Online Focus Groups

Online focus groups are one of the newest innovations in carrying out qualitative research and represent a technological breakthrough in conducting market research with difficult-to-interview groups. The adoption and popularity of e-focus groups is continuing to grow in business-to-business markets due to the many benefits they offer.

By conducting focus groups online, the discussion is captured electronically, and so there is no need for clients to wait for the sessions to be manually recorded and transcribed. In most cases, online focus groups are also more cost effective than traditional methods because they eliminate the viewing facility rental, travel and transcriber expenses.

In addition to the speed and cost effectiveness of online focus groups, other benefits include:

• Respondents and clients can participate from their own office without needing to travel to a specific venue
• Clients are able to observe the online groups and communicate with the moderator during the groups so as to influence the direction of the discussion without interrupting the session
• Geographically-dispersed or difficult-to-get-hold-of respondents whose time is limited can be brought together within one group
• Respondents are not intimidated by the presence of a video recorder or a one-way mirror and therefore tend to be more objective and straight to the point when they are not communicating face-to-face

B2B International has recently carried out online focus groups for Michelin, Air Products, BOC, Business Link and CIMA in countries including the UK, Ireland, France, Germany, Benelux, USA, Malaysia, Sri Lanka and South Africa.