Monday, April 1, 2013

Utilizing a free focus group

There is a local radio station in Vancouver that does something I've never heard another station do - ask their audience what they think about the music they are playing. Sure other stations have phone lines and email addresses that allow you to contact them and indicate whether you like the music they are playing, but nothing like what 102.7 The Peak does. 


Every week or two I will get an email from them (I signed up as one of their Peak VIP members) asking me to take part in their "Rate the Music" survey. I click a link and listen to 30 seconds of 25 songs that they are currently playing or thinking of playing and let them know if I've heard of the song, how it rates from 1-5 and whether or not I'm sick of hearing the song. This last question "Are you sick of hearing this song" is an important and very sneaky one for the station to employ. They love to be the station in Vancouver that plays music no one else does and the first to bring new, hip music to the masses. Their group of passionate listeners has grown large as they introduce bands like Mumford & Sons, Alt-J and Black Keys to people in Vancouver.

Now they have an even better chance of continuing to provide this service for their music loving fans thanks to their willingness to give people a chance to interact with them. All this group of fanatics wants is a chance to feel like they influence the music on the station they listen to regularly. The Peak gets the benefits of having an almost weekly focus group with their customers without having to do much other than hit the Send button on their email software.