Focus Group Interview (Market Research)

Summary
[Purpose]:
Collect and analyze the Voice of the Customer (VOC) from domestic consumers to better understand their needs and preferences
[Result]:
Action plan based on the interviews was set-up
[Contribtion & Role]:
Project Manager from end to end

Situation

As a customer-centric organization, there was a need to collect and analyze the Voice of the Customer (VOC) from domestic consumers to better understand their needs and preferences.

Task

Planning and executing Focus Group Interviews (FGIs) to gather in-depth customer insights.

Action

FGIs were conducted to collect extensive user feedback on UI/UX and product offerings, enabling targeted enhancements.

Result

Action plan based on the interviews was set-up

Feedback

The necessity for more detailed planning and objective setting was realized, specifically:
Conducting research centered around Usability Testing (UT), In-Depth Interviews (IDI), and Surveys to gather comprehensive insights.
Performing preliminary research such as customer definition (persona & journey mapping) and establishing customer metrics.
Extracting customer VOC to deliver actionable items and ensure the customer's voice is heard.
A more detailed schedule proposal was recognized as essential, involving steps like project initiation, aligning on the planning intent (project purpose/meaning, goals, etc.), pre-analysis (reference and benchmarking), consulting (research requirements discussion, research methodology setup), research execution (identifying pain points, hurdles, barriers, and usability issues), result analysis (quantitative/qualitative analysis), insight derivation (developing improvement directions and measures), and tracking research outcomes.
Recommendations for conducting tests included:
Proceeding with research remotely.
Mirroring customer phone screens for remote sessions.
Sharing session content in real-time via Google Meet to allow anyone from the product team to observe.
Summarizing each session upon completion and conducting a final wrap-up after all sessions.
Sharing recorded videos for those unable to attend.
Facilitating immediate follow-up discussions within the product team, with the research team focusing on detailed findings extraction.
Optionally omitting the report if necessary.
The ideal number of participants is guided by Nielsen Norman Group's suggestion that testing with 5 users can uncover 85% of problems, emphasizing that qualitative research aims to identify trends and solve significant issues promptly, favoring multiple, smaller-scale research sessions over fewer, larger ones.
Future strategies should include creating surveys on Google Forms with Slack integration to enable PMs, developers, and others to prioritize features and build a platform for collaboration.
The survey format should adhere to the SUPR-Q METHOD Research approach, incorporating satisfaction and four key questions on reliability, usability, and conducting open surveys with participants from Musinsa and competitors to gather comparative data.
Inquiring about past behaviors is more effective than asking about future intentions.
Usability tests should be conducted without explicit instructions, using directive pronouns ("try this, do that") to focus on usability rather than user testing, with emphasis on the think-aloud method to encourage participants to verbalize their thoughts.