The Future Use & Strategic Direction Of Vodafone

1. The Future Use & Strategic Direction Of Vodafone.com Prepared by: Phillip Madanire Prepared for: Vodafone CMO

2. Executive Summary Vodafone.com is often the first digital contact for a wide range of stakeholders, including customers, investors and the press. Over 1 million visitors come to this site every month to engage with Vodafone in a variety of ways. Unfortunately a large percentage of these visitors leave vodafone.com, which is geared up to provide ‘Corporate Affairs information’, without any measurable interaction with our brand, products or services. This report investigates and presents a solution to this issue. Leading global companies continue to embrace .com as a cornerstone of their online channel strategies, with a strong trend towards using the landing page exclusively for early brand engagement and to facilitate global navigation of products and services. Vodafone.com presents tremendous opportunity for Vodafone in terms of driving brand engagement as well as improving conversion, and in the longer term will play a central role in the monetisation of the channel. Realising the opportunity that vodafone.com presents will be achieved in different ways in the near term and in the mid to long term. In the near term, improving vodafone.com to make information as easy to get to as possible, to present a consistent brand message and to provide a truly seamless experience to all visitors will prove beneficial in addressing current issues. In the mid to long term, evolving the site to play an integral role in maximising visitor traffic recycling as the business introduces new services and products will also need to become a focus. This report presents 5 strategies to support the goals of all Vodafone stakeholders. From these strategies a number of concrete recommendations are given, which include the establishment of a new vodafone.com hub page as well as cross site search capabilities to get all visitors to the information they are seeking more effectively and efficiently. It is also recommended that the longer term strategy for vodafone.com be developed within a broader context which considers how all Vodafone’s online assets combine to achieve the benefits that created synergy will bring.

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5. What is VF.com • Vodafone.com (VF.com) can be defined as the ‘main global landing page’.

6. What Are The Objectives/Goals For Vodafone.com ? Source: Gabriele Dangel Create Awareness Inform Choosers Source: Mike Cozens Promote the Brand Engage Customers Source: VOP

7. Currently, Valuable Traffic Is Getting Lost On VF.com. Most Visitors Leave Directly. Users Arrival Method Vodafone.com Usage Departure ? Prospects 79 % Departure VF.opco VGE Other Sponsored Links Vodafone.com 1 million visitors Per month Investors Customers 8.8% Careers, Investor Relations & Other Press 4.9% back to their search results Other What We Have Learnt*: Our current approach to VF.com is confusing visitors Most visitors to the site do not go beyond the homepage (AKA landing page) A large percentage of searches on the site is for information residing on VF.opco sites Vodafone.com is the primary source for those seeking corporate information Further key statistics can be found in the appendix *Sources: VOP Review & Analysis Of 47 Global Footprint Companies 03/08 & Virtual Surveys Limited, Satisfaction Survey, 03/08

8. + + + + + + + + + + + + + + VF Corporate Affairs Have Assessed Several Options To Immediately Address Traffic Loss Concerns*, But Have Yet To Action. a b c d *Source: Virtual Surveys Limited, Satisfaction Survey, March 2008.

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10. There Are Clear Trends In The Use Of .Com Sites By Global Companies*. Where Does Vodafone Sit ? .com circa 2002 Limited online translation of the brand Corporation centric Customer journey begins at country site Many country specific sites English centric .com 2008+ Site and brand are synonymous Visitor centric Customer engagement starts at .com Convergence of sites under .com Multi-language Today’s .com site Popular strategy circa 2002 Popular strategy circa 2005 .com strategy 2008+ * VOP Review & Analysis Of 47 Global Footprint Companies 03/08

11. Vodafone’s Approach To .Com Is Shared By Others, But Trails The Trendsetters*. Current .com site Trendsetters .com strategy 2008+ Popular strategy circa 2005 Popular strategy circa 2002 Nokia Year2002 Nokia Year2008 * VOP Review & Analysis Of 47 Global Footprint Companies 03/08

12. Through VF.com and OpCo ‘Must Have Capabilities’ Vodafone Offers A Basic Online Experience. Trendsetters Do and/or Will Offer More. VF.com + VF.opco 2008 Trendsetter 2008+ Rich Content ESales Corporate Content Advertising Corporate Content ESales Rich Comms. Tools Online Products EService Email EService Vodafone Online (VF.com + VF.opco) Today: Limited online translation of the brand on VF.com Vodafone organisation structure directly reflected in site structure Customer journey only truly begins if a customer reaches a Vodafone.opco site Many country specific sites, now with common look and feel An English language centric vodafone.com site

13. Not Only Are Trendsetters Providing An Enriched Experience, They Are Also Recycling Traffic And Achieving Synergy From Existing Assets. Vodafone 2008 Trendsetter 2008+ Traffic pc browser other devices Traffic Traffic Traffic Traffic Traffic Traffic

14. Vodafone’s Online Channel Also Needs To Evolve In Order To Deliver New & Existing Propositions Effectively In The Future. eCare opco DSL mobile devices eSales Now+ partners corporate Corp. Affairs Monetisation Brand vge Vodafone Online Channel Future State (TBD): Site and brand become synonymous ? Visitor centric ? Customer engagement starts at vodafone.com ? Convergence of sites under vodafone.com ? Multi-language ?

