I remember conducting my first focus group as a college sophomore. My team was assigned to create a mock advertising campaign for Hershey Twizzlers, and being a self-diagnosed candy addict, I quickly volunteered to be the moderator. Nothing sounded more fun than uncovering hidden secrets on stretchy, plastic fake licorice.

We held a five-person focus group with college freshmen. Their comments were witty, perceptive, and occasionally testy. Because of the entertaining discussion, I assumed our focus group was successful.

However, when I later reviewed my notes, I noticed a problem: most of the questions centered on one topic, that is, the direction my group wanted to take for our campaign. Zero relevance to Twizzlers. In the focus group, we fished for certain consumer behaviors that, in reality, did not connect with the Twizzlers brand.

Needless to say, I should have taken notes from this cartoon:

 Being the moderator of a focus group presents unique opportunities and challenges. The role takes practice. Let’s have a brief overview of what a focus group typically entails, then we’ll discuss three important skills that will help you be successful as a moderator.

WHAT IS A FOCUS GROUP?

A focus group is a type of qualitative research that seeks to understand the nature of people’s thoughts and preferences. Although it does not forecast sales, conducting a focus group enables researchers to better understand the conscious and unconscious behaviors of a consumer. A focus group typically has 1-2 moderators and 6-10 compensated participants.

By performing this type of research, your business can gather new ideas for product innovation, target messaging, and market strategy.  

BE OBJECTIVE

The Twizzlers casualty shows that objectivity is a key skill to moderating. Simply put, drop your agenda and listen. You should form a general discussion guide ahead of time, but be willing to go off-script. A guide should help you provoke a discussion, not reach for a certain response.

When you stay objective in the focus group, participants can naturally uncover their true feelings and motivations. This will offer you incredibly valuable information. 

Also, be cautious of bias. Bias can come through the researcher or the respondent. Unless you try to prevent it, bias will easily creep into the discussion and limit the accuracy of your data.

BE INCLUSIVE

The goal of a journalist is to be inclusive of all different beliefs, parties, and comments. You should do the same thing as a moderator. Be inclusive of each person’s voice, and challenge what they say.

Take advice from Kalil, H&P Partner of Cultural Insight and Brand Strategy for Tiny Hat Consulting: 

“Don't just ask why. What do they get out of it? Get beyond the obvious and under the surface. Break down the experience. Who was there, what was happening.”

Dig deep by exploring words and meanings. By probing for clarity, you’ll be able to reveal new insights that surveys cannot engender.

Additionally, like a journalist, you need to be respectful and understanding. You are the only person in the room capable of creating a comfortable environment where participants can say what they truly feel.

Want to see a focus group gone awol? Watch this video.

BE CREATIVE

Generally, a focus group with 6-10 people turns into a 90-120 minute conversation. Beware—the meeting will feel much longer for everyone if you don’t add some flavor.  

People often generate thoughts through visuals. Here is a list of ideas to get your group’s creative juices flowing:

• Distribute magazines and art supplies, then ask everyone to answer a prompt by creating a collage.

• Hand out a wordless cartoon that depicts a product or business, then challenge them to fill in the copy.

•  Ask participants to each bring one prop that they associate with a brand, then ask them to describe their prop and reasoning to the group.

• Allow participants to write conservative or barbarian innovation ideas on sticky notes, then let them go wild commenting, collaborating, and rearranging ideas on a wall.

Participants will be much more engaged if you give them activities to think outside the box. Your exploratory research will follow ingenious paths.

Need more creativity? Check out “11 Unique Focus Group Ideas” by Peerspace.

Focus groups are an effective method for gathering qualitative insights scattered in the universe. If you’re preparing to be a moderator, implement these tactics to make the experience worthwhile for your business and the participants.

You might find the experience better than candy.