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Focus groups:
By Tom Martin
Immediate Past PresidentI’ve always wanted to pull together a focus group of readers, but in my 14 years as editor of four different newspapers I’ve not made the time.
First, I’d have to search for the right people (volunteers), and then I’d have to meet with them regularly. Scheduling meetings for a group of 12 or more people would be a challenge, plus someone would have to take notes.
But finally, I’ve found a focus group that fits into my schedule. I never see the group, but I hear from them as often as I want. I began an e-mail focus group in February and have reaped reader opinion with little effort. That’s my kind of focus group.
During my first 16 months at The Register-Mail in Galesburg, I asked readers many questions through a weekly Editor’s Notebook. Some of the questions were general: What’s missing from The Register-Mail? Others were more specific: Should the newspaper publish only one letter to the editor per writer during a 30-day period?
Many readers responded via e-mail, so I began saving their addresses. I also saved addresses of those who complimented and criticized the newspaper. In January, I sent out an e-mail to about 70 of these people, asking if they wanted to participate in an e-mail focus group. About 25 said they would. I removed all other addresses from the list.
I’ve asked only a couple of questions so far, but the percentage of response has been about 80 percent and the responses have been quick, from a couple of minutes to a couple of days. And the comments are valuable.
We are considering a nameplate change with our coming redesign. The city’s name, Galesburg, was removed from the nameplate in the 1970s with the idea that keeping Galesburg with Register-Mail alienates those living outside the city. I asked the focus group and found most of them, even those from outside the city, consider The Register-Mail the Galesburg newspaper and many thought Galesburg was still in the name. A strong majority suggests we put Galesburg back in the name. I printed excerpts from their responses so all our readers could be a part of the discussion. I also invited readers to join the e-mail focus group and about eight more people have.
I plan to bounce many of our redesign proposals off the group as well as getting its take on how we handle particular stories. I also plan to ask them to help us find sources to tell stories. For instance, if a tornado kills 150 people in downstate Illinois, I might ask the group for names and phone numbers of people from our area living in the affected area. It should work for local stories as well. If the city is raising its water rates I could ask the focus group members if they know anyone on a fixed income who will have difficulty paying more for water.
Of course, I don’t know how well this group represents our readers in terms of age, race and region, but they are readers and they care about the newspaper. It makes sense to listen to them, especially when it’s this easy. It takes seconds to send out the question and another a few minutes copying and pasting their responses into my Editor’s Notebook.
An e-mail focus group is truly low maintenance.
Tom Martin is editor of The Register-Mail newspaper in Galesburg. Contact him at tmartin@register-mail.com.