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16. 5 Initiatives Are Recommended To Achieve Common Goals & Address Immediate Issues. Recommendation Reasoning 1 2 3 4 5

17. Online Channel Strategic Pillars Support The Group’s Common VF.com Goals And Also Shape The Recommendations. Goals Promote the Brand Create Awareness Inform Choosers Engage Customers Increase Brand Equity Strategic Pillars Always present a consistent brand message Provide a truly seamless experience to all visitors Make getting to information as easy as possible Never Stand Still Maximise the recycling of traffic within Vodafone Recommendations 5 4 2 3 1 Implement A revised hub page as the VF.com landing page. Establish and execute SEM and SEO strategies Evolve VF.com in line with the broader online channel strategy Enhance VF.com by incorporating ensure brand objectives Align VF.com and VF.opco site designs and content

18. lower higher Immediate Business Benefit Can Be Realised By Implementing These Recommendations. 4 5 Evolve VF.com in line With The Broader Online Channel Strategy Ensure Brand Objectives Drive The Customer Experience Quick Wins 3 Establish And Execute SEM & SEO Strategies 2 Align VF.com And VF.opco Site Designs And Content Business Benefit 1 Implement A Revised Hub Page As The VF.com Landing Page lower higher Level of effort

19. 1 Implement A Revised Hub Page As The VF.com Landing Page

20. 2 Establish And Execute SEM And SEO Strategies

21. 3 Align VF.com and VF.opco Site Designs And Content

22. 4 Ensure Brand Objectives Drive The Customer Experience This is common sense. But still need to articulate how this relates to VF.com landing page actions.

23. 5 Evolve VF.com in line With The Broader Online Channel Strategy

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25. Indicative Roadmap 2009 2008 Apr. May. Jun. Jul. Aug. Sep. Oct. Nov. Dec. Jan. Feb. Mar. Apr. May. Jun. Jul. Aug 1 VF.com strategy Implement a revised hub page as the VF.com landing page 2 Establish and execute SEM and SEO strategies 3 Align VF.com and VF.opco site designs and content 4 Ensure brand objectives drive the customer experience 5 Evolve VF.com in line with the broader online channel strategy Establish broader online channel strategy

26. Key Considerations 1 2 3

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28. A Review Of 47 Global Footprint Company Global Landing Pages * VOP Review & Analysis Of 47 Global Footprint Companies 03/08

29. Statistic Vodafone.Com Hub Page The Visitors • 31,000 page views per day on hub page Who are the visitors? • 81 5 Vf customers, 10 % other network customer, 5 % investor, 5 % researcher • 76 % male, 57 % employed, 18 run own business, 5 % students Where do they come from? • 25% India, 18% UK, 7% Turkey, 6%Spain, 5% Germany, 5% US, 4% Italy, 3% Australia What are they looking for? • 80% want to be on the local site • 14% looking for price plan, 12% get help and support, 10% contact Vodafone, 5% search business products, 5% look for jobs, 3% get share information Did they find what they were looking for? • 50% looking for product and services could not find relevant information, but only 15% of people looking for corporate information had this problem (satisfaction level increases where users intend to visit the corporate site for media, IR or CR information Where do they go from here? • 79 % exit the hub via country selector to OpCo or partner sites or VGE and Sponsorship links • But 7 in 10 users on the corporate site are still looking for customer service or product information Source: Vodafone Corporate Affairs, April 2008.

30. Dotcom And Search • 60% of all visitors use search engine to come to the site • Global search sites are prefered e.g. 30% google.com, 15% google.in; 5% google.co.uk, 3% google.de, 3% google.es, 2% google.it • Search terms are 51% vodafone, 11% vodaphone, 4% www.vodafone.com, 5% vodafone india, 4% vodafone.com, 2% vodafon • Search field is the “most clicked” item on the hub page (People overlook the message that it only searches the corporate site.) • Search terms for internal search are 1. “tunes”, 2. “phones”, 3. “my vodafone”, “bill”, 4. “customer care” Source: Vodafone Corporate Affairs, April 2008.

31. Trends And Learnings 2007 v2 2005 2007 v1 Hub page, country selector was used as dominant navigation item. 49% found the right links and used main corporate site for correct purpose. Initial site (corporate site with integrated location finder). 30% found the right links and used main corporate site for correct purpose. New design, going back to corporate site with integrated location finder. 19% found the right links and used main corporate site for correct purpose. Source: Vodafone Corporate Affairs, April 2008.