Building a Better Focus Group
10/31/19
Broadway shows use focus groups to help guide marketing decisions and identify audiences to target. There are tons of focus group companies who can source potential participants based on a set of criteria.
Unfortunately, we’ve seen the results. Focus group companies find people by having screeners ask questions of people in their database. A recent show had screeners ask what Broadway shows people are looking forward to, and most of the prospective participants had no clue what was open at the time.
So how do you populate a focus group with people who are well-informed, and not just people who say they are to collect a participation fee? Use actual Broadway ticket buyers.
The Telecharge database is composed of theatregoers and contains a wealth of info about each buyer: shows they’ve seen, gender, age, buying patterns and frequency, geography, etc. It makes it easier to find, for example, women over the age of 55 who have seen three or more shows in the last year and live in NYC or the suburbs.
Once Shubert knows your requirements or preferences, it’s easy to identify and contact candidates who meet the criteria. We send a quick email supplied by the show or agency soliciting interest. The interested customer completes a form that links back to the focus group company, and they screen from that list.
Those who attend theatre regularly have a passion for the theatre and make great focus group participants. They appreciate that we care enough to bring them in and seek their opinions, and as regular theatre attendees, their views are more informed than those who attend less frequently, if at all.
And you’ll never hear one of them call a play a “non-musical play.” True story.
For more information on The Shubert Organization, visit www.shubert.nyc.
Unfortunately, we’ve seen the results. Focus group companies find people by having screeners ask questions of people in their database. A recent show had screeners ask what Broadway shows people are looking forward to, and most of the prospective participants had no clue what was open at the time.
So how do you populate a focus group with people who are well-informed, and not just people who say they are to collect a participation fee? Use actual Broadway ticket buyers.
The Telecharge database is composed of theatregoers and contains a wealth of info about each buyer: shows they’ve seen, gender, age, buying patterns and frequency, geography, etc. It makes it easier to find, for example, women over the age of 55 who have seen three or more shows in the last year and live in NYC or the suburbs.
Once Shubert knows your requirements or preferences, it’s easy to identify and contact candidates who meet the criteria. We send a quick email supplied by the show or agency soliciting interest. The interested customer completes a form that links back to the focus group company, and they screen from that list.
Those who attend theatre regularly have a passion for the theatre and make great focus group participants. They appreciate that we care enough to bring them in and seek their opinions, and as regular theatre attendees, their views are more informed than those who attend less frequently, if at all.
And you’ll never hear one of them call a play a “non-musical play.” True story.
For more information on The Shubert Organization, visit www.shubert.nyc.
Originally published in Broadway Briefing.