Organizations today have numerous options for acquiring customer insights, from social listening to voice of customer research to customer advisory boards. Given the proliferation of research online and the growing interest in the use of artificial intelligence (AI) for gauging preferences, we wanted to respond to a question posed in a recent discussion on the topic of research: Is there still a place for traditional focus groups? Yes, there is.

The need for customer insights continues to rise. In his INC. article, John Koetsier, VP of Insights at Singular, found after talking with 200 CMOs that over a third said their biggest priority is to “unearth insights.” A great deal of this research is being conducted virtually – according to Statista, over 50 percent of market research today is conducted online.

Before delving into focus groups, a quick disclaimer. We believe in-person interaction is still the best way to secure answers to questions that try to understand why and how – Why did you choose this platform? Why are you loyal? Why would you switch? How would you describe your experience? How would you evaluate this provider? How does this capability help you succeed? Why do you prefer this approach? and so on – questions that probe the customer experience to find answers about what they bought or didn’t, why, where it is used, how, and when.

Questions like these are excellent for individual interviews, which take a long time and are expensive, but focus groups are also well-suited to gather this information. One of the benefits of focus groups is that it enables you to collect data through group interactions. Commonality of experience is an essential characteristic for participant selection – you want to recruit your participants with a certain degree of homogeneity so they are able to participate in a focused and lively discussion of the topics you want to understand more about.

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Ensure Your Focus Groups Will Yield the Best Results

Focus groups serve as a vehicle to collect qualitative in-depth customer insights. They enable you to explore and identify individual attitudes and behaviors as well as trends among the group. In addition, a group discussion often sparks ideas and insights. There are six situations for which focus groups are ideally suited and will yield the best results:

When you want to delve into complex processes, such as the customer buying journey
When you want to uncover what influences buying behavior, including switching
When you want to test new products or reactions to something, you want people to see and touch
When you want to explore the why behind satisfaction
When you want to dig into brand and service quality perception
When you want participants to come up with their own solutions to address a problem or scenario

In our experience, focus groups are the only way to address number six on this list. With customers being more in the driver’s seat than ever, there’s tremendous value in co-creation.

Know What You Need to Know

To yield the best results from any research, the best place to start is with the question you want to answer. When conducting a focus group, come prepared and avoid shooting from the hip. The process matters, and it helps to leverage experts. In 1987, Alfred Goldman and Susan McDonald published The Group Depth Interview: Principles and Practice, the first focus group textbook. Since then, a variety of useful books have been published. Some we recommend include (in alphabetical order by author):

The Handbook for Focus Group Research, 2nd Edition, by Thomas L. Greenbaum
Focus Groups: A Practical Guide for Applied Research, 5th Edition, by Richard A. Krueger and Mary Anne Casey
Focus Groups as Qualitative Research, 2nd Edition, (Qualitative Research Methods Series 16) by David Morgan

If you have other sources to recommend, please share them in the comments!

Online research methods, including online focus groups, have merit and will continue to grow as preferred research methods because of accessibility, versatility, and cost. However, face-to-face, live group discussions provide a method to physically observe the reactions of respondents in your target market. If you’re looking to understand how people experience your product or services and the motivations behind their decisions, focus groups remain one of your best research methods. Not sure how to get started on how to use focus groups for your next customer or market research effort? Let’s set up a time to talk and see how we can help.

FAQ:

(written by Penn of Sintra.ai)

Q1: With social listening, VoC research, advisory boards, and AI-based tools available, is there still a place for traditional focus groups?
A1: Yes. The demand for customer insights continues to rise, and focus groups remain a highly effective method for gathering qualitative, in-depth insights—especially when you need to understand why and how customers think, decide, and behave.

Q2: What types of questions are focus groups particularly good at answering?
A2: Questions that probe motivations, decision drivers, and lived experience—such as why customers chose a solution, why they are loyal, why they would switch, how they describe their experience, how they evaluate providers, and what capabilities help them succeed.

Q3: Why do you believe in-person interaction still matters for insight quality?
A3: Because face-to-face, live group discussions allow you to observe reactions, nuance, and group dynamics in real time. This is especially valuable when exploring complex experiences and motivations that are difficult to capture through surveys or purely digital signals.

Q4: What is the primary value of focus groups compared to one-on-one interviews?
A4: Focus groups generate insights through group interaction. While individual interviews are powerful, they are time-intensive and expensive. Focus groups enable you to explore attitudes and behaviors while also surfacing trends, shared language, and new ideas sparked by discussion.

Q5: What is the key to recruiting the right focus group participants?
A5: Commonality of experience. You want a degree of homogeneity so participants can engage in a focused, lively discussion relevant to the topic—rather than spending the session reconciling fundamentally different contexts.

Q6: In what six situations are focus groups ideally suited and most likely to yield strong results?
A6:

When you want to explore complex processes (for example, the buying journey)
When you want to uncover what influences buying behavior, including switching
When you want to test reactions to new products or concepts—especially when people need to see/touch/experience something
When you want to explore the “why” behind satisfaction
When you want to dig into brand and service quality perceptions
When you want participants to generate their own solutions to a problem or scenario (co-creation)

Q7: Why are focus groups uniquely valuable for co-creation?
A7: Because group discussion enables participants to build on each other’s ideas, challenge assumptions, and propose solutions collaboratively. In practice, this makes focus groups one of the most effective methods for generating customer-driven solutions—particularly in markets where customers have increasing control over the buying process.

Q8: What is the best way to ensure a focus group produces decision-grade insights?
A8: Start with the question you need to answer, design the discussion guide intentionally, and avoid improvisation. The process matters, and leveraging experienced moderators and proven practices increases the likelihood of actionable, reliable outcomes.