Customer Focus Groups FAQ

1. Why conduct Customer Focus Groups?
2. Where are Customer Focus Groups held?
3. How many people are in each Customer Focus Group?
4. How do you find the people who participate in the Customer Focus Groups?
5. Why do people participate in Customer Focus Groups?
6. Can Customer Focus Group results be considered representative?
7. Can I learn about the results of Customer Focus Groups?

1. Why conduct Customer Focus Groups?

Customer Focus Group sessions are an excellent way for us to discover the attitudes of internal Penn customers relative to a wide variety of different purchasing related topics. A primary benefit of the Customer Focus Group is that it directly involves our customers. As a result, the findings from the research will have more credibility with the participants.

Customer Focus Groups enable us to utilize the dynamics of the group to discuss topics in depth; the views of all the participants can be considered. The interaction among faculty and staff in the group is one of the most important parts of the process.

During the Focus Groups, a moderator may show stimuli to the participants, such as new products, advertising ideas, promotional concepts or new packaging. This yields first-hand, spontaneous reactions about the participants' attitudes toward the topic.

Customer Focus Groups are a dynamic research process in that the areas and nature of the questioning can change to reflect the knowledge acquired from group to group. This enables us to maximize the learning possible from the research process.

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2. Where are Customer Focus Groups held?

In most cases, the Customer Focus Groups are conducted on the Penn campus to minimize the impact on participants. Participants may be asked to attend a special meeting at an off-campus supplier location. Transportation to these locations is made available to all participants.

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3. How many people are in each Customer Focus Group?

There is no right answer for this. However, we believe that 10 to 15 people is ideal. It is felt that if a group is larger than 15, there are too many people to control and it is difficult to get meaningful interaction among the participants. If the group is smaller than 10, the opportunity for varied inputs is reduced.

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4. How do you find the people who participate in the Customer Focus Groups?

There are three principal ways we identify candidates for participation in Customer Focus Groups. One is to use lists of contacts that supplier representatives provide us with. Normally this approach is used when the participants are very difficult to find due to unique requirements.

The second way to recruit is to use the BEN Buys users list. These are individuals who have access to the BEN Buys Purchasing System who have a need to purchase the products or services discussed in an upcoming Customer Focus Group session.

The third, and least desirable way, is to advertise for participants through our web site. This is generally used only when the other two methods are unable to locate sufficient numbers of qualified participants.

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5. Why do people participate in Customer Focus Groups?

Many people attend Customer Focus Groups because they like to give their opinions about various topics. They find it interesting meeting and chatting with their peers about subjects of interest.

Another reason people attend Customer Focus Groups is to learn about the purchasing related topic being discussed. Often, Customer Focus Groups can be very helpful to people who are seeking additional information about a subject. They can talk with others about various aspects of the subject, gathering much useful information.

Many faculty and staff attend Customer Focus Groups to help them keep up with new developments in their field. These groups will address topics that represent new products or services which will be introduced in the future.

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6. Can Customer Focus Group results be considered representative?

The objective of Customer Focus Group research is to generate qualitative and not quantitative data. Therefore, while we try and obtain the best and most representative sample possible, it is not absolutely necessary in order to gather useful information. Customer Focus Groups tend to concentrate on macro rather than micro issues, and one does not need statistical accuracy to gather extremely useful information in this context.

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7. Can I learn about the results of Customer Focus Groups?

We will post the results of each Customer Focus Group session on our web site, along with an "Action List" generated from session participants' feedback.

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