white paper about UGC moderation and quality strategy

1. White paper
How a New Quality Strategy can Boost Your
Business
- Why You Should Moderate Your User Generated Content
Online Competition is increasing. Companies are looking at new strategies in how to secure
growth and sustain success.
Find out how a Quality Strategy with Moderation of User Generated Content can boost your
business. Achieve Higher Revenue, Lower Cost, Better Brand Reputation and More Satisfied
Customers.
Introduction Typical content that is
Moderated
Online businesses that have User Generated Content (UGC) in
classified ads, user profiles, chats or community forums adopt
On Classified Sites
different policies on how to treat content on their sites.
- Duplicate listings
Some allow all content to be published and others use quality - Illegal products
rules to screen content and to take action, so called UGC - Abusive text
Moderation.
On Dating Sites
UGC Moderation can be done Pre- or Post Publishing or in Real - Nude pictures
Time. Different needs determine the right choice. Some - Sexual text
Moderation can be automated with technology, others not. - Spam & Fraud attempts
Some argue that it is not worth the cost or effort; others claim In Social Media & Forums
Moderation to be a key contributor to their company strategy to - Offensive pictures
create growth and profitability. Others say only the reduced risk - Rude & racial language
of lawsuits makes it worthwhile. - Bullying
This White Paper will guide you through the key steps you need On Gaming & Gambling Sites
to take in order to define a Quality Strategy with UGC - Abusive language
Moderation that can boost Your Business.
- Bullying
- Service complaints
“People are trying to sell their kidneys on Classified Sites. This is a crisis, says
Andries Hoitsma at Universitair Medisch Centrum”
- Algemeen Dagblad, The Netherlands
Besedo targets companies that consider security and consumer trust to be critical to their business success.
Services provided cover three main areas – Content, Safety, Customer and Operated. Since 2002 Besedo has
conducted and developed operations for clients operating in industries like Online Classifieds, Social Networks,
Media and Gaming.

2. White paper
The formula of online success
= Traffic x Conversion Rate + Customer Retention – Acquisition Cost
The world is changing. 24% of all US customers have posted a review or comment online
about a product or service. And this is growing fast. How do you control your brand in this
environment? And how do you act online in order to maximize each part of the Success
Formula?
Traffic Customer Retention
An online business today is dependent on a If your customers like your service and think
number of factors to drive Traffic to its site. they get great value for their efforts (time,
A key factor is Brand Recognition and money, or both) they will come back. This is
Reputation. This has become even more what everyone wants, repeat business. But
important in a world where everyone has not only that. You want the customers to
access to information and customer really like your service to the degree that
reviews, social media comments and site they become loyal and spend the time to
rankings are available at your customers’ give you great ratings on customer review
fingertips. Great reviews drive traffic. sites, blog about you and write great social
media posts about you on Facebook,
The marketing effort to drive new traffic to a Twitter and other networks.
site is becoming increasingly difficult and
costly. This builds your Brand Recognition and
Reputation and ultimately new traffic.
Conversion Rate
Customer Acquisition Cost
A great service, a well-designed and
intuitive site as well as the ability to build The Acquisition Cost is a challenge and
Trust with visitors, is key to converting them everyone wants this to be as low as
into customers. Do you run the risk of losing possible without limiting business growth.
customer Trust by having bad content?
Compared to new business, repeat
business is much less costly. The average
Acquisition Cost is hence heavily influenced
by the Retention Rate a company achieves.
Getting a positive buzz around your brand
to the extent it drives new traffic is a key
way to reduce the average Acquisition cost.
Besedo targets companies that consider security and consumer trust to be critical to their business success.
Services provided cover three main areas – Content, Safety, Customer and Operated. Since 2002 Besedo has
conducted and developed operations for clients operating in industries like Online Classifieds, Social Networks,
Media and Gaming.

