An Online ‘Face to Face’ Focus Group Approach for Understanding How Household Energy Use and Green Investment Decisions Differ by Personality Traits

Abstract

In a UK context, encouraging the uptake of energy efficiency measures at the household level is an ongoing challenge of ever-increasing importance. A combination of economic and psychological factors influence green investment decisions and so this study aims to determine whether online focus groups are a viable means of interacting and evaluating the effectiveness of personality tailored marketing strategies. Here, we present the learnings from over 70 synchronous online focus groups undertaken with a UK energy provider’s household customers ( N = 143) to test the effectiveness of two energy product propositions (smart thermostat and hybrid heat pump) through two channels of communication: video and discussion. The researchers examined and analysed the online engagement and focus group method, focusing on the customer feedback, appropriateness of the approach and how it works in practice, providing key learnings for further research. The approach allowed for greater interaction with a geographically and demographically diverse pool of participants, many of whom are time poor and would ordinarily be unwilling or unable to participate. In this article, we report the differences between implementing online focus groups and face-to-face focus groups and examine the difficulties and uncertainties, in particular relating to entry to sessions and drop-out rates. Online focus groups were found to be a viable, flexible and convenient method for engaging with an energy company’s current customer base in the comfort of their own home.