The other day, I was invited to participate in a market research study on credit cards.
In order to qualify, I had to answer some preliminary questions about which banks I used for my checking and savings accounts, and which banks had issued my credit cards.
After answering the pre-screening questions on the phone, I was selected to participate, and offered a fee for my time.
Upon arriving at the study site, I was ushered into a room to meet with two interviewers. There were a couple of laptops, and I was told that my responses to questions would be captured by webcam so that the researchers could go back over the tapes to analyze my tone of voice and facial expressions. There was also a one-way mirror in the room, from which additional people were observing the interview.
The interviewers began by asking me what credit cards I had, and why.
This was the warm-up question, and I think they were quite taken aback when I proceeded to describe the dozen or so credit cards I carry in my wallet, and my reasons for opening each card.
Each card that I carry offers some kind of generous rewards, either miles, points or cash back, and most came with a large signup bonus.
But that was not the subject of the interview. Actually, this bank was just looking for reactions to some design changes they were considering to their website.
The rest of the interview was like a visit to the optometrist. Did I prefer screen A or screen B? Screen B or screen C, and so on, along with a discussion of what aspects of the web page I liked, and what additional information I would like to see. Curiously, the information that I was most interested in — the sign-up bonus and ongoing rewards, did not feature heavily in the mock-ups of the online information.
I don’t know how many people they were running through the same interview process, but I had the impression that there were a steady stream of visitors that day.
Any one person’s reaction is so subjective; it makes me wonder about the value of this kind of market research.
If you are interested in participating in a research study, you can sign up to do so with Engage in Depth, the outfit that contacted me. This study paid $135 for an hour interview. I previously participated in a focus group (the client was another bank) and was paid with a crisp $100 bill. The subjects are not always about financial matters. The topic may be education, politics, healthcare, e-commerce, or any type of business.
Have you participated in any focus groups? Did you find them interesting?
What was the market research company?
The company was Engage in Depth.