Recently, Testpoint selected the participants in a market research of great interest both for the topic and for the methodology used: some online focus groups in which both scooter dealers and regular users of these means of transport participated. The goal? Define the characteristics of the scooter of the future!
The online Focus Group: a very useful methodology
We have already discussed on other occasions about the focus group and how it is carried out: a group of 8-10 people, appropriately selected to meet a specific target, are invited to a “central location“, that is, a facility specially designed for market research, often equipped with a one-way mirror, and here they are guided by a moderator to discuss a certain topic.
The concept of the online Focus Group is substantially the same, with the difference that the participants do not have to physically move from their home and therefore they do not necessarily have to be all from the same city or geographical area.
This allows to have groups distributed throughout the Country (or even abroad, if required) simply because the survey takes place remotely and not in person.
Of course, to carry out an online Focus Group, it is necessary to have the appropriate technical tool, that is, a platform that supports the simultaneous connection of 6-8 people (the respondents, the moderator, the client, the simultaneous interpreter if required), and allows the moderator to talk with everyone, upload and show material, and that eventually allows to transcribe the entire discussion and print the comments that the respondents exchanged.
The scooter of the future: retailers and users have their say
In the research we want to talk about today, a large Italian company, interested in identifying unmet needs with regards to scooters and in particular expectations regarding electric scooters, wanted to hear the opinion of both retailers and users of these means of transport .
The best way to compare the opinions of a fairly large number of people spread across the country was to use the online Focus Group.
The first step, as always, was recruitment: the dealers were selected from a list provided by the client, while the users had to be owners of electric scooters (which must be demonstrated by sending a copy of the vehicle registration certificate).
Both the groups of dealers and those of users were of max. 6 people each: a link was sent to each respondent via email and they should connect using specific accounts and passwords at a set time.
Then, everything worked as in a normal in-person focus group: the moderator asked the questions, showed the material uploaded on the platform through screen sharing, asked for opinions and comments that the participants could express verbally sharing them with others or even writing them confidentially in the chat room.
What about the customer / client? The client assisted and listened from their “virtual room” from which they could also send messages to the moderator asking to further stimulate the participants to investigate certain topics. At the end of the discussion, which lasted an hour and a half, the client was able to download from the platform the transcript of everything that had been said.
The participants then received an incentive by email as a thank you for their collaboration.
Both dealers and owners of electric scooters participated with great interest in this research for the originality and convenience of the methodology that allowed them to express their opinions and collaborate in defining the characteristics of the scooter of the future without having to move from their home.
As always, we ask one of the participants to tell us about their experience. This is Marco, 28, from the province of Milan, a young graduate in architecture and a committed supporter of “green” transport, who has been using an electric scooter for some time:
“I avoid traveling by car as much as possible but public transport often requires long waits and downtime that I cannot afford. I am a committed supporter of green transport and for some time I have approached the electric scooter. This market research was really interesting for me and also the methodology chosen was a great help because I was able to connect to the time established in an extremely practical way even from the tablet. In addition, I found the idea of being able to give my contribution on a topic that is particularly dear to me, pointing out possible areas for improvement”.
An online Focus Group for the scooter of the future
