Cheap Reader Polls

Forget fuzzy focus groups. It’s time to know specifics. What feature has the fewest readers? Which columnist sells the most papers and why?

Without such details, no way a paper can know how it squanders space and golden opportunities. 

The ideal solution is a systematic series of scientific mega-surveys. But that’s probably prohibitively expensive. So let’s brainstorm other ways. 

Gather existing data about what’s popular. Government stats on pasttimes, TV and radio ratings, best-seller lists, website rankings, magazine circulation figures — they all provide clues as to what the public likes.

Monitor your website well. What’s getting clicked online? It’s not the same audience as print, and positioning and promotion will skew the results, but standouts and failures have lessons to teach.  

Do you own polling in print. Yes, it’s doable. It’s as simple as publishing a clip-out that asks: “Which of the following features do you regularly read?” Then list everything in that particular section. Give choices for frequency: __ Often __ Sometimes __ Rarely / Never. Also poll about new ideas: “Which of the following would you most like to see? Pick 3.” Then list the best (and worst) ideas you’ve been considering. Get an intern or freelancer to tabulate the results. Afraid of minimal participation? Offer prizes. Make available an easy online version. Appeal to readers’ desire to see a better product. Make polling part of a promotional campaign to generate buzz and interest. People like polls. They want to feel their opinions count. They want to see improvements. Capitalize in a positive way. “See how hard we’re trying?” Publish the results and promote that, too.

Have Nielsen-like journal-keepers. Give subscriptions to families willing to record exactly what they read and how much they liked it. They’d record their votes online for easy tabulation.

Ask killer questions.  “Note: We’re thinking of deep-sixing this chess column, or moving it to online. Phone 1-800-YES-CHESS if you want to save it.” If nobody phones, it goes. Also offer a chance to vote between a couple of alternatives. 

Do online polls about the paper. Find out who’s not needing and why. Online polls are more versatile, too, steering respondents according to their answers. People who do read see different questions than those who don’t. (Those who don’t subscribe but are interested would also get discount subscription offers, of course.) Another bonus: Polls are popular content. People would come back just to check the ever-changing results. A free source of doable polls, by the way, is www.pollhost.com. 

Finally, of course, it’s important to have the guts to act on what is learned.