I have often thought it would be cool to participate in a focus group - providing my feedback on Tide with Sulfuric Acid, Coca-Cola Cough Syrup, World’s Wildest Wombat Wrescues VI, or whatever.
How do companies find people to participate in these things? They can’t just pick people randomly from all over the country and fly them to corporate HQ - but at the same time, they probably want more variety than just picking whoever happens to be walking by their front door after lunch.
Is there anything I can do to increase my chances of being selected for one of these things?
Visit websites of those companies whose products interest you the most. Some do have links to participate in such surveys, but many do not pay well, if at all. You might get some complementary products or coupons for your trouble. If your favorite company’s website has no such link, email them a well-worded proposal describing what you want to do for them and how they will benefit from it. DO NOT TALK MONEY…this is just a first date. Also, don’t expect too much in compensation. And, yes, they can always steal your idea and not elect to use your services.
A common procedure is to use market researchers to find such people.
There’s a list of market research organisations actively seeking participants here. The Marketing Research Association website also provides a link which allows you to search for member companies in your area. Another researcher Focus Room supplies an application form you can fill in to join its database.
The drawback of this route to focus group participation is that you don’t know what you will be focusing on, if anything, when you register with market researchers. When they are looking to perform a particular study they may contact you to establish whether or not you meet the desired criteria for that study, but selection for any group is by no means a given.
Whether or not you can contact a company direct, e.g. Tide (Sulfuric Acid Products Division), begging to test their corrosiveness on your underwear, I simply do not know.
I am signed up with two or three places and get called about once or twice a month. I end up doing on about every 2 months. They pay anywhere from $35 to $150 an hour. Usually it’s $50-$75/hour. What you need to do is sign up with a market-research group that conducts the groups. Focus Point is one; Focus Forward is another. A legit organization will NEVER require you to pay any kind of fee to “join.” They take your stats (age, marital status, income, location, own/rent home, job type, areas of expertise, etc.) and put you in a database and then when they have a study, e.g., on organic dairy products for which they need women, aged 30-42, income at least $75,000/year, no children in the home, they call you and see if you fit the further parameters. If you do and you sound like a likely candidate, you are in.
People who are not comfortable talking in a group, or who are inarticulate, or who are afraid to offer a differing opinion, or who do not want to be filmed or observed through a two-way mirror, are not going to be suitable, and may even be asked to leave during the session. But they will still pay you (but never have you back, of course).
Companies conduct focus groups all over the country. It’s rarely the actual corporation who does it. They hire it out. Those companies conduct the study and forward the data.
You can’t make a living off this because you can’t do too many in a certain time period, and the market-research groups share data on who has participated already.
Maybe you’re thinking only of online surveys or questionnaires and not focus groups? For actual in-person focus groups, I’ve never seen one in 5 years that pays less than $35 an hour. I’ve never seen an actual focus group for “products only.” They’d be laughed out of the room, at least in this area (Boston).