The Problems with Focus Groups

Focus groups can struggle with accurately predicting consumer behavior and preferences as they set up artificial scenarios. The (in)famous Pepsi challenge is a great example. In blind tests consumers prefer Pepsi nearly unanimously, but life isn’t a blind taste test, and when those same consumers get thirsty, Coke is still the first beverage many reach for (sorry Pepsi, we still love you).

For decades the assumption has been that creating sterile testing environments gives the cleanest, most accurate consumer data. But as a consumer brand, you don’t care about what a consumer thinks of your product in a vacuum. You care about how the product fits a consumer’s lifestyle, how it meets their real-world needs, and how they can become loyal to your brand. And focus groups don’t really do a great job of that (to say nothing of their cost and the length of time it takes to set them up).

The Problems with Consumer Surveys

Consumer surveys are closer to fixing this problem. They allow consumers to interact with a product in their daily lives and give their thoughts in a real world context. However, surveys struggle with different quality issues.

First, survey data is generally limited to multiple choice questions, which inherently lacks depth and pushes consumers into tight little boxes where their nuanced experiences are lost. And the way these questions are constructed directly impacts the validity of the results. Poorly worded or leading questions ruins the data for analysts, marketers, product leaders, and everyone else trying to make decisions based on what consumers want.

So what about Product Reviews?

Product reviews are real feedback from real consumers who chose to buy your product and are telling you directly if they plan to buy your product again or recommend it to others. Nothing sterile or artificial there. But there are problems with reviews! Just looking at reviews doesn’t give you usable data. Without breaking down the qualitative feedback into quantitative data and benchmarking against competitors, you’ve just got a bunch of noise.

That's where Yogi comes in.

Yogi automatically aggregates all available reviews from across the web (including Amazon!) into one place, then uses AI to break down each review into data on how that consumer feels about each granular feature, attribute, and theme mentioned. With a full suite of data visualization tools, generative AI data summaries, and competitive benchmarking, Yogi is the consumer insights super power.