When a crisis occurs, the worst thing you can do is “guess.” In crisis situations, time is critical, and a wrong assessment can cause additional damage. Crisis groups are ad hoc, rapid research sessions that help you quickly understand what people really think, how they react, and what they expect—before making a decision or issuing a public message.
Crisis groups are moderated discussions with carefully selected participants, organized urgently and purposefully. Unlike classic focus groups that are planned in advance, crisis groups are designed to provide answers to key “here and now” questions: what exactly is the problem, how serious is it, who is affected, what is being discussed, what is believed, and what is dismissed. In crisis situations, there is often a gap between what we perceive as the problem and what the audience sees as the problem—and it is precisely this gap that causes damage.
These groups are used in companies, institutions, and organizations when an incident occurs, a reputational hit, negative media coverage, customer dissatisfaction, protests, boycotts, service errors, or when a “story” spreads faster than official information. Sometimes the crisis is real, sometimes perceptual, but the consequences are the same if not addressed promptly.
What do crisis groups look like?
We start immediately with the goal: what must we find out today, not “next week.” Together, we define critical topics and risks, then select relevant participants for the specific situation: your users, citizens, employees, a target group, or those currently holding the strongest opinions.
The discussion is structured but flexible: we examine how participants understand the event, what they find problematic, whom they trust, what information they lack, which messages calm the situation, and which further inflame it. If necessary, we test multiple variations of explanations, statements, or responses so you know what works and what doesn’t.
Benefits of crisis groups:
- Rapid insight into real people’s reactions, without assumptions
- Understanding what triggers the crisis and what was misinterpreted
- Identification of key fears, doubts, and audience expectations
- Testing messages and responses before public appearances or statements
- Recognizing the riskiest narratives that can escalate the situation
- Concrete recommendations on how to communicate and what to avoid
- Possibility to organize multiple groups quickly (by segment)
Crisis groups are ideal when you need to make fast decisions: whether to respond, how to respond, in what tone, whom to address, and exactly what to say. They help minimize damage, restore trust, and base communication on real audience reactions rather than internal estimates or intuition.
In the end, you receive a clearly summarized report: what is the dominant impression, where the greatest risks lie, which arguments work, what calms the situation, and in what order to act. If desired, a crisis group can be organized as a one-time urgent intervention, or as a series of sessions over several days to track whether the crisis diminishes or changes form.
