October 2007 GMI Newsletter

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Welcome to the October 2007 edition of our newsletter.

GMI executives join ARF Online Research Quality Council Committees

The Advertising Research Foundation (ARF) recently launched the Online Research Quality Council (ORQC) in an effort to improve the accountability of online research, and set standards and guidelines for research suppliers and buyers alike. At the kick-off council meeting held on September 10th in New York City, GMI was one of three industry players invited to share their learnings on available techniques to improve online research quality. Six other companies also responded to the ARF's call for knowledge sharing, and submitted research findings and insights, addressing a range of measures, causes and effects relevant to online research quality.

Following the kick-off meeting, two GMI executives were appointed to actively participate in defining and improving the quality of online research as part of the ORQC.  Dan Fitzgerald, GMI's Vice President, Americas will sit on the Define Quality Committee, a body looking at the key aspects of quality that require standards and industry alignment, as well as the key business issues impacted by quality. GMI's CTO Mitch Eggers will sit on the Quality Matters Committee, tasked with uncovering the price of low quality, and how quality and its value can better be communicated to non-researchers.

The next ARF Online Research Quality Council meeting will take place on November 13th in New York City.

• View a panel integrity white paper
• GMI answers to ESOMAR's 25 questions

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GMI enhances its panel integrity

As the online market research industry continues to grow, GMI recognizes the needs of its clients to deliver high-quality and accurate market research. Over the last six months, we have made great strides in improving our panel integrity and in providing our clients with high-quality sample:

• Manual checks
  In addition to several other measures we use to block "professional survey takers", robots and duplicate accounts, we manually scan through our consumer and specialty panel databases to identify and remove suspicious accounts.
• Increased website security
  We've added or improved advanced security techniques to block unwanted visitors at the point of registration. This protects panelists and prevents suspicious members from changing their country or date of birth themselves, which compels them to provide honest answers upfront.
• Inactive panelist engagement
  Through initiatives like SurveyShuttle, which moves panelists to an open survey if they encounter a closed one, a new website and revamped profiling surveys, we're reengaging members who haven't taken a survey recently.
• Removal of old email addresses
  To improve response rates, reduce the number of emails sent and improve the deliverability of survey invites, we watch for bounce-backs and other indications that email addresses are no longer active. This in turn means we can target audiences faster and more efficiently.

• View a panel integrity white paper
• GMI answers to ESOMAR's 25 questions

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Streamline your tracking research

Our clients frequently leverage GMI software and services for tracking studies, but did you know that you can also use GMI to automate and streamline your reporting process? Tracking studies require you to update data, reports and other output that tracks performance continuously, often involving a large amount of manual effort. The process of formatting, calculating and updating reports can be slow, costly and error-ridden.

GMI has a team that specializes in automating and efficiently producing tracking study output. Effectively, our solution:

1. Streamlines data processing and report production
2. Reduces the time it takes to turn around reports to clients
3. Removes manual processes
4. Eliminates errors
5. Lets you focus on the insights derived from your data

You can go directly from raw data to finished reports in just about any layout and format, including Flash® (on the Web), Microsoft PowerPoint and Microsoft Excel. In addition, the processes put in place can also:

• Minimize the impact of changes to the survey
  Typically, even adding or deleting survey questions will not require many modifications to your dashboard and reports
• Accommodate changes to output
  Changing the layout and information displayed in the report takes little time
• Integrate multiple databases
  Reports can pull and process data from multiple data sources

• View dashboarding and reporting demos
• Request pricing and other information

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GMI African-American Panel reaches 100,000 panelists

Accounting for 13% of the U.S. population, African-Americans wield more than $761 billion USD in consumer buying power*. And according to Media Audit's Media Day Analysis (January 2006-April 2007), more than 21 million African-Americans spend an average of five hours per day online. Despite this, the African-American market is still relatively untapped by market researchers.

