Focus group questions follow a shape, from easy openers to the few key questions that matter, but the hard part isn't the list, it's the room: one loud voice sets the tone and everyone else politely agrees. Every question below carries the follow-up Spoke asks when it interviews each person on their own and the answer is “yeah, same as her.”
Members want the photo check deposit and would switch for it; they split on fingerprint login, and the people who visit a branch only said so one-on-one.
An example of the line the Agent Results Brief leads with.The five stages above work for any topic. These are the key questions for the three situations people run focus groups for most. Send the set as it is, or fold your own concept into the wording.
You have a prototype, a name, a price or a pitch, and you want reactions you can act on. Ask about their routine first; the concept lands differently once you know what it would replace. More questions on product feedback.
You want to know what dealing with your company is like, from the first contact to the last. Ask about the last time, not the average; the last time has details.
Members, residents, students or participants, and a program you want to keep worth their time. Balance what to keep with what to change. More in the community survey questions.
Under every question is the follow-up Spoke asks when the first answer is vague. That second question is where the real answer usually is.
How did you first come across [product or program]?
What were you looking for at the time?
What does a normal week with [product or program] look like for you?
Which day of that week does it matter most?
What made you say yes to this conversation?
What about this topic made it worth an hour of yours?
What's your part in [topic] at home or at work?
What did that part look like this week?
When you hear [topic], what comes to mind first?
Where did that impression come from?
Think back to the last time you dealt with [topic]. What happened?
What did you do right after?
How does [topic] fit into a normal day for you?
What has to happen before you get to it?
What do you use or do for [need] right now?
What made you choose that over the other options?
What's the best experience you've had with [topic]?
What made that time different from the others?
What does a good [product or program] do for you?
When did one last do that for you?
What gets in the way when you try to [goal]?
The last time it got in the way, what did it cost you?
What have you tried for this that didn't work?
At what point did you give up on it?
How do you decide whether [topic] is worth your time or money?
What tipped the last decision you made about it?
What do people around you say about [topic]?
Which of those views do you share?
What's your first reaction to [concept]?
What about it produced that reaction?
How would [concept] fit into what you already do?
What would it replace, if anything?
What would you use it for first?
What happens today when you try to do that?
Which part would you skip on the first day?
What makes that part not for you?
What, if anything, worries you about it?
What would have to be true for that worry to go away?
How does it compare with what you use now?
On what would it have to beat what you use now?
What would make it worth paying for?
What have you paid for that solved a similar problem?
Who do you know who would want this?
What problem of theirs would it solve?
What would stop you from trying it?
Which of those would be the deal-breaker?
Of everything we've talked about, what matters most to you?
What makes that one outrank the rest?
If you had one minute with the person in charge of [topic], what would you tell them?
What would you want them to do about it?
What's the first thing you'd tell a friend who asked about [concept]?
What would you leave out?
What haven't we asked about that we should have?
What made it come to mind now?
Every person gets interviewed, not surveyed. Spoke asks, listens, and follows up on what that person actually said. Here's an example.
Read the answer, not the transcripts: themes ranked by how many people raised them, the quotes behind each, and the places where two groups disagree.
Across the group, one feature carries the concept: depositing a check by photo, which members describe as the reason they'd switch from their current app. Seeing every account on one screen came up almost as often. Members disagree on fingerprint login: people who bank mostly from their phone want it on by default, people who visit a branch want it off and said they'd keep visiting the branch for anything that matters. That second group said so one-on-one and would likely have stayed quiet in a room.
An example Agent Results Brief. The counts, themes and quotes are illustrative, not from a real survey.
In a room, the second person to speak often agrees with the first. One-on-one there's nobody to agree with, and when the answer is still “it's good” or “I'd probably use it,” Spoke asks about the last time. One example per situation:
The concept isn't the problem. Distribution is: this person buys canned coffee at gas stations before dawn and won't go anywhere else for it.
“Fine” hides a dropped callback. The second call was quick, so the fix is in the handoff, not in the people.
Attendance is holding up on friendship, not on the format. The read-aloud sessions are the ones at risk.
A focus group is good at one thing: watching people react to each other. That's also its weakness. If what you want is each person's own answer, on their own schedule, from more than a dozen people, an AI-moderated interview gets you there without a room. Spoke interviews each person on their own; it does not run a group session.
Richard Krueger's guidance on question wording holds up whether you're in a room or interviewing one at a time. More on neutral wording in interview questions.
A question that can be answered with yes or no gets a nod from the group and nothing else. Ask what, how and which.
“Why” asks people to explain themselves and they get defensive or make something up. Ask about what happened and what prompted it.
People are poor at predicting what they'll do. Take them back to an experience they had, not forward to one they imagine.
Once one person has spoken, the rest calibrate to them. Ask everyone the opening question, and when a later answer is “same,” ask for that person's own example.
What do you want to learn, and who's answering?
Drafted the spec. Should I ask each person for their first reaction to the concept before or after they tell me how they handle it today?
Open questions, sequenced from easy to hard: an opening question everyone answers, an introductory question that brings up the topic, transition questions that go deeper, the two to five key questions you came for, and an ending question such as “Of everything we discussed, what matters most to you?” Each of the questions above carries its follow-up. Avoid yes/no questions, “why” and questions about the future; the mistakes cards above show the fix.
Fewer than you think: one opening question, one or two introductory, a few transition, two to five key questions and one or two ending questions, with most of the time on the key ones. If you're interviewing people one at a time instead, pick one stage or send the whole set; the follow-ups do the rest.
Richard Krueger's five: opening (everyone answers, nothing hard), introductory (the topic in their words), transition (from general to specific), key (the questions you came for) and ending (all things considered, a summary, and “What haven't we asked?”). The list above is grouped that way.
Long enough to get through the key questions with time to follow up, usually between one and two hours. One-on-one interviews are shorter because nobody waits their turn; Spoke keeps to a time budget you set.
A focus group asks several people at once and watches them react to each other. An interview asks one person and follows up on what that person said. Use a group when the reactions between people are the point; use interviews when you want each person's own answer, or more people than fit in a room.
Krueger suggests five to ten people per group, six to eight preferred, and repeating the group several times.
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