The client needs proof—or at least a degree thereof—that the proposed concept will meet the required objectives and not waste money. For many the result of focus groups is the closest thing attainable to some form of fiscal comfort.

But for many an agency, an enclosed room with 12 paid individuals (who are now “experts”), a camera rolling and a research expert could not be further from the execution’s natural habitat. Further, the agency declares, this form of testing can easily dilute or kill groundbreaking concepts. I also agree.

Confused? It only gets better from here.

Focus groups, like all research methodologies, have their strengths and, therefore, their place. Groups can ascertain good ads from bad. They can isolate the delivered message as rational, emotive or both. Furthermore, they can even measure which ad is preferred over competitor ads. For different media, focus groups can test a range of hypotheses for which you will receive a reasonably accurate result.

So what can’t focus groups do? They can’t measure the change in purchase propensity of the target audience toward the product or service tested. Yes, it may be determined it’s a good ad, but how good? It’s not possible to determine. There are simply too many variables to consider that a group environment cannot strike from the equation. Particularly because each person is an individual with his own unique desires, perspectives, needs, decision-making power and history and interaction with the master brand on trial and its competitors, the variables are endless.

The solution lies in diversity. Test in as many different ways as possible and draw strengths from each. Here’s just a handful to start with:

• Use focus groups but be thoughtful about what you test in that environment.
• Film vox pops for opinion and/or subjectivity.
• Run two different executions of a print ad with two different phone numbers and see which gets a higher response rate .
• Use the same strategy as above for direct mail pieces on ten percent of your market before rolling out to the rest.
• If running a retail or direct-response ad, run it in an isolated economy such as a local town before going national.
• Assign tasks relating to information gathering from an Internet site and watch the user navigate his way through the site determining best practice Internet architecture.
• Become a mystery shopper.
• Gather feedback from your sales staff regularly. It’s guaranteed there will be trends in consumer behavior, the questions asked and the cognitive processes prior to purchase.
• Give sales staff different script guidelines and see which entices the most customers.
• Establish a sample booth in a supermarket. Give the consumer a sample of the product and ask him to choose the two most definitive adjectives from a list of five.

These are but a start. There are infinite ways to test your product or service. By employing multiple approaches, different trends will emerge and greater depth to analysis will be possible, satisfying both client and agency.