What is FocusGroupIt?
FocusGroupIt is an easy, fast and low cost (free) way to gather qualitative feedback online. In order to make the best decisions possible, organizations should be using both quantitative (surveys) and qualitative (focus group) methods. There are many great choices available for capturing quantitative data using do-it-yourself survey platforms like SurveyMonkey, but almost no choices available for gathering qualitative feedback. Hence, FocusGroupIt was born...
Why was it created?
The idea for FocusGroupIt first emerged in 2007 when I ( Matt Foley - LinkedIN ) was approached by a business in the Rochester, NY area (where I live) to do focus group research with their customers. I looked around for an easy, low cost way to run the focus groups that would fit within the business's very limited budget, but could not find anything.
All the "professional-grade" tools I was using as a qualitative research consultant cost hundreds or thousands of dollars per group, and were overkill for the relatively simple objectives this business had. Yet at the same time I knew that running a online survey with a bunch of open-ended questions would not provide enough in-depth feedback for their needs. I decided that something needed to be done about this, so I created a simple prototype in my spare time that allowed people to collect qualitative feedback for free.
Fast forward 7 years, and that prototype had been used by thousands of people worldwide to run simple focus groups online. After the successful acquisition of my previous market research company, PluggedIN, I realized it was time to pick up where I left off and create a super easy to use, low cost platform that anyone can use to capture in-depth qualitative feedback online. Which brings us to today...
Who is behind it?
FocusGroupIt was created by Matt Foley, an entrepreneur and veteran of the market research industry with over a decade of research experience, mostly focused on qualitative research methods like in-person and online focus groups.
Prior to founding FocusGroupIt, Matt was the co-founder of PluggedIN Co., a company that built and managed private online communities for companies like T-Mobile, Dell and Kraft. PluggedIN was acquired in 2011 by Edelman, the world's largest independent PR firm.
Prior to that, Matt co-founded a user experience research firm called Customer Relevance, and was a senior qualitative consultant with Harris Interactive.