Focus groups & user research

Focus groups & user research are typically the first stage in any user-centered design process. They're an ideal way for you to:

• Find out what information site visitors want (and don't want) on the website
• Discover things your website should be doing
• Gather feedback on existing ideas for your website
• Get into the minds of your site visitors

What are focus groups?

A focus group involves a group of 6 to 8 participants discussing a range of topics, led by a highly experienced Abstract Technology moderator. The invited participants belong to the demographic groups your site visitors fall into. The output from focus groups feeds directly into all future design decisions, and forms the foundation of all website design and strategy decisions.

The purpose of any focus group is to encourage participants to share their thoughts, feelings, attitudes and ideas on subjects relevant to your website. This kind of research gets you into the minds of your site visitors. It also makes sure your site is designed specifically around your business and its target audience.

Focus groups can also be invaluable because:

• People are able to build on each other's responses and come up with more ideas than they would in a 1-on-1 session
• Participants can act as checks-and-balances on each other (e.g. identifying factual errors or extreme views)

The focus groups usually take place in our purpose-built meeting room, complete with microphones and cameras. There's an observation room next door with a large two-way mirror between the two rooms so you can watch the focus groups live, in real time.

What you'll gain from the focus groups

The information gleaned from the focus groups will of course depend on your goals. You may, for example, wish to find out:

• How people perceive your organisation
• What kind of functionality or content your website should offer
• How people react to a particular interface or design

Whatever your goal(s) for the focus groups, ATL's experienced moderators will ensure the conversation remains focused on finding out the information most relevant to you.

The number of focus groups we run will depend on what you're looking to achieve, the complexity of your site / organisation and the number of different user groups visiting the website.

Interviews

Interviews involve speaking with one participant at a time and are an excellent way of exploring issues in more detail. Each participant we interview would obviously be a member of your target audience. Working alongside you, Abstract Technology will prepare a set of top-level issues (and accompanying questions) that the interview should cover.

The main advantage of an interview is that it provides the time and privacy to explore a person's point of view in real detail. This time and privacy is particularly valuable when you:

• Need an in-depth understanding of your target audience's attitudes
• Are dealing with personal topics that people may be uncomfortable talking about openly in front of others (e.g. money and relationships)

Personas

Following on from the focus groups and interviews, Abstract Technology will next create detailed personas to demonstrate how real people will use the website. Personas are fictitious characters used to represent the needs, goals and personal characteristics of real site visitors. Scenarios describe the personas' possible use of the website.

Personas are important to establish exactly who'll be using the website and how they'll use it. They act as 'stand-ins' for real users and will be the cornerstones for guiding decisions about functionality and design throughout the user-centered design process.

Final deliverables from focus groups & user research

The final deliverables from this phase of the user-centered design process are usually:

• Live viewing of focus groups and interviews
• Invaluable insights into the way your users think
• Written report outlining the findings from the user research
• Presentation summarising all results and findings
• Detailed personas to guide all future website decisions and strategy

Interested in how it can work for you? Please contact [email protected] for more information.