3. White paper
”As long you can find prostitution on our site we will never be able to attract the
Tier 1 Brands for our Banner Ads.”
- Executive at Classified Site in North America
The 3 Key Steps Towards a Quality User Experience
Business Quality Moderation
Strategy strategy strategy
Step 1 – Review Your Business Strategy
Review your business strategy and evaluate the formula of success. Examples:
Is your business model working?
o Do you get the revenue streams you want?
o Are the revenue streams coming from the sources you want?
o Is all traffic profitable traffic?
What is your Brand Reputation?
o Are your customers giving you great reviews?
o Do they come back for more?
o Do you attract the Tier 1 Brands for Ads?
Step 2 – Define a New Quality Strategy for your User Generated Content
Based on your Business Strategy, define a new Quality Strategy that sets the framework on how
UGC should be treated on your site to create the formula of online success.
Exposure of content
o How should your site be structured to maximize exposure of great content and
minimize risk of bad content getting high visibility
Set a Policy of Black-listing of Content
o Decide on what you want and do not want to have on your site
o Grade the severity and impact if “bad” content is published. Not all “bad” content is
equally ”bad”.
Risk Mitigation – where can bad UGC create severe consequences?
o Law suits
o Expose users to Fraud
o Negative PR or viral effects
Besedo targets companies that consider security and consumer trust to be critical to their business success.
Services provided cover three main areas – Content, Safety, Customer and Operated. Since 2002 Besedo has
conducted and developed operations for clients operating in industries like Online Classifieds, Social Networks,
Media and Gaming.

4. White paper
Step 3 – Set a Moderation Strategy
When your Quality Strategy and overall policy structure is defined you need to decide on the
Moderation Strategy. There is no textbook answer on how a Moderation Strategy should look as all
businesses are unique and have different needs. However, there are three key tactics to consider:
1) When should we use technology and when should we use operational processes to screen
content?
2) Should we Moderate Pre- or Post Publishing? Or should we do it in real-time?
3) Should we do random sampling, or should we screen all content?
Pre-Moderation of 100% of content creates the highest level of quality but could still be the wrong
answer for some sites. Especially if it creates an unacceptable user experience through long
delays. It can also mean an unacceptable cost increase that can´t create a favorable ROI.
Maximizing Value Creation and ROI with a Tiered Moderation Strategy.
Often the right answer is to apply different tactics to different parts of a site or service. This way it
is possible to maximize the boost in business and still keep the costs under control so that a great
ROI can be achieved.
Examples on how a Tiered Moderation Strategy can A classified site might see more
be deployed: fraud in Cars & Electronics and less
in Furniture and decides to use
different Moderation tactics.
High
A dating site might do random
Pre moderation of sampling in the Basic service and
all content 100% screening of content in the
Premium service to secure a quality
experience.
Level of
exposure Post moderation of
all content A dating site could also decide to
to bad
content allow immediate publishing of text
but to screen all pictures before
publishing to ensure that no
Post moderation offensive pictures are published on
of reported the site.
content and
samples
A social site or forum could use
Low technology to filter abusive language
and Post-Moderation of reported
Low Risk elimination High
offensive posts or comments.
Besedo targets companies that consider security and consumer trust to be critical to their business success.
Services provided cover three main areas – Content, Safety, Customer and Operated. Since 2002 Besedo has
conducted and developed operations for clients operating in industries like Online Classifieds, Social Networks,
Media and Gaming.

