The March 2010 issue of Quirk’s Marketing Research Review featured an article contributed by B2B International’s very own Matthew Harrison. In ‘Open for business’, Matt outlines many of the advantages that online focus groups can bring to the world of B2B research.

 
The article can be viewed on the Quirk’s website (registration required) or the full, original white paper can be accessed by clicking here.

With worldwide expenditure on online research predicted to almost treble over the next three years, market research specialist B2B International believes the future is rosy for most online techniques, especially focus groups.

The technological revolution of the past 15 years has led to the rapid development of online data collection methodologies. Of these, the online survey is the most established but, more recently, online focus groups have emerged, making it possible to obtain qualitative information online.

Following similar principles to Internet message boards, the online focus group differs from online surveys in that it allows every participant to see the responses of all of the other respondents and encourages them to respond to these views as well as to the initial question posed by the researcher. In addition, the researcher inserts questions as the discussion develops, in order to probe areas of particular interest, or to gain further information on new topics that participants introduce to the discussion. In this way, online focus groups enable a real-time, dynamic discussion to develop between the researcher and the respondents, just as would be the case with a face-to-face focus group.

Business-to-business market research specialist B2B International has been firmly established in the online research industry since the company’s inception in 1998 and remains one of the forerunners in e-enabled research. B2B International has recently published a comprehensive White Paper – Using Online Focus Groups As A Business-To-Business Research Technique – which gives a balanced assessment of the rationale behind using the online focus group as a research methodology.

The White Paper outlines 13 key reasons to conduct online focus groups:

• Volume of information
• Depth and quality of information
• Reflection time
• Accuracy and granularity
• Inclusiveness
• Honesty of respondents
• Better spread of respondents
• Incorporating different geographies and time zones
• Researching senior respondents
• Participation rates
• Introducing stimulae to the conversation
• Everyone has an equal say
• Client participation

In addition to highlighting the undisputed benefits, B2B International Director Matthew Harrison, author of the White Paper, shares some of the insights that B2B International has learned through the large number of online focus groups it has conducted over the last several years. According to Harrison: “Online focus groups can take place for a defined period of, say, 90 minutes, as with a face-to-face focus group but our experience shows us that online groups are more effective when spread over a period of 2 days, with respondents entering the discussion at different times to suit their convenience. This way, groups generate more considered opinion and a greater volume of information, adding real value to the research.”

However, internet focus groups are not suited to every research project and B2B International is quick to recognise the limitations. These include the fact that certain target audiences – particularly the less web-savvy – are less suited to online groups than others; respondent recruitment can be labour-intensive and expensive; and certain limitations exist with presenting physical stimulae for respondents to touch, feel or smell.

In spite of this, Harrison is optimistic about the future for online focus groups: “There are many reasons why we believe the prominence and effectiveness of online focus groups will increase, but key among them would be convenience and technology. Increasingly busy schedules coupled with the need to speak to respondents all across the world make online focus groups an ever more viable option. Secondly, there will continue to be huge advancements in the capabilities of and familiarity with technology, enabling greater numbers of respondents from all across the world to take part with increasing ease and improved effectiveness.”

To read the white paper in full, please click here.

In her latest Thursday Night Insight, Chrissie Douglas highlights the sheer pace and scale of economic change in the UK (the so called credit crunch), how this has completely changed our perceptions of things that we have always taken for granted (i.e. that our money is safe in the bank!), and the fact that market research is now perhaps more important than ever to keep in touch with what exactly is going on out there.

Let me start by telling you about my banking experience in the last six months.  After ten years of riding the property boom we sold our house and put the proceeds in the safe hands of our family bank – Royal Bank of Scotland, whilst waiting for our next dream move.  The months passed and as the property market began to decline we felt great in the knowledge that our secure pot would actually buy more as time went on.  We thought we were playing it by the book.  We’d made some money and we’d put the proceeds away safely in the bank with no risk – just as we’d always been told to do (“after all, your money is always safe in the bank”).

