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July 26, 2001 Mr. Louis Touton Dear Louis: In response to your note of July 20th, I am pleased to provide you with the enclosed documentation that supports my letter to you of July 16th. We would be happy to conduct a briefing for you or others in ICANN on this material and answer any questions that you might have. {You will note that the TMR summary memo contains specific reference to the registrar Tucows. This is at the request of the VeriSign Registrar. After the completion of the final group study focusing on the 5 registrars with the largest percentage of uncorroborated transfer requests, VeriSign Registrar asked TMR to provide specific analyses of individual registrar data. The discussion in the summary memo reflects that specific analysis regarding one of these five registrars.} Sincerely, Roger
CC: Stuart Lynn Network
Solutions 1. What company is your domain name XXX registered with? [Do not read]
2. How did you learn of [Q1 response]? [Do not read, check all that apply]
3. Is this the first and only company your have held your domain name with?
4. What were the primary reasons you decided to transfer your name to [Q1 response]? (Probe for clarity, check all that apply)
5. Was there a certain product/service offering, or "better deal" that [Q1 response] offered to make you want to transfer your domain name? (Code verbatims) 6. (Read instructions) On the following question, I will ask you to rank the importance of a number of attributes in your decision to transfer your domain name to [Q1 response]. Using a scale of 1 to 5 where 1 is not at all important, 2 is not important, 3 is neither unimportant nor important, 4 is important, and 5 is very important, How would you rank (Rotate attributes) in your decision to transfer your domain name to [Q1 response]?
7. Would you recommend [Q1 response] to a friend or business associate?
7a. Why not? (Code Verbatims) 8. What are some of the reasons you would recommend [Q1 response] (Code Verbatims) 9. For which of the following reasons did you purchase your domain name? (Read and check all that apply. Rotate options.)
10. What will be the primary use of your website? (Do not read. Check only 1)
11. Is your website live and on the Internet? (Read)
12. Have you ever had a reason to use [Q1 response] customer service?
13. WHY? (Probe for clarity, check all that apply)
14. How would you describe your level of satisfaction with the customer service you receive from [Q1 response] ? Would you say you were very unsatisfied, unsatisfied, neither unsatisfied nor satisfied, satisfied, or very satisfied? 15. WHY? (code verbatims) 16. How would you describe your level of satisfaction with the products and services [Q1 response] offers? Would you say you were very unsatisfied, unsatisfied, neither unsatisfied nor satisfied, satisfied, or very satisfied? 17. WHY? (code verbatims) 18. What other products or services would you like [Q1 response] to offer? (Code Verbatims) 19. Do you have plans to stay with [Q1 response], or transfer to another company?
20. What is the primary reason you plan to stay with [Q1 response]? (Code Verbatims) 21. What is the primary reason you would like to leave [Q1 response]? (Code Verbatims) 22. When (do you plan to/do you think you may) transfer your domain name? (Lump responses into the one of the following categories)
23. Would it be okay to contact you again if we need additional or follow-up information? ---------------------------------CUSTOMER DEMOGRAPHICS----------------------------------------------------- Business customers ask: 1. What is the size of your business? (Lump responses into one of the following categories)
2. What is your occupation? (Code Verbatims) Consumer customers ask: 1. What is your occupation? (Code Verbatims) 2. What age group do you fall into? (Read)
Follow-up
Transfer Survey 1. What company is your domain name registered with? [Do not read]
2. Is this the first and only company your have held your domain name with?
3. Are you aware that your domain name was originally registered with another company but has been transferred to [Q1 response]?
4. Who facilitated the transfer of your domain name? [Do not read]
5. Did you receive a "Change of Registrar Authorization" form?
6. Did you, yourself approve and submit the authorization form for the transfer of your domain name?
7. How did you first learn of [Q1 response]? [Do not read, check all that apply]
Network
Solutions Registrar Market Research on Transfers This memorandum summarizes the surveys undertaken by VeriSign's NSI Registrar, which developed data confirming the existence of unauthorized/unsubstantiated transfers of registrar customers from NSI Registrar during the year prior to May 2001. Initial Survey: Winter 2000-2001 Beginning in the fall of 2000, the NSI Registrar commissioned market surveys of a sample of present and former customers that were conducted by a third parties. These surveys addressed a variety of issues around customer satisfaction, retention and service. Methodology: employees of TMR INC., a professional survey organization, conducted the relevant survey during November and December 2000. TMR's initial telephone survey was followed by e-mail messages to survey participants sent by TMR. One sample group of customers who had transferred out from the NSI Registrar was asked a series of questions relating to satisfaction and decision to transfer from NSI. The survey employed a random sample of 400 business and 400 individual customers who had transferred from the NSI Registrar within the prior year. Survey participants were not advised by TMR that the survey was being conducted by TMR for the NSI Registrar. Results: While not designed to develop conclusive data on transfer practices, the initial survey brought to light an apparent issue: transfers out were being reported at a rate that was significantly inconsistent with the rate of adverse responses on such surveyed topics of price and customer satisfaction. Accordingly, a second survey that more closely examined the transfer environment was organized and conducted. Transfer Survey: Spring 2001 As a result of the data disclosed by the initial survey, a second independent survey of former NSI Registrar customers whose accounts had transferred out of NSI during the previous year was conducted by TMR in April and May of 2001. This survey involved personal and direct contact with about 700 individuals and businesses Methodology: TMR employees conducted the survey by telephone during April and May of 2001, utilizing a prepared list of questions (See Appendix 1). Survey participants were not informed that the survey was being conducted on behalf of NSI Registrar. A statistically valid sample of about 700 individuals was supplied to TMR by NSI Registrar, selected from two sources: approximately 500 contacts were selected randomly from customers who had transferred out of NSI Registrar in the previous year; the remainder were selected anonymously including some individuals who had been participants in the prior survey. At least 100 surveyed individuals and businesses were selected from among those who are currently listed in the WhoIs database as registered with each of five large competitor registrars and included participants who had been contacted during the previous survey. Combined, survey participants totaled about 700 former customers as representative of the total population of about 600,000 transferred names during the previous year. Results: Raw analysis for
the two transfer-specific questions is reproduced in Appendix 2. The
most germane response on the issue of intent to transfer is that to
question 3:
NSI Registrar management concluded from these results that the survey evidences a statistically significant variance from what one would expect if all transferred customers actually intended to transfer. While one would expect nearly 100% of transferred customers to respond that they were aware of the transfer of their account, approximately 24%--nearly one in four-- respondents to the second survey were NOT aware of the transfer of their account, and an additional 10% were unsure. Appendix 1 Follow-up
Transfer Survey 1. What company is your domain name registered with? [Do not read]
