Take readers’ pulse to measure ROI

When you produce a publication, it’s always useful to ask your readers how you’re doing. Getting them to talk back to you keeps your audience interested, enables you to better serve the goals of your organization and helps you be proactive in shaping the content of future issues — as well as the organization as a whole. When it comes time to allocate resources for publications and other collateral, you’ll have useful feedback from readers to help you make informed decisions and validate the usefulness of your work.

There are several ways to elicit reader responses. They include:

• Internet surveys. Services such as surveymonkey.com and zoomerang.com streamline survey administration and offer endless flexibility for multiple question-and-response formats, real-time response error correction and real-time participation and reporting. Another benefit: Data can be analyzed and interpreted quickly.
• Questionnaires. Include a tear-out questionnaire in your publication that readers can mail or fax back. Respondents pay for postage or faxing.
• Reply cards. Enclose standard business reply cards in the publication for readers to complete and return by mail. Your company pays for postage.
• Focus groups. Organize small group meetings and encourage everyone to participate. Face-to-face interaction allows you to explore a topic in more detail than is possible with a static online or printed survey.
• Phone surveys. Call readers for their feedback and opinions after distributing the publication. Clarify responses as needed, but don’t take up too much time.

Some tips for making surveys work:

• Keep them brief. Surveys that run more than one page or take more than a few minutes to complete will discourage participation.
• Target questions to outcomes. Examples include, “How has the publication helped you do your job better?” “How does the publication help you make business decisions?” and “Has reading the publication helped you discuss your business positively with people outside your organization?”
• Tell respondents their opinions matter. Let them know you value and appreciate their participation. Send thank-you notes that explain how their input will lead to a better publication for all.

Measuring the need for and worth of publications is an ongoing process that is crucial to retaining both stakeholder interest and continued inclusion in your budget.

For more information about how to justify your publications, contact Lee Zoldan at lzoldan@thesimonsgroup.com.

The Simons Group 303 E. Wacker Drive, Suite 1109, Chicago, IL  60601     Phone: 312/252-8900   Fax: 312/252-8909