This all changed in October last year with news reports that British banking giant Royal Bank of Scotland was about to collapse.  The share price had fallen from over £2.50 to 40p (a fall of 84%!) in a matter of days and was on the verge of going under.  We had to move quickly.  A review of the alternatives revealed that the only 100% safe option for savings was now the Post Office (owned by the Bank of Ireland), following the Irish government’s pledge to guarantee 100% of all savings in Irish Institutions.  So the money was safe again, or so we thought.  Just after Christmas, amidst continuous press reports of financial doom and gloom, we noticed that the Irish economy was worst hit and on the verge of bankruptcy.  The promise of their 100% safety on savings was not worth the paper it was written on (they would not have the funds to back up this guarantee if bankruptcy occurred).  With the hysteria surrounding the bankruptcy of the Iceland economy and the loss of savers’ deposits in Icesave still fresh in our minds, we moved the money back to RBS where incidentally it would have been safe all along (in the meantime RBS had become 75% owned by the British government).

The point of telling this story is to highlight the rapid scale and pace of change, and that things that you had always taken for granted are not necessarily so in the current climate.  The term ‘credit crunch’ has become part of our everyday vocabulary but, until it hits you on a personal level, I don’t think you appreciate the nature of the current financial situation in the UK.  Things are changing very quickly and it is difficult to keep up.

A quick review of recent headlines highlights this point.  For example:

• The 2009 Sunday Times Rich List suffered its biggest annual fall since it was first compiled 21 years ago. 
• Unemployment is forecast to reach 3.3 million next year (possibly 5 million in the next few years!) – the highest since the early 1980s and at any time since comparable records began in the early 1970s.
• The UK has just announced its biggest budget deficit in peacetime history and the steepest downturn in the economy since the Second World War.
• Last September the Dow Jones recorded the biggest single-day point loss ever.

There are many more examples but the common theme is that economic decline seems to be on a bigger scale and is changing faster than ever before.  Nobody knows what is going on.  Nobody knows what will happen next.  All we do know is that we have to carry on and plan for the future as we have always done.

This brings me back to the topic of market research.  In this current environment it would be understandable to remove market research from your list of top priorities.  It may be hard to justify expenditure on something that may be out of date soon after completion (given the pace and scale of change, last year’s market research may already be out of date).  However, companies still need to make informed decisions on future direction.  I would argue that market research is actually now more important than ever.  What we really need is continuous customer monitoring that is cheaper and has a quick turnaround.  Luckily with the aid of new technology, market research techniques have come on leaps and bounds and now enable us to keep our nose to the ground.  For example, e-surveys, online focus groups, internet panels and bulletin boards are all providing us with the ability to keep up and keep in touch.

For more information on how B2B International can help you stay in touch, please call one of the B2B teams on +44 (0)161 440 6000 or +1 914 761 1909.

• For more information on B2B International’s internet research capabilities visit – http://www.b2binternational.com/aboutb2b/techniques/internet.php
• Using Online Focus Groups As A Business-To-Business Research Technique – A White Paper by Matthew Harrison

A recent article featured in BtoB magazine – Online market research takes off
– suggests that internet surveys combined with more traditional research methods are becoming the norm.

The article estimates that 43% of all survey research carried out last year was conducted online.  Whilst quantitative consumer research has been leading the online research charge, thanks to a much greater number of potential respondents, b-to-b research is believed to be heading in the same direction.

But it’s not just quantitative research techniques – the most widely used of which is the online survey – that are increasing in popularity.  Qualitative research techniques, such as online focus groups and online panels, are increasing in prevalence too.

B2B International Director, Matthew Harrison, was interviewed for the article.  He acknowledged that around 15% of B2B International’s overall research happens online, with particularly high usage among our Asian markets, especially Japan.

Harrison recognizes that the feasibility of online research is sometimes limited by the availability of qualified contact lists, but if such lists are available, this is a useful data collection method.  As well as faster turnaround times, there are often significant cost-savings associated with online market research.

Yet in spite of its many benefits, online research is almost always a complement to traditional research techniques.  All techniques used in the market research industry have their own distinct advantages and disadvantages.  For example, online research techniques may not allow such detailed open-ended probing as telephone research, and response rates can be lower than with other methods.

When defining the methodology of any market research project, B2B International carefully considers the research objectives, and assesses which technique – or combination of techniques – will yield the best results within a given budget.  These include, more and more frequently, a range of online techniques, but not to the exclusion of tried and tested ‘traditional’ methods.

Why not read our white paper, Using Online Focus Groups As A Business-To-Business Research Technique?