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Why Should I Hire a Professional Moderator for My Focus Group?

Professional Moderator Calgary

Though it may be tempting to ask one of your own employees to moderate your focus group it really does pay to hire a professional. Here are 7 reasons you should hire a professional moderator for your next focus group.

  1. Your findings appear more credible if your study is conducted by an outside professional. This is because people know that your moderator is simply there to conduct research, and isn’t seeking a specific answer. Obviously you want your new product or service to test well, and this can make it difficult for you or your employee to remain strictly impartial.

  2. Professionals are objective, and undergo special training to ensure they can remain objective. This also means that it is easier for them to collect truly impartial data because they know how to avoid alerting the respondents about what the client finds important or what specific outcome the client is seeking.

  3. A professional is well trained, and moderates focus groups for a living. Their skills have been honed over hundreds or even thousands of previous focus groups, and are supported by a solid framework of professional workshops, programs, degrees and other training.

  4. Because your StyleLabs Focus Group Moderator is specially trained to conduct focus groups they also know how to look beyond the surface information and identify what the respondents really find important. Just because your respondents say they value “good service” doesn’t mean they all define “good service” in the same way, with some emphasizing the efficiency of the service (were helped promptly, order was correct, their transaction was processed quickly etc.) while others may emphasize the manner in which they were served (staff was friendly, made eye contact, smiled, made the effort to genuinely talk with customers, made the customer feel special etc.) This in turn gives you the accurate and valuable data you need in order to make your product or service a success.

  5. Conducting a real focus group with real moderators allows you to actually engage with the group you are targeting. You may be tempted to just call a meeting with some of your staff and ask them about your new product or service, but you have to ask yourself if they accurately represent the target demographic of your service or product. For example, if your company is staffed by mainly thirty to forty year old men but you’re trying to sell an anti-aging cream to middle aged and older women then your research will only be valuable to you if you actually conduct a focus group with middle aged and older women who are concerned about how age has changed their appearance.

  6. Professionals know how to manage group dynamics and know how to ensure a difficult respondent doesn’t distract the rest of the group by channeling that energy productively. They are also able to keep the group focused and on task so that they don’t waste valuable research time on unrelated topics.

  7. If you are conducting a focus group with your own employees they are more likely to be candid and honest when the focus group is being conducted by an outsider. By hiring a professional and conducting a professional focus group you also let your employees know that you want this done properly and really care about their thoughts and opinions.

If you are thinking of conducting a focus group call StyleLabs today. Call us at 587-880-3358 or use our contact form below.


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