Donna Flagg

People: A Focus Group Mystery
May 28, 2008

Something really interesting happened to me last week during my attendance at a focus group for a major financial institution. We were asked to provide feedback on the positioning of a new credit card product, for which there was an annual fee. We were given four different marketing statements to choose from.

What shocked me was that the group unanimously favored the one statement that I hated. Its overall message was one of customer appreciation.   Basically it thanked cardholders for their loyalty and offered them “access” to a new program as a reward for their “good behavior,” meaning responsible spending.  It resembled the kind of verbiage you might find in a frequent flyer program or points reward system.  It was positioned like a perk.

I thought it was misleading because at the end of the day, the company was selling something, charging for it and neglecting to point out that there was a fee, which in my opinion flew in the face of the complimentary tone and “warm, fuzzy” language. And while everyone agreed with my reasoning, that is to say that the message itself was deceiving and felt insincere, they still said it was their favorite one because it made them feel special, important and appreciated, fully acknowledging that in truth it was bull. This I found fascinating. What a lesson in human behavior. Strokes and recognition over the truth?

It will be interesting to see which statement the credit card company actually chooses to launch the brand, to say the least.

Posted by Donna Flagg on May 28, 2008 | Comments (2)