An online focus group is a group discussion held by video, where a moderator guides 2 to 10 participants through a topic while the client watches. On Zolensa, group discussions and one to one interviews run in the browser, on a phone or a computer, with nothing to install. Observers watch from an observation room without being seen, chat with the moderator, and the session is recorded and transcribed next to the rest of the study.
When to use online focus groups
- Exploring reactions together: ideas, concepts, ads or packs, where people build on each other.
- Following up a diary or ethnography study: bring the most interesting participants together to discuss what they recorded.
- Hard-to-reach or spread-out groups: people in several cities or countries, without travel.
- Depth interviews (IDIs): one to one conversations when the topic is personal or needs detail.
- Client immersion: let the client watch real customers live, without being in the room.
How a session runs on Zolensa
- Plan the session. Choose Interview or Group discussion, pick the participants, the date, the time in the study time zone and the length. Add a topic if you like.
- Invite people from outside. Add an external moderator, a guest from the client, or observers, each with a name and email. Each gets a personal link.
- Send the invitations. Participants get the invitation in their language by email, WhatsApp or text message, with the time in their own time zone. A reminder goes out about an hour before.
- Run the call. Participants join from 15 minutes before the start. The moderator sees everyone as a tile, can mute one person or everyone, switch the participants' chat off, or take someone out of the call.
- Use the observation room. Observers are not seen or heard by participants. They read the group chat and write to the moderators in a separate observation room chat.
- Afterwards. The recording shows everyone in a grid with names and all voices. A transcript follows, and the chat, the notes and who joined are kept with the session.
Zolensa features that help
- In the browser. No downloads for participants, moderators or observers.
- External moderators and guests. People without a Zolensa account join with a personal link. A moderator from outside has the same controls as your team.
- Hidden observers. Observers never appear in the participants' view or list of people.
- Host controls. Mute, mute everyone, chat on or off for participants, remove, full screen, and record.
- Recording that survives problems. The recording is saved in pieces during the call, so little is lost if a page closes.
- Part of the study. Transcripts of interviews and group discussions are included when you run the AI analysis for all tasks.
Plan for these
- Smaller groups work better online. Four to six people give everyone time to speak. Zolensa allows up to 10.
- Test before the start. The moderator can open the call early to check the camera and microphone.
- Brief observers. Tell observers to send questions in the observation room chat, and agree when the moderator will check it.
- Say that it is recorded. Participants see that the session is recorded, and REC shows in the call. Make sure your consent covers recording and observers.
- Keep the links personal. Anyone with a link joins as that person. Remove someone on the session page to stop their link.