5. White paper
UGC Moderation as the Tool to Boost Your Quality Moderate to
Secure Your Brand
74% of Americans say that they are more likely to use a
Maximize a Positive User
classifieds site if its customer service focuses on monitoring and
Experience
removing fraudulent and offensive content. (Source:
www.kijiji.com) Secure Strong User
Reviews and Ratings
You can build great features, a fantastic service and design the Secure a Positive online
best site in the world –but if your visitors feel intimidated, fooled Brand “Buzz”
or disappointed, by the User Generated Content, your business
Avoid negative PR and
will suffer. Viral Campaigns
Boosting the Brand Reputation – The Starting Point
A site, or service, that uses Moderation to create a High Quality
Experience is likely to see a positive effect on the Brand
Reputation with increased traffic as a consequence.
Users that enjoy a service without offensive or forbidden content
tend to be more loyal and more likely to give the brand high
ratings and reviews. Strong reviews, ratings and rankings will
signal quality and trust which will motivate more people to visit
the site.
Negative PR outlining illegal activities, forbidden content etc also
has a very strong negative effect on the Brand Reputation.
Adopting a Quality Strategy can significantly reduce negative PR.
A Quality Site attracts Larger Brands for Advertising
It is unlikely that the Tier 1 Global Brands will advertise on sites
with bad content that risk damaging their own brands.
If banner ads are a part of your revenue mix you increase your
chances of higher Ad revenues with a quality secured site.
[...] Despite that, all the ads are checked and validated before they’re made live.
“There are no duplicate ads, no Nigerian letters, no forbidden content,”
- Olivier Aizac, Leboncoin.fr, #1 Classified Site in France
Besedo targets companies that consider security and consumer trust to be critical to their business success.
Services provided cover three main areas – Content, Safety, Customer and Operated. Since 2002 Besedo has
conducted and developed operations for clients operating in industries like Online Classifieds, Social Networks,
Media and Gaming.

6. White paper
Use Quality to Boost Conversion Rate – influenced by Quality.
Your Online Success A visitor that has been recommended to the site by people they
More Traffic
trust will be more likely to try the service. If the site indicates
Quality visitors will have greater faith and willingness to try.
Increased Conversion
Rate The Conversion Rate is hence clearly influenced by the Quality
Improved Retention Rate of the site.
Lower Customer
Acquisition Costs Improve Your Customer Retention.
Create new Premium 9 out of 10 users on a Dating site leave within the first three
Services and Upsell months. (Source: www.mashable.com). The services the dating
Attract Larger Brands and sites provide are fairly similar and the cost of switching to another
increase your banner ad service is low. Leading providers do not concentrate on fast
revenue growth anymore, but instead on the quality and customer loyalty.
Happy customers come back. Simple as that. Negative
experiences will make people hesitate to return.
High Quality as Unique Selling Point for Premium Services.
A business, like a Dating site, can use Moderation to create a
High Quality Premium Service to complement a Free service.
Users that upgrade are guaranteed a High Quality Service
without offensive pictures, sexual text or fake profiles asking for
money etc. Moderation can allow for new product offerings and
Premium Services.
In a competitive world a business needs to stand out. You need to deliver value to your
customers. Every day. Because it is easy for them to switch to your competitor. And they will.
Using Quality and focusing on the user experience is a way to build sustainable competitive
advantage.
Implement UGC Moderation as a key part of your Quality Strategy and take control of your Online
Success.
Besedo targets companies that consider security and consumer trust to be critical to their business success.
Services provided cover three main areas – Content, Safety, Customer and Operated. Since 2002 Besedo has
conducted and developed operations for clients operating in industries like Online Classifieds, Social Networks,
Media and Gaming.

7. White paper
About Besedo
Besedo is an experienced knowledge and business process outsourcing company specialized in
the Internet and media market.
We operate mainly within the fields Moderation of User Generated Content and Trust and Safety.
In 2010 we reviewed 62 Million articles online (ads, profiles etc.) to stop fraudulent and poor
content online. Our customers range from #1 market leaders in multiple countries to new
ventures with high growth ambitions.
What is common for all our customers is the dedication to quality and the belief that quality is part
of a winning formula.
For more information
Please Call +46 8 522 371 00 or contact your
personal Besedo account manager.
Offices in Malaysia, Malta and Sweden.
www.besedo.com
Besedo targets companies that consider security and consumer trust to be critical to their business success.
Services provided cover three main areas – Content, Safety, Customer and Operated. Since 2002 Besedo has
conducted and developed operations for clients operating in industries like Online Classifieds, Social Networks,
Media and Gaming.