Mieux Communiquer, Mieux Vendre

Survey TechniquesIn Virtual Environments: Conducting Sofas And Virtual Face-to-face Interviews in Second Life

Prof. Diana Derval, MBA, DervalResearchMario Menti, GMI (Global Market Insite) Inc.

June 11, 2008 IIR Chicago

Online Communities Users

Facebook: 26 M

Second Life: 12 M

LinkedIn: 10 M

A Mass Media Targeted by Affinity

Second Life, a Social Environment

User-generated content

Wide range of roles

Variety of motivations

Open technical platform

Towards 3D Internet or Metaverse

Second Life is a social environment not a game!

Second Life, a Thriving Economy

Second Life is a thriving economy with parallels to the commercial web 1995

13.7 million residents

Own currency: L$, Linden dollar

1.5 million US$ spent per day

57,000 profitable businesses

Major brands

Source: Linden Lab, Reuters

Second Life, a Research Lab

Early adopters

Participative users

Co-creation

Immersive research

Mixed quali- quanti

Modelling - data
visualization

Market simulation

Examples

SLIC: Second Life Interview Corner:

Interview sofas on a number of topics. When avatar sits on a sofa, the sofa starts asking survey questions and listens for avatars responses.

Interviewer bots:

Automated, computer-controlled avatars that can walk up to and interact with respondents, including ability to conduct a survey.

Live from Second Life

InteractiveWhat is Your Favorite Beverage?

InteractiveWhat is Your Favorite Activity?

Second Life, the Perfect Moment

Consumers are twice as receptive to communications while they are waiting

See Wait Marketing approach

Right context

Congruent media

Affinity with brand

Targeting is not enough!

SLIC, a Virtual Sofa

Immersive and engaging interview

Open and one-to-one chat

Available 365x7x24 for residents

171 respondents

2,000 answers

10 Personas

Top 10 Online Personas

#1 Business Man

#2 Student

#3 Designer

#4 Technician

#5 Waitress

#6 Developer

#7 Professor

#8 Housewife

#9 Social Worker

#10 Disabled

Persona #1

Persona #2

Persona #3

Persona #4

Persona #5

Persona #6

Persona #7

Persona #8

Persona #9

Persona #10

Top 10 Online Personas

TechnologyCuriousClothesDesignHomeDecorationPatientSocialNetworksCreationNewProducts

Marketing in or via Second Life?

Target?Congruent?Feasibility?

YesNo

Yes

Yes

Stop

NoNo

What Benefits Which Brands

Designing a new productValidating a prototypeBeta-testing a productTechnology/ElectronicsFast-Moving Consumer GoodsFashion/LuxuryCarsHome Decoration

Prof. Diana Derval, MBATel +31 61 824 0803diana.derval@derval-research.com
www.derval-research.com

Thanks for your attention!

Mario Menti
Tel: +44 20 8767 9352
mmenti@gmi-mr.com http://blog.msurveys.com