The document discusses using a digital town hall to engage with customers. A digital town hall allows companies to gather ongoing feedback from thousands of panelists through surveys, discussions, and forums. The presentation outlines how Cox Communications uses their digital town hall to test concepts, get timely feedback on issues, and understand changing consumer behavior. It also discusses integrating the panel with online communities to allow qualitative and quantitative research to inform each other within one environment.

1. CONNECTING WITH THE EVER CHANGING CONSUMER USING A DIGITAL TOWN HALL Richard Watkins :: Cox Communications Kris Hartvigsen :: Vision Critical

2. Presentation Outline Part I: Introduction – Digital Town Hall Part II: Examples – Cox Communications Part III: Redefining Panel Part III: Key Take Away Part III: Conclusion – Q & A

3. Introduction: Digital Town Hall

4. Digital Town Hall A digital town hall is targeted group of customers (or potentials) whom you engage with and learn from over time. Typically quantitative (surveys) Two-way private feedback Topics and studies controlled by company 1,000’s or 10,000’s of panelists

5. 2006 Launch of Our Panel Cox Digital Town Hall

6. Getting it started…

7. Once they are a Resident…. They can participate in surveys…

8. Participate in discussions, forums… Once they are a Resident….

9. Get Feedback Through Newsletters… Once they are a Resident….

10. The Town Hall Provides Reporting

11. Examples: Digital Town Hall

12. Cox Communications – A Few Examples Cost Savings Over the past year and a half, we have realized the research value of several hundred thousand dollars more than the cost to maintain the Digital Town Hall.

13. Cox Communications – A Few Examples Focused Research Cox uses its Town Hall to test different concepts and narrow the pool of ideas to those with the most potential

14. Cox Communications – A Few Examples Timely Research Recently the Town Hall provided their opinion on the importance of Environmental Citizenship. The Town Hall helped the company establish the importance of this issue faster than any other research mechanism.

15. Cox Communications – A Few Examples Rapid Research The company faced a competitive threat in which an answer was needed for a Senior Level Management meeting the next morning. Less than 18 hours after the initial discussion Cox had the answer.

16. Cox Communications – A Few Examples The Evolving Consumer By using the Digital Town Hall, Cox was able to determine that the incidence of a new cable application would not yet support quantitative research.

17. Keys to Success Corporate wide commitment Prepare for ongoing maintenance React to both positive and negative feedback Qualitative benefits need to drive panelist participation

18. Potential Challenges Do not over communicate Bring legal in early Keep the panel fresh – panelists, topics & incentives Manage loyal bias Communicate internally

19. Redefining Panel: Integrate Panel & Community

20. Invitation only, private environments Company sponsored and/or owned by the client Category specific Exclusive, or at least foster a sense of insider exclusivity Well profiled, with participants having been pre-screened Multi-media capable (photos, video etc.) Community (qual) Panel (quant) Integration of Panel & Community

21. Quantitative Panel with 10,000 panelists Breakout Communities of 300, still part of the panel Interact with your target segments through quantitative surveys Invite panelists to additionally participate in ongoing qualitative discussions. Seamlessly run smaller breakout groups of varying sizes. Can be both open member generated content or directed tasks. Integration of Panel & Community

22. Town Hall Time Shifting Technology Adopters Gamers Mobile Video Focused Engagement: Run Small Breakout Group(s) Integration of Panel & Community

23. Start by brainstorming ideas in your community Idea Idea Idea Idea Integration of Panel & Community

24. Take the 10 ideas that were generated in the community and go back to the broader panel with a quantitative concept sort Panel (quant) Community (qual) Integration of Panel & Community

25. Take the 3 concept sort winners from the panel and dissect them further within the community Panel (quant) Community (qual) Integration of Panel & Community

26. Can continue the cycle by going back to the community to brainstorm positioning and next stage ideas of winning concept Panel (quant) Community (qual) Integration of Panel & Community

27. Custom Panels and Communities play well together Inform your quant. with your qual. inside one environment Run forums for as long as makes sense (weeks/months/years) Many ways to build communities (open house vs. VIP) Many techniques and tasks: surveys, quick polls, discussion forums, blogs, photo galleries, rich media exercises Target very specific groups (teens who like gadgets, live in the Northeast, didn’t like your last ad campaign and had great ideas for a new product) Integration of Panel & Community

28. Redefining Panel: Introduce Rich Media Questions

29. Introduce Rich Media Questions

30. Introduce Rich Media Questions

31. Introduce Rich Media Questions

32. Introduce Rich Media Questions

33. Introduce Rich Media Questions

34. Introduce Rich Media Questions

35. Introduce Rich Media Questions More likely to take part in online surveys No change from my current participation Engagement Lift +18 pts n=1,850 n=1,755 Image: ESOMAR Paper Maximizing respondent engagement:

36. Introduce Rich Media Questions Total Canada US UK France Australia 18 to 34 yrs 35 to 54 yrs 55+ yrs Men Women Country Age Gender Image: ESOMAR Paper Maximizing respondent engagement: Engagement Lift

37. Introduce Rich Media Questions Fusion Flat Fusion Flat Fusion Flat Flat n = 1,850 Fusion n = 1,755 This survey was… Image: ESOMAR Paper Maximizing respondent engagement:

38. Key Take Away:

39. Why Did We Build a Digital Town Hall? “ Voice of the Customer” to drive business decisions Quick Turnaround / Rapid Research Cost Effective Be Category Specific, Very Proprietary Hypothesis Generation & Directional Validations Be Creative, Go Beyond Traditional Research Methods Fast and effective research capabilities Ability to integrate multimedia components Ongoing customer insight and improvement suggestions

40. To Sum Up… Replacement for traditional research – There are studies that we would have done using traditional methods and we can now do using the Town Hall. To address issues that we likely would not have researched w/o Town Hall. For these studies we would have relied mostly on intuition. To help us spend our resources (dollars, time, questionnaire space) more wisely. The Town Hall allows us to get a quick look at rapidly changing consumers. To eliminate product concepts or ideas before conducting expensive testing via traditional measures.

41. Q & A

42. CONNECTING WITH THE EVER CHANGING CONSUMER USING A DIGITAL TOWN HALL Richard Watkins :: Cox Communications Kris Hartvigsen :: Vision Critical