Partner Optimization Program (POP)

The Partner Optimization Program (POP) ensures Cint Exchange supply partners maintain high standards for user response quality and fraud prevention.

Cint proactively monitors data trends to identify any supply partner with negative reconciliation rates that are higher than the expected standard rate of 5%. This program ensures our supply partners are aware of high reconciliation rates so they can act quickly to mitigate any respondent quality or fraud issues, in addition to creating trust among buyers and researchers.

Cint analyzes per-country reconciliation rates for all supply partners during a monthly audit. As a standard, supply partners must have reconciliation rates below 5% for any given country. Depending on the severity of reconciliation rates, partners who do not meet our standards may be required to discontinue sending traffic until they take appropriate steps to identify and resolve quality issues.

POP assessments are based on soft-close reconciliation rates, using the reconciliation data available at the time the monthly POP review is conducted. Since reconciliation activity continues after the review, reconciliation rates may increase or decrease over time.

Negative Reconciliation Rate = [Completes Reconciled to Term] / [Total Completes + Completes Reconciled To Term] * 100

POP uses the soft-close reconciliation rate calculated using the reconciliation data available at the time the monthly POP review is completed.

Supply partners can monitor current and past negative reconciliation rates by accessing the reconciliation pacing dashboard within the supplier portal. This dashboard can be used to assess negative reconciliation rates by country, and ensure supply partners are within healthy metrics.

Please note that the dashboard continues to update throughout the month as buyers submit reconciliations, reverse reconciliations, or make other adjustments. As a result, your reconciliation rate may increase or decrease after the POP review has been completed.

Cint uses the terms "soft" and "hard" when referring to reconciliation rates.

• Hard-close reconciliation rates indicate the window for reconciling has closed and no changes can be made.

• Soft-close reconciliation rates indicate the window for reconciling is still open, so more reconciliations can be processed.

POP  runs on the 1st business day of each month, using reconciliation data from the previous calendar month. Because that month's reconciliation window has not yet fully closed at the time POP runs, these figures are referred to as "soft close" reconciliation rates.

After the POP audit has been completed, buyers may continue to submit reconciliations, reverse reconciliations, or make other adjustments. As a result, reconciliation rates may increase or decrease after the assessment has been completed.

POP assessments use soft-close reconciliation rates because they provide the most up-to-date view of supplier performance at the time the monthly POP review is conducted.

Waiting until all reconciliation data has been finalized would delay the review process and slow down the identification of potential quality concerns. Using soft-close reconciliation rates allows Cint to identify suppliers with elevated reconciliation rates sooner, communicate any concerns promptly, and work with suppliers to improve traffic quality as quickly as possible.

Although reconciliation rates may continue to change after the monthly review, the POP assessment is based on the reconciliation data available when that month's review is completed.

POP assessments are based on the reconciliation data available at the time the monthly review is completed. Because reconciliation activity continues after this review, a supplier's reconciliation rate may increase or decrease later in the month.

Any changes to the reconciliation rate after the POP assessment has been completed do not retroactively affect that month's POP outcome.

In rare cases, a reconciliation update may cause your rate to fall below the 5% threshold required for inclusion in POP. If this happens, please contact your Cint account representative so we can retrospectively exclude you from the program for that month.

Suppliers should continue investigating the causes of reconciliations and take appropriate action to improve traffic quality, regardless of whether their reconciliation rate increases or decreases after the POP review.

This may include:

• Assessing the panelists who contributed to the reversals

• Investigating traffic sources contributing to reconciliations.

• Strengthening fraud prevention and quality controls.

• Reviewing buyer feedback and reconciliation reports.

• Reviewing and updating the Security Quality Assessment (SQA).

• Completing the agreed Plan of Action (POA) with the Cint account team.

Changes in reconciliation rate after the monthly review do not automatically change that month's POP assessment. Suppliers should continue to assess the drivers of their reconciliations, following any agreed remediation plan unless advised otherwise by their Cint account team.

Program statuses are assigned based on country level reconciliation rates and/or past inclusion in the program:

*The statuses, thresholds and pause criteria are subject to change by Cint at any time.

The goal of POP is to investigate the root cause of high reconciliation rates and support suppliers with improvements. If action is taken to address the root cause of the issue before the deadlines mentioned in the above table then no pause will be required.

Cint's supply team will work closely with your buy-side team during this period to gather additional information and context from buyers. Sometimes buyers make errors when reconciling. If we discover during this process the reconciliations are an error then suppliers will not be required to pause.

In order to resume traffic, the supply partner must:

• Conduct an internal Audit: Review performance data to identify the root cause of high reconciliation rates. Utilize the ID Reconciliation Report to help identify individual sessions and respondents, and the Reconciliation Pacing Dashboard to view aggregate trends across your countries.

• Review the Security Quality Form (SQA): Review and update their Security Quality Form here.

• Submit a Plan of Action (POA): Provide Cint with a formal plan of action (POA) documenting the root causes of and action steps taken to address any respondent quality and/or fraud.

• Take Appropriate Action: To mitigate the impact of the root cause. The Cint account team will work with supply partners to define this based on their SQA and POA.

Partners will not be permitted to resume sending traffic unless there is confidence that reasonable preventative measures have been taken to reduce reconciliation rates.

Please note, even if reconciliation rates change after the POP assessment, suppliers should continue completing the agreed remediation steps until advised otherwise by their Cint account team.

Supply partners eligible to resume traffic must soft launch by gradually increasing traffic volumes over a period of four weeks. A maximum amount of daily completes must be adhered to during soft launch, as specified below. Pending no further quality escalations, a graduated increase in traffic volumes during the soft launch period will proceed with the following schedule:

*This number will be provided to the supply partner by their account team and is calculated using the supplier’s average daily completes count into our Cint Exchange over the previous three months.

All Cint supply partners are eligible for inclusion in the program, with the exception of Non-Integrated Supply and Engage panel owners.  Partners in all regions are subject to this program, as Cint maintains high quality and respondent expectations for all supply partners, regardless of their geographical location. Cint runs a separate program to support Engage panel owners with their supply quality.

1. Confirmation: Confirm receipt of email with a reply to trustandsafety@cint.com within 3 business day. In the case of a traffic pause requirement, Cint Exchange supply partners must also confirm they have ceased traffic within the timeframe specified in the email received from Cint’s Trust and Safety team. Supply partners who fail to reply and/or comply with traffic pauses may be subject to having their full integration paused.

2. Next steps: Reach out to your Cint account team for next steps and a remediation plan. This will include the previously mentioned security and processes audit and plan of action.

3. Overall: Maintain a negative reconciliation rate that is within an acceptable range of the platform average. Specifically, supply partners “at risk” will need to maintain a rec rate that does not exceed double the platform average in the country flagged for the current month (month in which they are notified).

Special considerations for paused supply partners

Supply Partners may continue sending traffic to the following studies if they were supported prior to the pause:

1. Private Exchange

2. Tracker & Wave

3. Recontact

Third party partnerships: Supply partners that source or send traffic via third party partnerships or integrations are responsible for coordinating the pause in respondent traffic.

Please note that reconciliation rates may continue to change after the monthly POP review as buyers submit reconciliations and adjustments. A change in reconciliation rate after the assessment does not automatically change that month's POP outcome. Suppliers should continue working with their Cint account team and complete the agreed remediation plan.