The GMI African-American panel gives you access to this diverse segment. Recruited, profiled and managed separately from the main GMI consumer panel, our specialty panel recently reached the 100,000 panelist mark, and it's growing rapidly. To allow for high-quality targeted research, panelists are double-opted in and profiled on a variety of attributes. We selectively recruit from sites and sources that cater specifically to African-Americans, and closely monitor the panel for straight-line clickers, speedsters and other low-quality responses.

• Request GMI African-American Panel pricing
• Download GMI African-American Panel fact sheet
• More information about GMI African-American Panel

*Selig Center for Economic Growth, Terry College of Business, University of Georgia, 2005

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GMI promotes Daniel Fitzgerald to VP, Americas

GMI is pleased to announce that Daniel S. Fitzgerald has been promoted to Vice President, Americas. Dan is responsible for overseeing all sales in North, Central and Latin America, as well as leading GMI's global account programs.

Dan initially joined GMI in April 2007 as Managing Director, leading GMI's U.S. central region and enterprise sales strategy. He brings 20 years of progressive sales and operational experience to the company within the marketing research and information services space. Most recently, he served as acting President for Election Services Corporation (ESC), a business services outsourcing firm, where he was responsible for the company's turnaround strategy and ultimate sale.

Prior to ESC, Dan spent five years bringing two start-up ventures to market: most recently, as SVP of research operations and client management for Affinnova, Inc., a Boston, MA-based advanced technology and business solutions firm, and before that, as SVP, sales and marketing for Knowledge Networks, Inc., a marketing intelligence and research firm based in Menlo Park, CA. At both firms, he joined near their official launch, and guided the sales and marketing efforts to realize considerable revenue growth.

During the 1990s, Dan was instrumental in leading and architecting META Group, Inc.'s successful sales and growth initiatives. As EVP, sales and marketing, he delivered 40% compound annual growth and $125 million in gross revenues. META was a leading provider of information technology and business research, advisory and consulting services which conducted an IPO in 1995 and was acquired by Gartner Group in 2005. During his career, Dan also held the position of EVP, corporate and strategic development, at Guideline (formerly FIND/SVP, Inc., and now owned by infoUSA).

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Downloads & News

• GMI makes Deloitte's Technology Fast 50 and Fast 500
  • Continuing to grow at a healthy rate, GMI ranks #97 on Deloitte's 2007 Fast 500, and #7 on Deloitte's Fast 50 for Washington State.
• New white paper: Online survey best practices to maximize response rates
  • From pre-marketing and effective invitations, to incentive strategies and survey design, follow our best practices to ensure high participation rates in your surveys.
• New to Net-Panel 2.0: Automated "unsubscribe" feature
  • Allow your panelists to unsubscribe themselves by sending an email with a subject line that you define! Panelists with an "unsubscribed" status will not receive emails from the system, including survey invitations, reminders, etc.

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Who's new at GMI

GMI appoints John Purrier as VP of Global Technology

Describing the opportunity to create software that will revolutionize global market research as "too good to pass up," John Purrier joins GMI as Vice President of Global Technology. Bringing more than 25 years of software development experience to the company, John is a 13-year Microsoft veteran who also founded multiple start-up technology companies.

At Microsoft, John served as Director of Development for Exchange Server, Microsoft's email messaging and collaboration software. Then as Senior Software Architect, he founded and launched MSN Mobile, delivering MSN services to wireless devices and cell phones.

During his career, John also served as Department Manager and Technical Lead at IBM, receiving their Outstanding Technical Achievement Award for his work on distributed PC operating systems. He has been a volunteer teacher to 5th grade students, teaching them the art of web design and programming. John holds a bachelor of science degree in electrical engineering from the University of Washington.

• Read press release

Other new hires include:

Craig Cogle, Senior Manager, Systems Administrator - Bellevue, USA
Mary-Ann Dawson, Collector - Bellevue, USA
Amanda Wartgow, Account Manager - Hopkins, USA

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