provide the evidence you need.
Contact Eris Strategy to discuss how using focus groups could help uncover unmet needs, improve customer experiences and identify new opportunities for growth.
Frequently asked questions about focus groups
What is a focus group in market research?
A focus group is a moderated qualitative research discussion involving a small number of people selected because they have characteristics or experiences relevant to the research question. It is used to explore attitudes, behaviours, motivations, language and reactions in depth.
What is the main advantage of a focus group?
The primary advantage is depth. Researchers can explore why participants think or behave as they do, ask follow-up questions and observe how participants react to and build upon the views of others.
How many people are normally in a focus group?
A traditional focus group involves approximately six to eight participants, although smaller or larger formats may be appropriate depending on the topic, audience and research design.
How many focus groups do you need?
Have at least two focus groups for any critical segment. The number of focus groups needed for a project reflects the number and differences between segments that you need to understand, and their accessibility. As a guide, try to have at least two groups for any important segment. This reduces the likelihood that the results from any one group will reflect the experiences of a few or dominant group members.
How long does a focus group last?
Many groups run for approximately 60 to 120 minutes. Complex concept testing, workshops or co-creation sessions may require longer.