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Case study Retail & customer experience

Improving The Customer Journey

Customer Focus Groups | Customer Experience Research

A well-known UK-based fitted furniture brand approached us to conduct customer experience research through focus groups aimed at identifying improvements to their customer journey. The brand wanted to better understand how customers experienced the buying process and where improvements could be made to increase customer satisfaction and retention.

Using the client’s marketing database, we recruited 30 participants representing different stages of the customer journey. This included both current customers and abandoned customers - individuals who disengaged part-way through the buying process.

Three moderated focus groups were conducted, each lasting 90 minutes. The discussions generated rich qualitative customer insight research into customer expectations, experiences, and decision-making behaviours, providing clear direction on how the customer journey could be refined, particularly in improving process clarity while maintaining the personal experience valued by customers.

Findings were delivered to the client through a detailed executive report, alongside recordings of each focus group session.

requirement

Explore the complete buying journey with people who purchased and people who disengaged before completing an order.

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The client required in-depth customer journey research to identify opportunities for improvement across their customer experience. We recruited 30 participants from the brand’s marketing list, including both existing customers who had completed their purchase and abandoned customers who had disengaged before completing their order.

The study also required the design and moderation of three customer focus groups, each consisting of ten participants. Sessions needed to explore the full customer journey, from initial engagement with the brand through to the final purchase decision or abandonment, supporting a broader customer experience research objective.

research

Recruit from the client’s marketing database and moderate two groups of current customers and one group of abandoned customers.

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Three focus groups were formed, each consisting of ten participants. Two groups were made up of current customers who had successfully completed their purchase journey, while the third group consisted of abandoned customers.

Each session lasted 90 minutes and was fully moderated by our research team. The discussions allowed participants to explore key stages of the customer journey and reasons for completing or abandoning the purchase, generating valuable customer behaviour insights.

All sessions were recorded to ensure accuracy during the analysis stage. The focus group format encouraged open discussion and allowed participants to build on each other’s experiences, producing deeper customer insight research into attitudes, behaviours, and decision-making.

result

Identify opportunities for clearer structure and communication while preserving the personal, guided experience customers valued.

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All 30 respondents were successfully recruited and participated in the scheduled focus groups, ensuring the client received reliable and meaningful qualitative data. By managing the entire customer experience research process, from recruitment and participant screening through to moderation, analysis, and reporting, we delivered a seamless and effective research programme.

The project generated valuable customer behaviour insights into how customers experience the brand’s purchasing journey, highlighting areas where friction occurs and where customers were more likely to disengage. It also identified opportunities to introduce greater structure and clarity into the process, while maintaining the personal, guided experience that customers valued and expected.

The findings were delivered through a detailed executive report, supported by recordings of each focus group session, giving the client a clear foundation to make informed improvements to the overall customer experience and customer satisfaction research objectives.

This case study demonstrates MRFGR’s ability to gather meaningful insights into customer journeys through carefully moderated qualitative research.

By Rachael Eckersley Published

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Project at a glance

Participants
30
Focus groups
3 groups of 10
Session length
90 minutes
Deliverables
Executive report & recordings

Project detail

1. Understanding the Customer Journey

This customer journey research study was designed to provide a clear and detailed understanding of how customers interact with the brand at each stage of the buying process. The research explored the full journey, from initial awareness and engagement through to purchase completion or abandonment.

By capturing real customer experiences, the study delivered valuable customer insight research into where friction occurs, what drives progression through the journey, and what ultimately causes disengagement. This enabled a more structured view of the customer experience and highlighted key opportunities for improvement.

The fitted furniture context made it particularly useful to hear accounts of the process, rather than judge the experience only by the final purchase outcome. The brief covered both customers who reached that outcome and people who disengaged. Their accounts allowed the research to explore how expectations developed, where the process became unclear and which aspects of personal guidance customers wanted to retain.

2. Targeted Customer Recruitment

A total of 30 participants were recruited from the client’s marketing database, ensuring direct relevance to the brand and its existing customer base. The sample included both current customers and abandoned customers, providing a balanced perspective across the full journey.

This approach strengthened the overall customer experience research, ensuring insights were grounded in real interactions rather than hypothetical behaviour. It also enabled direct comparison between those who completed their purchase and those who dropped out, generating deeper customer behaviour insights into the drivers of conversion and abandonment.

