Focus Group 🧑‍🤝‍🧑 Prompts

SUMMARY

Purpose: Focus groups help UX teams collect qualitative insights by facilitating structured group discussions around user attitudes, preferences, and behaviours.

Design Thinking Phase: Empathise

Time: 45–60 min session + 1–2 hours analysis

Difficulty: ⭐⭐

When to use:When you need rapid collective feedback from multiple usersWhen refining early concepts or validating design directionsWhen uncovering social dynamics or behavioural motivations

What it is

A focus group is a moderated discussion with 5–8 participants that helps UX designers explore user perceptions, emotional responses, needs, and shared experiences. It’s not a usability test — it’s exploratory and driven by conversation.

📺 Video by NNgroup. Embedded for educational reference.

Why it matters

Focus groups help product designers understand not just what users do, but how they think and feel. Hearing participants bounce ideas off each other surfaces valuable nuances — themes that surveys often miss. This method supports ideation and early validation, enabling richer empathy and more targeted solutions.

When to use

• Exploring unvalidated problem spaces or user needs
• Gathering qualitative feedback on early concepts or prototypes
• Identifying group-based attitudes toward new or existing systems

Benefits

• Rich Insights: Helps uncover user needs that aren’t visible in metrics.
• Flexibility: Works across various project types and timelines.
• User Empathy: Deepens understanding of behaviours and motivations.

How to use it

1. Define your goal: What decision does this focus group inform? Pinpoint your learning objectives and what success looks like.
2. Recruit participants: Aim for 5–8 users with shared contexts. Include diversity of thought within that niche.
3. Develop a discussion guide: Structure the session around 5–7 open-ended questions. Use themes, not scripts.
4. Choose a facilitator + notetaker: One leads, one observes. This ensures cleaner insights without missed cues.
5. Run your session: Create an open, judgment-free environment. Encourage depth over speed.
6. Debrief internally: Within 24hrs, extract key patterns, quotes, tensions, and surprises.
7. Synthesise into insights: Use affinity mapping to turn raw discussion into usable findings.

Example Output

Session Goal: Explore user trust and behavioural concerns with a new biometric authentication flow.

Finding 1: Participants expressed hesitation about face data being reused for marketing. Three of seven preferred a PIN fallback.

Finding 2: Users were confused by the dual-authentication language. Terms like “secure your face ID” caused concern rather than clarity.

Quote: “If it’s secure, why do I need to do another check?”

Design Implication: Align security language more closely with mental models. Build opt-out control into onboarding.

Common Pitfalls

• Groupthink Bias: Over-agreeing is common. Use private opinion polling to reveal contrasts.
• Overmoderation: Avoid leading questions. Let participants drive the narrative where possible.
• Neglecting Outliers: Minority responses often hold innovative seeds. Don’t discard edge-cases too quickly.

10 Design-Ready AI Prompts for Focus Group – UX/UI Edition

How These Prompts Work (C.S.I.R. Framework)

Each of the templates below follows the C.S.I.R. method — a proven structure for writing clear, effective prompts that get better results from ChatGPT, Claude, Copilot, or any other LLM.

C.S.I.R. stands for:

• Context: Who you are and the UX situation you're working in
• Specific Info: Key design inputs, tasks, or constraints the AI should consider
• Intent: What you want the AI to help you achieve
• Response Format: The structure or format you want the AI to return (e.g. checklist, table, journey map)

Level up your career with smarter AI prompts.Get templates used by UX leaders — no guesswork, just results.Design faster, research smarter, and ship with confidence.First one’s free. Unlock all 10 by becoming a member.

Prompt Template 1: “Design a Focus Group Discussion Guide:”

Design a Focus Group Discussion Guide:

Context: You are a Senior UX Researcher preparing to conduct a focus group on [user interaction] with a [new product feature or digital experience].  
Specific Info: The target participants are [persona or user type], and the focus is on [usability, trust, motivations, etc.].  
Intent: Create a conversational guide with opening, probing, and wrap-up questions to lead a 60-minute discussion.  
Response Format: Return a numbered list of questions grouped by intro, core, and conclusion. Include one probing technique per section.

If the feature's purpose or audience is unclear, ask clarifying questions before generating questions.  
Then, suggest 1 provocative question to spark unexpected insights.