When embarking on market research, the city where you host your research is an essential part of the study design. Regional differences, the types of companies within a city demographic, and even exposure to types of market forces (such as technology) can all play into the recruiting mix. Focus groups in San Francisco are a great choice if you’re seeking product concept feedback or marketing feedback from a well-informed, tech-savvy, and highly educated demographic.
Recruiting for focus groups can be challenging – particularly when a company is seeking a niche base to get opinions on. For maximum effectiveness, focus group recruiting should pull from a wide enough sample of a demographic to ensure that it’s picking up ranges within the demographic type. If focus groups are a type of qualitative research that’s suitable for the types of questions you need answered, here are three reasons that San Francisco could be a great fit for the focus group location.
San Francisco focus groups reason #1: Plenty of educated millennials to choose from
San Francisco, and the surrounding Silicon Valley area, are a hotbed for jobs – and in particular – tech jobs that millennials are seeking out. Between 2007 and 2013 San Francisco saw a 68 percent increase in its increase of millennials – and they keep coming as the jobs keep appearing. What does this mean for focus groups in San Francisco? It’s a fantastic place to recruit from and host groups in if you’re looking for feedback from millennials. Take note: San Francisco millennials fall into a few outlier categories compared to millennials in the other parts of California and the nation: Millennials in San Francisco earn almost twice as much as those in other parts of California ($60,000/year versus $35,000/year), and a majority of them are college educated – 57 percent have Bachelor’s degrees or higher, versus 22 percent statewide.
San Francisco focus groups reason #2: Early technology adopters
San Francisco has a lot of tech jobs, but even those who may not be employed for a tech company are likely to be more tech savvy than other parts of the nation. In the city that boasts the birth of Uber, Airbnb, and Twitter, San Francisco is a bit of an experimental ground for all sorts of startup ideas, ranging from clothing rental (LeTote) to electric scooters (Gogoro). If your market research study involves a new technology product, San Francisco is a great place to host your focus groups and get feedback from a demographic that has seen it all.
San Francisco focus groups reason #3: Wide-swath of regional backgrounds
Finally, focus groups in San Francisco allow you to pull from a demographic that is likely not from California – or even the West Coast. In San Francisco, because so many people are “non-natives” you’re able to speak with people who may have very different regional backgrounds, yet call San Francisco home, giving them a broader perspective and more layered background from those who still live in their home states. Furthermore, in San Francisco, you can also recruit from a population that is foreign-born — over 35 percent of residents in the San Francisco Bay Area were born outside of the U.S.
Finally, San Francisco is a beautiful destination to travel to for focus groups
We’re slightly biased, because we’re headquartered in San Francisco, but if you have to travel for focus groups, San Francisco simply can’t be beat. From the beautiful Bay to the iconic Golden Gate Bridge, San Francisco boasts a mild climate (bring your jacket in the summer!) and has some top-notch facilities within the city to host your groups at.
