Focus groups have a series of commonly known shortcomings that are generally accepted as a worthwhile trade-off in order to get really detailed qualitative feedback from a user group.

But the core challenge is this

  1. People don’t say what they’re thinking / feeling.
  2. People don’t make purchase decisions using executive function – they feel their way into a buy.

People can’t be trusted far, and even if they could be, they wouldn’t be able to explain what they’re feeling or how they’ll act in the future.

Use focus groups to intuit and get a feel for people. Try things and observe results. Don’t ask for the impossible.