The Assorted Pleasures of Focus Groups and M&Ms

This is why focus groups should be used as a complement to instead of a replacement for standard testing techniques. The ultimate test of a direct-marketing campaign still is the tried-and-true mail strategy, which bases its results on a donor’s true actions.

If you strictly relied on focus groups to determine your strategy, you would probably suspend all of your direct-mail efforts based on the responses you receive. Even the most generous direct-mail donors will say they hate to receive direct mail. They always will say the letters are too long, even though many actually are more likely to respond to long letters.