Building Trusting Customer Relationships Leveraging customer communities for growth & insight

1. Building Trusting Customer RelationshipsLeveraging customer communities for growth & insight Leslie Forde Vice President, Strategy & Partnerships Communispace Corporation March 23, 2009

2. Erosion of trust…

3. Where are people looking for trusted info?Women’s favorite magazines (ages 25-60)

4. Where are people looking for trusted info?Men’s favorite magazines (ages 25-60)

5. Where are people looking for trusted info?Youth favorite magazines (men and women ages 18-24)

6. If these magazines went away, where would they go? “I think you’ll find that people who really, really LOVE a particular magazine will tell you there’s no other like it and they’d be lost without it, with no place else to turn. Have to hope that the ones we feel that way about will survive.” - Eileen F. “I would go to the website to find what I wanted. Every magazine that I am interested in seems to have its own web site. Decades ago I used to subscribe to over a dozen magazines.” - Thomas M “The only magazine I subscribe to is Interview, and only because it has sweet full page ads I tear out for my photo inspiration file. So really, if it shut down, I could just use the internet, which I still do, but it’s not as fun.” - Alyssa L.

7. Who do consumers trust/distrust? **Women **Men **Youth

8. Trusted information sources:Differences by age and gender Women Men Youth “I tend to skip over the positive reviews and just read the negative ones because I want to know what people don't like. I figure if someone wrote a positive review, then they liked everything about it so there's not much to read there.” - Betty H. “I trust customer and user reviews more than advertisements and product descriptions. The people aren't out to sell anything and therefore do not get paid. They (usually) provide unbiased opinions. Advertisers are in it for the money.” - Terry M. “The bottom line is that I don't just listen to the voices of the professionals. But I also don't just listen to the voices of the masses. I like to make an informed decision after carefully considering several reviews from both sides. I use this method for pretty much any important purchase.” - Benjamin M. “I no longer have much faith in books or magazine articles as I can't tell how invested the authors of such articles are in the companies of the products they are reviewing. (If the product receives a poor review the manufacturer may no longer advertise, send products etc. to the magazine or author in question.)” - William M. “I trust friends and family the most, because I know they won't lead me astray. For travel; I have a very good travel agent that always gets us the best deals at the greatest places. The other two I like the talk to friends and family and see the things they have tried as far as beauty tips go and what restaurants are good. Word of mouth is the best.” - Shanna B. “I also trust people. Friends and friends of friends are the best sources for things like this because a bar that the 50 year old travel book author thought was great isn't what I had in mind when traveling with a bunch of women in their mid 20s. Catch my drift?” - Pauline Y.

9. How can you trust and maximize listening in social media?

10. Publishing best practices: How engaging customers in conversation can help you grow New business pitches Customer insight Editorial • Prospective clients • Advertising sales • Build a relationship with your key audience • Understand the ‘whys’ behind changing media consumption • Ideas for stories, surface emerging trends • Re-energize content and design

11. Questions? Comments? • Leslie Forde • Vice President of Strategy & Partnerships • Communispace Corporation • 100 Talcott Avenue • Watertown, MA 02472 • USA • V: 617-607-1422 • F: 617-923-3446 • lforde@communispace.com • Twitter: @leslieforde • http://www.communispace.com