Interview, of sorts

Last night I lost my "focus group virginity" at a bland office park in Waltham, MA. Lured by the promise of an honorarium and some snacks, I spent a few hours in a focus group for Constant Contact, the e-mail marketing company whose software I've been using for years. The snacks were pathetic - half-sandwiches of pale coldcuts and tired tunafish with shreds of iceberg lettuce slumped over the sides. I passed on the food and had a soda, and before long a few of us were chatting and commiserating over some of our technical difficulties with the product while waiting for the focus group to officially begin.

We were escorted into a bland but heavily miked conference room with a one-way mirror. There were nearly a dozen of us users, including academics, event planners, a church board member, and retailers. Several of us naively thought that Constant Contact was paying us each $125 so that they could get our input on how to improve their basic product, which allows one to create customized electronic newsletters, announcements invitations. But it quickly became clear that we had been invited for another reason, which was to give feedback on a proposed change in the user interface and other add-ons. The game then became how to respond to the questions in such a way that would also allow us to deliver feedback on the current product which has more features - and bugs - than its predecessor. The facilitator, an independent marketing professional with bleached highlights, pink nails and a poker face, did her best to keep the conversation on track. And a few of us in the room did our best to reiterate our basic concerns and suggestions, hoping that one of the many microphones would record our comments.

As a fan of Constant Contact and someone who has been monitoring their stock price ever since they went public a few months ago, I was a bit disappointed that the company is considering making mostly cosmetic changes to the user experience, rather than enhancing and deepening the functionality of its current product to keep pace with the increasingly sophisticated needs of its long-time customers. At the end of the evening, I was happy to receive my pink envelope of cash and decided to invest it in something other than their stock. At least for now.