rapid, reliable results Alleviate Potential Professional Respondent Impact: Proper Panel Management MRA Annual Conference June 2, 2005 Chicago

About Lightspeed Research  One of the world’s leading online market research providers  Lightspeed Research provides consistent high quality online marketing solutions to market researchers  Through our worldwide network of access panels and the application of proven global research procedures, we are able to deliver fast, accurate online research results  Access to over 18.8 m household members across 31 countries  Over 9m registered panelists Copyright © 2005 Lightspeed Online Research, Inc. All rights reserved.

Our philosophy  To deliver consistent high quality online research, through the application of 4 principles:  Online research knowledge – our people are researchers who know online research and market research  Global industry expertise – a network of local offices supported by a state-of-the-art panel platform and panels. A global operations team ensures a 24/7 workflow and the application of best practice around the world  World class operational and panel management integrity – focused on providing consistent high quality results  Superior client service – client centric, with continual client feedback and measurement through our Quality Assurance team Copyright © 2005 Lightspeed Online Research, Inc. All rights reserved.

Our panel management procedures  Panel recruiting  Multiple sources  Continuous updating and verification  Why it’s important  To remove any single source bias of either the respondent or subject matter  Provides additional reassurance of the validity of results  Panel care  Aim to respond to panelists within 24 hours  On-going panelists engagement activities  Why it’s important  Engages panelists with a sense of community  Higher response rates and lower costs  Panel management  Ongoing panel monitoring to understand behavior and response drivers (30-50% response rate in EU)  Why it’s important  Higher response rates  Feasibility of a project is known before it starts, so there are no surprises during the fieldwork Copyright © 2005 Lightspeed Online Research, Inc. All rights reserved.

Our panel management procedures  Panel business guidelines  Adherence to completed survey guidelines  Maximum 2 surveys a month and in-category survey exclusion for 3 months  Why it’s important  To maximise interest and therefore response  To avoid patterned response to surveys  Panel research process  Panelists are invited - it is not “open access”  Panelists do not know the survey content when invited - it is not self select  Why it’s important  To minimise panelists claiming something that is not true  Panel security  Panelists are issued a password - those invited are the ones who complete  Surveys can have secure images - they cannot be downloaded, printed or sent  Why it’s important  Other people cannot complete the survey  Confidential client subjects can be tested Copyright © 2005 Lightspeed Online Research, Inc. All rights reserved.

Online Panels are managed differently  There is potential to minimize professional respondents through the use of proper panel management techniques  Minimize the likelihood of selecting a professional respondent  Minimize the likelihood of selecting a potentially fraudulent respondent Copyright © 2005 Lightspeed Online Research, Inc. All rights reserved.

Test – Survey Invitations Background  Different online sample providers invite their panelists through different methods Invite mentions target population Invite mentions individual incentives if complete survey  Objective To see if the wording of invite, combined with promised individual incentive, impacts survey results Copyright © 2005 Lightspeed Online Research, Inc. All rights reserved.

Test – Survey Invitations Method  Survey on ‘Fishing’ in France  Two sets of balanced sample  Two invites written Non-targeted - no mention of survey subject Targeted - mentions the qualification criteria for survey - panelists who qualified would receive €3  Questionnaire design Awareness and usage questions included –15 Real brands / 10 Fictitious Brands Copyright © 2005 Lightspeed Online Research, Inc. All rights reserved.

Test – Survey Invitations Results Brand awareness and Usage Which of the following brands of fishing rods aware Which of the following brands of fishing rods used There is significant difference in number of ‘fake’ brands mentioned % mentionsNon-TargetedTargeted Real Brands91%79% Fake Brands9%21% % mentionsNon-TargetedTargeted Real Brands95%86% Fake Brands5%14% Copyright © 2005 Lightspeed Online Research, Inc. All rights reserved.

Test – Survey Invitations Considerations  Data seems to be included from respondents who are not part of the real survey population  Invitations should not be targeted (unless with prior knowledge of respondent profile) Copyright © 2005 Lightspeed Online Research, Inc. All rights reserved.

Questions to ask your online research provider  Is it a panel or a marketing database?  What else is it used for?  What do the panel numbers include?  What response rates does the panel give?  How is the panel recruited?  How is the panel managed?  What is the invitation process?  What are the rules for usage?  How much do they know about their panel?  Do they have multi-country experience? Copyright © 2005 Lightspeed Online Research, Inc. All rights reserved.

Contact information North America  Karen Rabinowicz, CEO North America  Europe  Andrew Cayton, Senior VP Business Development – Europe  Asia Pacific  Sejal Patel, VP Business Development – Asia Pacific  Copyright © 2005 Lightspeed Online Research, Inc. All rights reserved.