2. Is this the first and only company your have held your domain name with?
3. Are you aware that your domain name was originally registered with another company but has been transferred to [Q1 response]?
4. Who facilitated the transfer of your domain name? [Do not read]
5. Did you receive a "Change of Registrar Authorization" form?
6. Did you, yourself approve and submit the authorization form for the transfer of your domain name?
7. How did you first learn of [Q1 response]? [Do not read, check all that apply]
Appendix 2 3. Are you aware that [16]## was originally registered with another company but has been transferred to [Q29]##?
5. Did you receive a "Change of Registrar Authorization" form?
TMR Inc. VeriSign
Domain Transfer Study Executive Summary TMR conducted three surveys for VeriSign. The first survey, Domain Transfer Study, was conducted at the end of 2000, where TMR contacted a sample of former customers of NSI to determine their reasons for transferring out of NSI. The second survey, Follow-up Transfer Study, was conducted between April 27th and May 17th of 2001. This second survey focused on establishing whether these customers knowingly transferred their domain names to another registrar. TMR asked, "Are you aware that <list domain name> was originally registered with another company but has been transferred to <Registrar from Q1>?". Out of 719 customers the data shows that, 66.2% (476) customers said Yes, 23.9% (172) customers said No, and 9.9% (71) customers said Don't Know. The third survey, Registrar Documentation Review, was conducted on June 18th, where TMR contacted the individual domain holders of Tucows to verify the date and knowledge of the transfer request. The results and methodology of the three above-mentioned surveys are detailed below. Domain Transfer Study - Initial Survey Beginning in the end of 2000, the VeriSign Registrar commissioned us for a market survey of a sample of former customers that had transferred out of the VeriSign Registrar. This initial survey addressed a variety of issues around customer satisfaction, retention, and service. Methodology Employees of TMR conducted the phone survey from October 31, 2000 until November 20, 2000. The sample group of 801 customers, 401 business customers and 400 individuals, had all recently transferred out of the VeriSign Registrar and were asked a series of questions relating to satisfaction and decision to transfer from the VeriSign Registrar. The customers were asked questions for approximately 10 minutes concerning a variety of subjects. Please see Appendix A for the detailed questionnaire. Please note that the survey participants were not advised by TMR that the survey was being conducted for the VeriSign Registrar. Results Thirty six percent (285) of the 801 customers indicated that their current provider was their first and only provider. Of these 285 customers that indicated that their current provider was their first and only provider, forty-three percent (122) indicated that this provider was Network Solutions/VeriSign. It would appear that these 122 customers did not know that their domain had been transferred to another Registrar. To better understand this finding, a second survey that more closely examined the registrar transfer environment was organized and conducted. Follow-Up Transfer Survey - Second Survey As a result of the data disclosed by the initial survey, a second independent survey of former VeriSign Registrar customers was conducted by TMR between April 27th and May 14th of 2001. This survey was focused on establishing whether these customers knowingly transferred their domain names to another registrar. Methodology TMR employees again conducted the survey by telephone utilizing a survey script designed by NSI. Please see Appendix B for the detailed questionnaire. Survey participants were not informed that the survey was being conducted on the behalf of VeriSign Registrar. This survey involved contacting customers, of which 150 were customers from the first survey who indicated they had only one provider. The remaining 569 customers were comprised of two samples; customers that had originally registered through one of the VeriSign Registrar's former partners and retail customers that had their domain transferred. A total of 36 out of 719 respondents (5%) indicated that their domain name was registered with Tucows. Results Of the 719 customers in the survey from the original survey: Question #3 - Are you aware that <list domain name> was originally registered with another company but has been transferred to <Registrar from Q1>?
Of the 192 customers from the Tucows sample. Question #3 - Are you aware that <list domain name> was originally registered with another company but has been transferred to <Registrar from Q1>?
Registrar Documentation Review - Third Survey In order to verify documentation received by the VeriSign Registrar from Tucows, TMR was once again engaged to call the individual domain holders. The third survey was started on June 18th and had TMR call the domain holders in question. They asked them just one question:
Valid responses were "yes, no, or I don't know". TMR was able to complete 26 of the 32 calls. Following are the results from those 26 calls: Answer to the question listed above:
The data shows that 31% (8) of the 26 customers contacted indicated they did NOT authorize the transfer of their account, and an additional 8% (2) were unsure.
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