DervalResearch

SLIC enables corporate brands to get qualitative feedback from Second Life residents in a friendly and cost-effective way

London – September 5^th, 2007 – Global market intelligence solutions provider GMI (Global Market Insite, Inc.), in collaboration with Amsterdam-based marketing research firm DervalResearch, today announced the launch of SLIC (Second Life Interview Corner). SLIC powered by GMI's market research software platform, provides corporate brands with a brand-new perspective on conducting one-to-one research interviews in a virtual environment.

 

With SLIC, market researchers can now poll residents of the virtual world on hot topics - in Second Life (SL) as well as in real life - such as collaborative development, customization or waiting behavior. As soon as a respondent selects a topic and sits on the related sofa, the interview starts. The sofa asks open or multiple-choice questions via the Second Life chat function, and respondents answers are recorded. SLIC is fully automated and integrated to the SL user interface.

"I've never been interviewed by a sofa before," admits Prof. Tom Novak, co-director of the Sloan Center for Internet Retailing, University of California, Riverside, USA. "But I found the SLIC interviewing process much more natural than I'd expected. For one thing, in Second Life, you become accustomed to having text chats with people, so a text chat with a sofa seems like a perfectly reasonable thing to do. There was also the visual image of seeing my avatar comfortably lying down on a plush sofa while it asked me questions. All in all, a very interesting and productive way to spend some time in Second Life. If these interviewing sofas were combined with an incentive, they could put camping chairs out of business in Second Life!"

By being available 24x7x365, SLIC offers a good geographic representativity of respondents at a competitive cost. Respondents are recruited in real life as well as in Second Life via 'word of virtual mouth' and groups. Respondents can be rewarded with Linden Dollars or a gift at the end of the interview according to their gender or preferences. Respondents are also invited to join the SLIC group/panel in order to be contacted for further surveys and interviews.

"This is one of the first examples of truly immersive surveys in Second Life, not relying on residents opening their web browser, but their avatars interacting with objects and being interviewed in-world," explains Mario Menti, solutions architect for GMI in London. "Survey experience is key - the more engaging and rewarding the survey experience is, the more likely it will be seen as an integral and useful part of the virtual world, rather than a disjointed bolt-on from the outside."

"SLIC is definitively a friendly, cost-effective and powerful tool to get feedback from residents when they are available and roaming in their virtual world," explains Prof. Diana Derval, CEO of DervalResearch and author of the book Wait Marketing. "The answers we get are trustworthier as the respondent doesn't rush to share his/her view. Not only our customers from Second Life, mainly brands specialized in entertainment, are interested in SLIC, but also real-life brands who realized that questioning consumers on the parking of a supermarket while they are busy loading their car is not the best way to go!"

SLIC can be visited at http://slurl.com/secondlife/Chaska/95/45/151 . For more information, please contact GMI at info@gmi-mr.com or DervalResearch at info@derval-research.com.

 

About GMI
GMI (Global Market Insite, Inc.) is the only provider of integrated solutions for global market intelligence for market research firms and Global 2,000 companies. Solutions include market research software, desktop analysis tools, 24x7x365 service bureau, and one of the world's largest, highly profiled, double opted-in managed panels, providing reach to millions of consumers in more than 200 countries and territories. Founded in 1999 with world headquarters in Seattle, Wash., GMI has operations on five continents. In 2007, the company ranked #229 in Inc. Magazine's Inc. 500. For more information, please visit us online at www.gmi-mr.com or email us at info@gmi-mr.com.

About DervalResearch
DervalResearch, with a strong focus on new product development and commercialization, is the marketing research firm for innovative and fast-growing companies. Operating worldwide from Amsterdam, Netherlands, the firm founded in 2006 by Diana Derval - MBA, professor of marketing, inventor and author of the book Wait Marketing - identifies and turns the latest market trends, such as wait marketing, into easy-to-implement best practice. DervalResearch helps general managers, marketers and entrepreneurs build winning sales and marketing strategies with solutions, including product and technology roadmap, positioning analysis, customer insight, marketing plan, opportunity and feasibility study, use cases, business plan, workshops and seminars. For more information, please visit www.derval-research.com or email us at info@derval-research.com.