Performing market research is a great way to gather insights that will greatly impact the decisions of your business. But as with most projects, your strategy will greatly affect the outcome. Focus groups can’t be populated with just a collection of individuals; They need to be curated so that the product or concept being researched aligns with the demographic of the concept or product. Hiring a market research recruitment firm will provide this alignment more efficiently than in-house recruiting.
The quality of market research comes down to one critical factor: the people you recruit to participate.
Gaining valuable insights via product testing, branding pivots, or assessing market receptivity to a new product or idea doesn’t happen by chance.
While some market research companies will recruit focus group participants in-house, many turn to
independent recruiters to manage this process – and for good reason. There are myriad reasons why hiring a company that specializes in recruiting makes sense. It is easier and more reliable to outsource management of:
- Finding the right population
- Scheduling and rescheduling when needed
- Finding quick replacements for no-shows
- Confirmations and reminders
Focus-group recruitment is a bit like herding cats. The larger the study, the more challenging it can be. Many market researchers are trained to develop a study, work closely with clients to generate questions that will yield honest answers, and then distill all the information into a report that can then be used by marketing or strategy departments. In candid moments many market researchers will tell you they are not well-trained for recruitment, and feel their time is better spent on actual research, rather than recruitment.
This isn’t to say market researchers don’t have a hand in the recruitment process, in fact their input is crucial. Designing qualitative and quantitative studies that get to the heart of how and why people behave the way they do can’t happen without first recruiting the right people to participate in such studies.
When considering a market research recruitment firm, it is important to think of them as an integral part
of your team and not just a component of the research project to be outsourced. Not only do you want
a recruitment firm with a proven track record, you want a firm with experience recruiting diverse
populations, whether it is cultural, ethnic or geographic.
Partnering with an experienced market research recruiting firm can be the difference between a
mediocre research project or a stellar one.
Our team at Focus Insite is experienced in recruiting for a variety of industries and demographics. Our recruitment process is designed to recruit high-quality participants for your study to increase the value and success of your results. Learn more about how Focus Insite can help you by reaching out to us today!
Updated on May 19, 2023: We are committed to providing our readers with the latest information and updating our previous articles as needed. We hope that you find this updated information informative and useful. Edited by Elizabeth Zuponcic
