Jan 19 2007

Help Me, Help You, Part II

Help Me, Help You, Part II

Thanks to the nearly 100 readers who responded to my reader survey this past week. While I’m not sure it’s a truly statistically significant base of OnlyOnce’s audience (I’ll have to ask my friends over at Authentic Response), I’ll treat it like it is. Here’s what I learned. First, the general results:

Satisfaction levels are good – 46% are regular readers and love it, 48% read occasionally and think it’s ok, and only 6% gave it an “eh – wouldn’t miss it if it went away”
Entrepreneurship is the most popular topic, with 86% interest, and Leadership/Management is a close second at 82%. Online/Email Marketing came in at 61% and Book Reviews at 43%. Current Affairs and Travel (which I almost never use) were 31% and 25%, respectively
72% of people feel frequency at 1-2 posts a week is on target. Only 4.5% want fewer posts, and 24% (those kind souls) want it more often
Most people other than Return Path staff found the site through a link on another blog rather than search

Next, the open-ended comments were interesting. A summary snapshot:

Positive comments were generally about tone and candid approach, succinct posts, and topics. One nice person noted his/her favorite thing was “the author” (thank you Mom/Dad/Grandma/Mariquita/Michael)
Constructive comments varied. Some good ones are noted below:
“assumes a level of knowledge not everyone has”
“too heralding of the VC view of the world”
“too much focus on email/marketing,” “too local/American” (that’s who I am, though)
“ I would like to see more about what it takes to be a CEO in day to day operations. what skills do you find you need, what obstacles do you come across, issues with driving a company.”
“A little too much PRish in regards to Return Path”
“It seems like everything you write about is too positive. Or at least a negative story with a happy ending. Nothing about what sucks to run a company. I run one and a lot of it does suck.”
“Not enough personal stuff — who is the author?” (see the About Me link on the blog)
“The word vigilante is bandied around way too much by the author”
And of course someone noted as constructive feedback that I haven’t yet mentioned my mother’s name (sorry, Mom/Joyce!). And one person suggested I shave. Thanks, really.

Finally, the demographics of my audience:

3 % are under 24, 45% are 25-34, 41% are 35-49, 11% are over 49
80% male and 20% female (surprising)
Company data wasn’t so interesting, or I phrased the question poorly – but one takeaway is that about 1/2 of readers seem to be “in the industry” generally speaking, with lots of Return Path staff subscribing as well as lots of other entrepreneurs and a handful of VCs
Level/title was more interesting – nearly half the audience is SVP-level or above at their company

Thanks again, everyone, and I’ll take note of this feedback for future postings!