Two groups brought together customers who had completed their purchase, while the third consisted of people who had abandoned the journey. Keeping these experiences visible gave the discussions a clear comparative purpose. It allowed the client to hear from people who had left the process as well as those who had stayed, avoiding a view based entirely on successful purchases.

3. Moderated Customer Focus Groups

Three structured focus groups were conducted, each consisting of ten participants and lasting 90 minutes. Sessions were fully moderated to ensure consistency while allowing for open and natural discussion.

This qualitative approach supported in-depth customer insight research, enabling participants to explore their experiences in detail, react to different stages of the journey, and build on each other’s perspectives. The group dynamic helped surface shared themes, as well as differences in expectations and experiences across participants.

Moderation gave the three sessions a common research focus while leaving room to explore the reasons behind participants' comments. Each 90-minute discussion offered time to move beyond a simple positive or negative verdict. Recordings preserved the detail for analysis and gave the client supporting material alongside the executive report, keeping recommendations connected to the experiences described in the groups.

4. Exploring Customer Attitudes and Behaviours

The discussions generated rich customer behaviour insights into how customers think, feel, and act throughout the buying process. Participants shared their expectations of the brand, their experiences of the sales journey, and the factors that influenced their decisions.

This provided a deeper understanding of customer attitudes, including what builds confidence, what creates uncertainty, and how customers respond to different touch-points. It also highlighted the emotional and practical drivers behind both purchase completion and abandonment.

Listening to completed and abandoned journeys together was valuable because similar stages can be interpreted differently by different customers. The discussion explored the meaning behind participants' decisions, not just the point at which they progressed or stopped. That qualitative depth helped the client consider how practical process issues and confidence in the experience interacted, without assuming every abandoned journey had the same cause.

5. Identifying Opportunities to Improve Customer Experience

The customer experience research identified clear opportunities to refine the customer journey, particularly around improving clarity, structure, and communication at key stages. At the same time, the findings reinforced the importance of maintaining the personal, guided experience that customers valued.

By combining these insights, the study provided a balanced view of how to enhance the journey without losing the elements that differentiate the brand.

A key consideration was how to make the process easier to understand while protecting the personal experience that customers appreciated. The research supported a considered response: clearer structure and communication could be examined alongside the guidance already working well. This helped frame improvements around actual customer expectations rather than treating a more standardised process as an improvement in itself.

6. Actionable Insights to Drive Customer Satisfaction

The study delivered actionable customer satisfaction research insights, providing the client with a clear direction on where to focus improvements. The findings created a strong foundation for enhancing the overall customer experience, reducing drop-off, and increasing customer retention.

Grounded in real customer insight research, the output supports informed decision-making across the customer journey, ensuring future improvements are aligned with genuine customer needs and expectations.

The detailed executive report brought the findings together, with session recordings available to revisit the customer accounts behind them. This gave internal teams material for discussing priorities and agreeing what to examine next. The value of the work lay in explaining experiences and identifying opportunities for change; the focus groups were not a measurement of subsequent changes in sales or retention.

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Client feedback

What clients say about MRFGR

Feedback from other MRFGR projects.

It's always a pleasure to work with MRFGR. They are a great partner who consistently recruit high calibre respondents to take part in our research projects and workshops. Always professional and very reliable.

SusanneNescafe

Over the past year, we have had the pleasure of working with MRFGR on multiple projects, and we cannot recommend them highly enough.

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Their communication throughout our engagements has been excellent, always prompt and clear, which has greatly facilitated our processes.

The team at MRFGR, although small, is exceptionally knowledgeable and dedicated. Their expertise is evident in their ability to obtain high sample sizes and deliver well-published results. What sets them apart is how easily their findings are translated into actionable insights, ensuring that we can swiftly and effectively utilise the data.

Their speed of delivery is truly impressive. We consistently receive results in good time, which is crucial for our fast-paced operations. MRFGR has proven to be an invaluable partner, and their service has consistently exceeded our expectations.

For anyone in need of reliable, efficient, and insightful research services, MRFGR comes highly recommended.

