ALPACA HMMM... SPRING 2005 READERS' SURVEY RESULTS

This survey ( Spring 2005 Readers' Survey) was included with the Spring 2005 Alpaca Hmmm... I asked various questions about the content of the magazine and what members wanted to get out of it in future, these results were presented to the Committee at the November meeting and are reprinted here so everyone can see the results.

Summary

With a 16% response rate to the survey we had a great feedback rate. The answers have helped me to shape the newsletter that I hope you will all enjoy now and into the future.

One of the questions asked was, which were your 3 favourite items? Vet Hmmings… is here to stay, as is In the News and the Events page (when we have an event). The human recipe got a few votes, so we will be keeping that item, however it will appear every other issue and/or when space allows for it.

100% of responses said that print quality was important to them and 82% said they refer to the newsletter for advertising. You will notice the print has remained high quality and that we have now more advertising. I hope to be able to maintain this level if not a higher level of advertising in the future. If you wish to advertise or know of someone who might like to please contact the editor.

45% of readers refer to the newsletter for general alpaca information, 35% for regional info, the remaining 20% for News and Vet articles. We have tried to bring you more regional info with the brief reports on the Christmas meeting and Pre-Classing workshop. The In the News section has expanded slightly to bring you more news from around the world.

On a rating scale of 1-5, the importance of the newsletter to the region was voted as 4.5 followed closely by the colour cover. I think you all like that! Most of you would be happy to see more colour but appear to be concerned with the cost. More colour will only be added when the advertising revenue will cover the addition costs. Most readers said that they weren ’t sure about the layout of the Stud register, so I have changed it in this issue. Hopefully it is now easier for all to read.

Each of the first five respondents received a hand embroidered tea-towel. Congratulations and thank you for your prompt replies.

1st - Carol Hill
2nd - Evelyn Thrift
3rd - Geraldine Kawabe
4th - Pat & Charlie Mashman
5th - Lesley Russell

A survey accompanied the Spring 2005 newsletter that was posted out in early October. Of the 113 regional members that received the survey, 19 replied, that’s a 1 in 6 response rate. Most surveys only get a 1 in 20 response. The responses came from a wide range of members from those who have 4 animals to 200 plus. They had also been members of the AAA for anything from 6 months to 10 years plus.

The regional member were asked questions in the following categories:

Most Enjoyed Item

The pie chart below shows us that the Flora Fest report, Vet Hmmmings and A Fairytale Ending were the 3 most popular items. Other items such as In the News and Julienne Gelber’s muesli recipe also rated highly.

Top Three Features

Regional members were asked which of the new items they would be interested in seeing in the future. This was a tick the box question.

Vet Hummmings, In the News and the Events page got the most positive responses and will definitely be featured in future issues. In fact, all potential features had positive responses, even the recipe.

Newsletter Format

As part of these questions, regional members were also asked how important they felt the newsletter was to the region. All but 3 responses said it was most important (all these questions were rated 1 – 5 with 5 being the highest).

The second most important to them was the colour cover.

General Questions

Everyone who responded to the survey felt the quality of the printing was of utmost importance.

What do you expect to get from the Newsletter?

Nearly half of the replies stated they wanted to get general information about alpaca from the newsletter, followed closely by Regional information.

I would like to thank everyone who took the time to give me feedback on the new format newsletter and I hope to be able to continue producing a useful and helpful one in the future.

Revenue

The spring 2005 issue cost approx. $1100. We raised $605 from advertising and subscriptions. For the summer issue (due to be posted early January 2006) I have secured over $1000 worth of advertising from both regional members and non regional members. Future bookings are shown below in pale green. All of the booked adverts have been received and placed in the newsletter.

This report was presented to the CC&H Regional Committee at the November 2005 committee meeting and reflects information as at 1st December 2005.