Focus Groups Focus Groups ononSecond LifeSecond Life

Barcelona Conference

May 2008

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Welcome• The iAsk Center is celebrating its second year of performing

focus groups on Second Life.

• The iAsk Center on Second Life allows for the research of Second Life “residents” as well as real-life respondents who become part of the virtual world for a research study.

• The iAsk Center allows for respondents who are physically located in various countries and locations throughout the world, to interact in a secure single environment that mirrors the environment of a real life focus group facility.

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Agenda

• History

• Motivation

• Creation

• Tour

• Business Applications

• Case Studies

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WHAT IS SECOND LIFE?

• Second Life is a virtual community that currently has over 9 million registered residents. Residents are 3-D “avatars” who interact in a world with other residents. Residents come from all over the world. Currently a quarter of residents are from the US. Residents can have free accounts and explore the world. Residents who pay a monthly fee can buy and sell real estate and other goods. They can also build businesses or houses in this world. The currency is Linden dollars, which can be converted back to real dollars through banks set up in world.

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Creation of the iAsk Center

• Begun in 2006

• Center completed 2007

• Groups run weekly

• Benefits:

– International reach

– Chatting capabilities

– Demographics

– Business model

– Differentiation

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The iAsk Center

• The iAsk Center was built with the real life focus group facility in mind.

• “Mirrored Room”

• Client Observation area

• “Green” environment

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The iAsk Center (con’t.)

• A client lounge

• Company office

• Conference Room

• Secure Environment

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The iAsk Center

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How a group works

• Recruiting• Introductions / Warmup• Develop response order • Natural decorum• Reactions to session• Incentive payment• Transcripts saved

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How a group works (con’t.)

Text saved

Typing movement indicates speaker

Respondent Names Displayed

Moderator

Client Observation

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Clients react“I think it was great. What you are doing is very clever, and I

would like to tell other people about it. “

“I think this is much more effective than a regular focus group. You know, psychologists spend time teaching people how to mirror, and slow the conversation down so people really listen. This happens naturally on Second Life because of the typing. Fascinating.”

“It was awesome.”

“I want my public relations people to know what we did here and it will provide visibility for both of us.”

“Why aren’t more companies doing this?”

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Applications• Not only for focus groups, but for

– Training and meeting purposes.

– Ad hoc groups, task force meetings and panel discussions.

– Meetings that can be facilitated by our staff or done on their own.

– Applications for showing advertisements, film trailers, corporate videos and training efforts.

– GEM Research Solutions internal business meetings with moderators, transcriptionists and report writers while traveling

– Meetings with clients and prospects worldwide

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PR, Visibility, Differentiation

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Case Study One : Restaurant of the Future

Objectives:• Our client is a leading restaurant in a major US city.

• They were presented with an opportunity to expand their presence and create an entirely new and unique dining experience and environment. They were essentially looking to create the Restaurant of the Future.

• They fantasized about the ability to ask people throughout the world what they would envision as the Restaurant of the Future. An international ideation session was what they dreamed of.

• We recruited respondents from food groups throughout Second Life and conducted groups in which we gathered ideas and concepts from respondents all over the world.

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Case Study One : Restaurant of the Future (con’t.)

Results:

• A laundry list of ideas and concepts that were passed on to consultants who then distilled the list to a manageable level.

• Used as the foundation for real life focus groups in various cities that were under consideration by the restaurant chain.

• Create and conduct quantitative surveys with diners in those cities.

• Highlighting these research efforts that they undertook to create this new concept. This will underscore the uniqueness and “hipness” of the restaurant, as well as providing PR for both of us.

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Case Study Two : Gardening Products

Objectives:• Faced with a situation that required them to respond quickly to changes in

their packaging. • Not only direction on what was ‘good or bad’ but needed qualitative

feedback on language and nomenclature used on the packaging. • They wanted it to be done in the most cost effective manner possible

because they are a small growing company.

Results:• Recruited respondents from various gardening groups in Second Life. • These groups were conducted quickly and provided enough qualitative

feedback and learning to create a quantitative online survey that was targeted to customers and potential purchasers of their product.

• These results allowed them to make changes to their labels in a timely manner, thereby responding effectively to the challenges of the situation.

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The Future

• Focus groups on Second Life will not replace real life focus groups, at least not in the near future.

• The virtual community extends the online bulletin board and other online technologies.

• The avatar requires more interaction and forces the respondent to be more engaged compared to other current online methods.

• Real life focus group facilities with facilities on virtual communities.

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