MarkHeathrow Express

MRFGR have been absolutely brilliant! The videos we have received from their respondents have been perfect - they clearly brief their people really well and you can tell from the content we receive. They give clear communication & are on hand to help at all times. We give them some crazy tight timelines and they turn things around for us so quickly and without stress - even when the respondents are coming from multiple countries.

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I highly recommend Matthew & Paul - they're fab!

OliviaConfidential Client

When I phoned Matthew at MRFGR I was in a bit of a pickle. I needed to recruit 25 consultant paediatricians for telephone interviews (with minimal incentive) across 8 countries, two of which were non-English speaking. Oh, and I needed to have recruited and completed the interviews in 12 working days. Surprisingly, Matthew wasn't taken aback by this and set about the task with enthusiasm. Even against these challenging timescales, Matthew was able to deliver all 25 consultants - a phenomenal effort.

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I was extremely happy. And, more importantly, so was my client.

SebastianNHS

MRFGR were not the cheapest firm who pitched for our work, but I am happy that I decided to go with them. I feel that their database is extensive and this combined with their excellent client service means that they offer a higher degree of reassurance and peace of mind than other recruitment agencies we have worked with in the past. When we had a problem to resolve at short notice they did this very quickly. I would happily work with them again.

RichardVodafone

Hi Stephen Both groups went very well - a key client attended the first and was very pleased. Very articulate groups, really impressed especially considering it was such a difficult recruit (recruiting Somalis). The hotel was great too, incidentally, a nice place to do groups. Many thanks for your hard work on this - hope you feel it was worthwhile!

LukeSky

MRFGR recruited four focus groups for our research across a variety of settings, including socio- economically deprived urban communities and very small rural communities. Despite the significant challenges these settings posed MRFGR ensured that all our focus groups were fully attended, and with a minimum of fuss. I would have no hesitation in recommending them for recruitment work.

MurrayNottingham University

Our organisation, the Solicitors Regulation Authority, has used MRFGR to support our recruitment requirements for focus groups and public events and we have always found their service and achievements to be excellent. They have demonstrated a commitment to meet last-minute requirements in a calm and professional manner and we would not hesitate to recommend them.

RichardSolicitors Regulation Authority

I would like to take this opportunity to express our appreciation for the work that you recently carried out for us. Stephen Essex and MRFGR were recommended to me by a colleague. It was important for us to find a company who could understand and deliver our brief on a very tight schedule. Stephen demonstrated a level of knowledge and professionalism that gave us the assurance that this would be achieved.

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The result was a report that clearly met the objectives of our brief, was presented in a professional manner, which then enabled us to present the findings to our customer with confidence. We would not hesitate to recommend or use Stephen again.

AmyFebreze

The groups in Chipping Norton went really well thank you. We had a full turn out to both of them. I would just like to say that we have been very impressed with the number of participants you have managed to recruit to these groups, your regular updates on the recruitment progress, and your follow up contact. We have also had very positive feedback from the participants about their contact with you. We will definitely consider MRFGR in future when wishing to recruit participants to similar groups.

RachaelCountrywide

We have used MRFGR to recruit participants for multiple research projects with varied samples sizes and sometimes challenging recruitment criteria. They have a calm and professional manner, providing us with regular updates in the lead up to and on the day of research projects. Multiple touch points with participants approaching the study date ensures drop-out rates are extremely low with replacements usually being found very quickly if necessary. I look forward to working with MRFGR in the future.

Theoe.on

MRFGR is the first external company we have used for sourcing focus group attendees. Although we have organised many groups previously I would definitely use MRFGR again. The costs were reasonable and the attendees we have received have been exactly the right target groups. The level of communication has been satisfactory too with regular updates leading up to each focus group. Matthew has managed all of the groups we have requested and there has been no issues. I would recommend trying MRFGR.

DougConfidential Client

Useful context

Questions about this project

Why include abandoned customers?

They could describe the stages at which they disengaged. Including them alongside current customers allowed the research to examine both purchase completion and abandonment.

How were the groups organised?

There were three groups of ten participants: two groups of current customers and one of abandoned customers. Each moderated session lasted 90 minutes.

What did the furniture brand receive?

MRFGR supplied an executive report and recordings of all three moderated groups. The report identified opportunities for clearer structure and communication while retaining the personal service customers valued.

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