Fintech
Focus groups are a poor way to test anything you care about. So we fixed the method.
The blind spot
Making big strategic calls based on focus groups, with no way to know if the loudest voice in the room is skewing every result.
The challenge
Get cleaner, more trustworthy concept testing data to support executive decisions; the existing focus group process was vulnerable to groupthink.
What I did
Audited the existing focus group process and identified the core failure mode: group discussion was happening before individual evaluation, so louder participants were anchoring everyone else's responses
Rebuilt the methodology: structured written evaluation by each participant before any group discussion began, so the team captured genuine individual reactions first
Applied the new approach to concept testing sessions evaluating multiple product concepts for a new loyalty rewards program
Synthesized findings into a clear hierarchy of concept viability the executive team could act on directly
From the project
What changed
Cleaner data, clearer direction, a greenlighted product.
The difference wasn't subtle. When you separate individual response from group influence, you get a different read on what people actually think. Some concepts that had looked viable in the old format looked weaker with cleaner data. Others that had been dismissed by loud voices turned out to have real traction. The executives had something they hadn't had before: a result they could trust. They greenlighted the product. The individual-first approach became the team's standard practice going forward, not just a one-time fix.
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