Print Buying Direct

The best way to survey how effective your newsletter is… – 13th October 2009
Your choices when deciding how to solicit information from your newsletter reader are: mail-back questionnaires, e-mailed question, in-person surveys, and surveys by phone, faxed surveys or online forms.

Mail-back surveys

Mail-back surveys are either included in the newsletter or sent as a separate mailing. Advantages and disadvantaged exist for both. When mailing a survey with the newsletter, you must separate out your sample names from the rest for your list. This can be a hassle, but you need to know which names you sent the questionnaire to for follow-up purposes. It’s rare to get a high response after the first mailing.
If you send the survey along with the newsletter, readers immediately know what you’re inquiring about. They don’t have to remember the details of your publication. Response to the survey also benefits from the goodwill associated with coming in the same bundle as free information.

A possible drawback to including the survey with the newsletter is that readers plan to spend only a certain amount of time reading. By including the survey in the same mailing, you either harm your response to the survey or decrease the amount of time the reader spends with the rest of the newsletter.

You can only combat this by sending along a sample of an old issue they’ve already seen. This helps them recall the publication, without taking away from the time people spend on the questionnaire. Another option for increasing recognition is to print the survey using the same size, colours and nameplate as your newsletter. You can use the first page for a cover letter about the survey, the two inside pages for the survey and the back of the newsletter for the reader to fold and return the survey to you.

Another problem with including the survey along with the newsletter is that those who don’t read the newsletter won’t see the survey. This is part of the reason why mailed surveys have the lowest response rates among all types of surveys.

If you’re in the planning stages, you won’t have a newsletter to show respondents. You may be able to find out more information and enjoy a higher response rate by talking to prospective readers in person or over the phone.

E-mail surveys.

Select from the previous list of questions and send them out in the body of an e-mail. To increase your response rate, place an incentive in the subject line. Chances to win a large prize work well for e-mail surveys. Instruct recipients to copy the questions into an e-mail response and add their answers.

Telephone surveys.

To generate a high response rate without much follow-up, conduct your survey by telephone. While mail surveys can take up to two months to complete (including follow-up), most phone surveys can be done in a few days.
When talking directly to your prospects, you can either use the same questions as a written survey, or you can have more of a general discussion. Regardless of the format, let your respondent know in the beginning how long the survey will take. Try your best to keep it as short as possible. Most people resent surveys lasting over five minutes. Also remember that respondents are going you a favour. Make every effort to let them know you appreciate their kindness.

Focus groups.

Focus groups are ideal if you’re trying to get a general feel for your readers. These groups can be used if you have local readers or if your readers are already gathered in one location, such as a trade show. By conducting interviews with small groups of people, you can cover more points (frequency, usefulness, legibility, layout, story interest, etc.) in greater detail.

Other informal research can be accomplished using one-on-one interviews, or interviews with a few consumers or supporters simultaneously. Ask staff members for feedback during daily conversations. Have your representative ask about the newsletter as part of talking an order, enlisting a new member or receiving a donation. Or you can randomly conduct spot checks by telephoning readers. Informal research can be easy as mingling at trade show or at your store, or answering the phone for a few days and talking to readers.

Fax-back surveys.

One of the fastest ways to do a paper survey is via fax. Design a one-page survey (two pages maximum) and fax it to your sample list. Provide an incentive to return the survey right away. Also, consider setting up a toll-free tax number for responses if you’re surveying people from across the country.

Online surveys.

The most valuable advantage of online newsletters over their printed counterparts is immediate, measurable feedback from readers.

Look – Check out our Christmas and New Year Promos – promote your business with our forthcoming offers on Wall Calendars, Desk Calendars, Xmas Cards, Promotional Wall Calendars and CD Calendars. We’ve recently redesigned all of our website and cut our prices on all promotional print.

For more information on printing and graphic design please see some of our recent blog articles;

• The best way to survey how effective your newsletter is…
• Every question has a goal (Newsletter printing)
• How to Conduct Your Survey about your Newsletter
• Newsletter Print and Design – Why the Pros Survey Fewer People
• Newsletters – Pinpointing Reader’s Interests – part 2
• Newsletters – Pinpointing Reader’s Interests – part 1
• Printing – Paper and board – Certified and recycled
• Printing – Paper and board – Pricing and availability
• Printing – Paper and Board
• Print Finishing
• Digital Presses
• Digital Printing
• Offset Printing
• Print Production Management
• How to create a marketing plan incorporating promotional newsletters
• All you need to know about Digital Printing
• The Future of Printing
• Print Finishing
• Variable Data Printing
• ISO 12647 and Colour Management in Printing
• Pre-press – In Flight, Pre-Flight and Post-Flight
• Print, Paper and Recycling
• Design of the times – (Article reproduced from Printing World February 2009)
• Pre-press – 20 years of change
• Transactional and Direct Mail
• 7 Guidelines For Good Newsletter Printing
• Graphic Design
• Printing – Where in the world are we?
• Improving Your Response Rates to Leaflets, Flyers and Brochures
• HINTS & TIPS…The sales letter
• The History of Printing
• 10 Tips for Creatives in a Digital World
• Eight Easy Ways to Improve Digital Print Sales to Creative and Design Agencies
• Transactional and Variable data printing
• PUR or EVA? That is the question
• What you need to know about…… Perfect Binding
• What’s the point of Recycling Paper and Board?

Print Buying Direct is a Trading Name of The Printing House Ltd. One of the UK’s leading quality printing companies for short run, long run and large format colour printing. Based in Crewe, Cheshire and delivering to customers across the UK and Ireland.

Tags: Newsletter Design, Newsletter printing, print the survey, printing blog, questionnaire

This entry was posted on Tuesday, October 13th, 2009 at 8:45 am and is filed under Banners, Business Stationery, Calendars, Christmas Cards, Leaflets and Brochures, News, Newsletters, Postcards. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.