Focus groups
Focus groups are an ideal way for you to:
- Find out what information site visitors want (and don't want) on the website
- Discover things your website should be doing
- Gather feedback on existing ideas for your website
- Get into the minds of your site visitors
Webcredible's user research for AIRMILES more than paid for itself. Within just a few weeks we saw an increase of over 10% in travel booking volumes and an increase of 33% in customer logins to online shopping on our website.
Stephen Scott, AIRMILES (see more testimonials)
Focus groups typically happen in conjunction with other user research methods. They'll be run after user research & persona creation and before card sorting & site map creation and wireframe design & testing in the user-centered design process.
What are focus groups?
Why we're different
Webcredible does things slightly differently to (and much better than) our competitors:
- We know more than just usability and accessibility
- We're experts in what we do
- We're passionate about our work
- We don't have 'project managers'
- You'll enjoy working with us
- We believe in knowledge sharing so you'll learn a lot from us
Find out in more detail about why we're different.
A focus group involves a group of 6 to 8 participants discussing a range of topics, led by a highly experienced Webcredible moderator. The invited participants belong to the demographic groups your site visitors fall into. The output from focus groups feeds directly into future website design and strategy decisions.
The purpose of any focus group is to encourage participants to share their thoughts, feelings, attitudes and ideas on subjects relevant to your website. This kind of research gets you into the minds of your site visitors. It also makes sure your site is designed specifically around your business and its target audience.
Focus groups can also be invaluable because:
- People are able to build on each other's responses and come up with more ideas than they would in a 1-on-1 session
- Participants can act as checks-and-balances on each other (e.g. identifying factual errors or extreme views)
The focus groups usually take place in our purpose-built meeting room, complete with microphones and cameras. There's an observation room next door with a large two-way mirror between the two rooms so you can watch the focus groups live, in real time.
What you'll gain from the focus groups
The information gleaned from the focus groups will of course depend on your goals. You may, for example, wish to find out:
- How people perceive your organisation
- What kind of functionality or content your website should offer
- How people react to a particular interface or design
Whatever your goal(s) for the focus groups, Webcredible's experienced moderators will ensure the conversation remains focused on finding out the information most relevant to you.
The number of focus groups we run will depend on what you're looking to achieve, the complexity of your site / organisation and the number of different user groups visiting the website.
Final deliverables from focus groups
The final deliverables from this phase of the user-centered design process are usually:
- Live viewing of focus groups
- Invaluable insights into the way your users think
- Written report outlining the findings from the focus groups
- Presentation summarising all results and findings
What next?
Please contact us by phone on 0870 242 6095 or by e-mail at usability at webcredible.co.uk. We'll discuss your focus group and user research needs and requirements with no pushy sales pitch and no obligation to you.
Other user-centered design & usability services
- User research & persona creation
- Card sorting & site map creation
- Wireframe design & testing
- Usability testing
Read our article, Focus groups - how to run them and learn more about how to run focus groups right now!