Reynard vs focus groups:the decisions you never convene one for

    This is the classic alternative, and it is a real one. A focus group is a room of actual people, moderated, watching each other react. Nothing simulated reproduces that. The question is not which is better — it is which decision you are making.

    Side by side

    Structural differences only. Where a figure would be a guess, it is left out.

    Who is in the room

    Focus group
    Real recruited people, in conversation with each other
    Reynard
    Simulated agents, each reacting independently

    Group dynamics

    Focus group
    Present — people build on and push back against each other
    Reynard
    Absent by design; no agent hears another

    Lead time

    Focus group
    Recruiting, scheduling, moderating, writing up
    Reynard
    A single run

    Cost per decision

    Focus group
    High enough that you ration it
    Reynard
    A per-run price, free for the first check

    Coverage

    Focus group
    The people in that room
    Reynard
    A weighted cross-section of the market, including segments a recruiter would miss

    Surprise findings

    Focus group
    Very strong — people say things nobody scripted
    Reynard
    Limited to what the panel and your input imply

    Right for

    Focus group
    One high-stakes decision
    Reynard
    The twenty smaller decisions you would never convene a group for

    When to pick a focus group

    There are decisions where a focus group is the right tool and Reynard is not. These are those decisions.

    The decision is high stakes

    A brand repositioning, a launch you only get one shot at, a category you have never sold into. Convene the group. The cost is small next to the mistake.

    You need the unscripted thing

    The value of a focus group is often the sentence nobody planned for — an objection, a misreading, a use case you had not imagined. A simulation works from what it already knows.

    You need to observe, not read

    Hesitation, body language, the pause before someone answers. That evidence does not exist in any text output, and stakeholders who watch a session behind the glass are persuaded by it.

    What Reynard gives you

    Every run returns the same shape of output, whichever market you point it at.

    • A weighted cross-section of the market rather than whoever happened to answer — the Dutch panel is built on CBS population data plus the eight Mentality value groups, the US panel on Census Bureau data plus eight value segments.
    • An acceptance score for the idea, price or campaign you submitted, broken down per segment instead of as one average.
    • Quotes per segment: the reasoning behind the score, in the words of that group, so you can see why a segment rejects something.
    • Region and segment breakdowns, so a national 'yes' does not hide a regional 'no'.
    • A downloadable report (PDF and Markdown) you can paste into a deck or a ticket.
    • A result in roughly the time it takes to read this page, at a per-run price, with a free first check and no account.

    The honest limit

    Reynard is a simulation. It is not fieldwork, it carries no statistical significance, and it cannot replace talking to a customer. Treat it as a fast, structured second opinion that tells you where to look — not as evidence.

    Keep reading

    Run the free check first

    One check costs nothing and needs no account. You see the format of the output before you decide whether it is worth paying for a full run.

    Start the free check