Home on the Green Readership Survey

1
Home on the Green Readership Survey

• Prepared for Home on the Green
• October 2014
• Prepared by Fergus W. Gamble, C.M.R.P.
• Vantage Research Group Inc.

2
Table of Contents

• Executive Summary 3-7
• Background Objectives 4
• Methodology 5
• Summary of Findings 6
• Conclusions Recommendations 7
• DETAILED FINDINGS 8-28
• HOTG Overall Rating 9
• Proportion of HOTG Read 11
• Frequency of Reference to HOTG 12
• Readership of Features Sections 13
• Interest in More Regular Articles 14
• Use of BGCC Information Sources 17
• Use HOTG to Find Products Services 18
• Home on the Green On Line 19
• The Respondents Story 20
• APPENDICES 23-35

3
Executive Summary
4
Background Objectives

• Home on the Green (HOTG) is a quarterly magazine
  published for the residents of the Ballantrae
  Golf and Country Club (BGCC).
• The magazine is produced by a not for profit
  organization of residents. It is staffed by
  volunteers from the community.
• The magazine is distributed free of charge to all
  residences.
• The executive of the magazine wanted to conduct a
  survey of BGCC residents and HOTG readers to
  better appreciate their opinions of the
  publication and gain insights for improving it
  for their readers and the community at large.
• The specific objectives of the study were to
• Obtain a measurement of current readers
  enjoyment and readership level
• Review the current selection of articles
  published and assess readership of each
• Obtain feedback on a selection of potential, new
  content items
• Assess the use of advertising by BGCC residents
  to identify businesses of interest to them
• Understand how HOTG compares with other BGCC
  communication sources
• Measure interest in making HOTG available on-line

5
Methodology

• The study was carried out by the use of a
  self-completed questionnaire that was made
  available to all residents of BGCC in two
  methods. The questionnaire was inserted in a
  recent copy of HOTG which is delivered to every
  home in the club. In addition, an invitation
  was emailed to all BGCC residents who are
  available via the BGCC website.
• The response to the questionnaire was extremely
  strong with over 300 responses which would
  represent approximately 30 of all homes in BGCC
  and an estimated 15 of all individual
  residents.
• In total 31 of responses were received in
  written format and the remaining 69 were
  collected via the website.
• The study was conducted through much of September
  and October 2014 with a cut off date for
  responses of October 12, 2014.

6
Summary of Findings

• The overall rating of HOTG is extremely positive
  with almost 90 ranking it as Excellent or
  Very Good.
• On a weighted average basis respondents read HOTG
  1.75 times per issue.
• Of the content items examined for their level of
  readership all eleven of them averaged reading
  each at a level between Always and Mostly,
  the two highest levels on the scale.
• The ten suggestions for potential new content for
  the magazine produced a range of responses with
  three particularly strong items
• Restaurant Reviews
• Health Wellness Articles
• Travel Ideas and Experiences
• Use of HOTG advertising as sources and places to
  support local businesses is also strong with the
  averages in the use mostly range.
• The HOTG magazine is the most used source of
  information among respondents followed by the
  BGCC Website, the Rec Centres Guide and
  Electronic Billboard.
• Additionally over 100 respondents contributed
  verbatim comments which are appended to this
  report for reference and further insight.

7
Conclusions Recommendations

• The response to the HOTG survey presents an
  extremely strong picture of the magazine in
  virtually every result and measurement. It would
  be entirely accurate to say these results are
  unique in our experience.
• These results would appear to make the potential
  for improving the magazine something of a
  challenge for the publisher and editorial staff.
  However at the same time there are results that
  indicate some of the suggested new items have
  potential.
• Perhaps more importantly there is an undercurrent
  in the appended verbatim comments indicating that
  there is an appetite for a greater diversity of
  material and interest in the magazine venturing
  into new and different areas. A modest
  freshening of the content and a greater
  diversity of material from issue to issue may be
  welcomed. It is suspected that a major makeover
  would not be necessary and indeed could be
  detrimental.
• Given the incredibly strong levels of use of the
  magazine for both entertainment and information,
  it would seem possible to actually expand the
  magazine either in terms of length/pages and/or
  frequency of publication.
• Given the strong support of advertisers
  demonstrated in the results, it would seem
  possible that funding of such an expansion could
  well be both obtainable and attainable.

8
Detailed Results
9
HOTG Overall Rating (1)

• The overall rating of HOTG is exceptionally
  strong with an average across all five condo
  corporations in the range of Very Good to
  Excellent.
• The total of negative ratings is below 1 overall
  with 0 very poor scores.
• There is some minor variability from condo to
  condo but only between the Good to Excellent
  ratings.

Overall Rating
10
HOTG Overall Rating (2)

• When focussing on responses based on respondent
  gender and the number of years respondents have
  been resident in BGCC, the story remains one of
  huge strength of response favouring HOTG.
• Averaging responses from all subgroups, they
  remain in the range between Excellent and Very
  Good.

Overall Rating
11
Proportion of HOTG Read
Proportion of HOTG Read

• The proportion of HOTG read is as impressive as
  its rating with over 90 of respondents
  indicating that they read it Cover to cover or
  Most of it.
• No further comment is required!

12
Reference to HOTG
Reference

• Almost all HOTG readers refer back to the
  magazine multiple times with nearly a third
  reporting three or more references.
• On average they return to it 1.75 times per
  issue.
• Anecdotally, verbatim responses from readers
  often mention that the copies of the magazine are
  kept, sometimes back to their first copy.

13
Readership of Features Sections
Readership

• The level of readership of HOTG is nothing short
  of overwhelmingly high!
• For almost every individual feature or section
  over 90 of respondents indicate reading it at
  least sometimes and typically better than 50
  saying they always read these items.
• This level of positive response may appear to
  limit the potential for changes and improvement
  but there does appear to be room for change and
  even some desire for it - to be seen later.

Never
Rarely
Sometimes
Mostly
Always
14
Interest in More Regular Articles (1)

• The three lead areas suggested for appearing more
  regularly in HOTG among BGCCers are
• Restaurant Reviews
• Health Wellness
• Travel Ideas Experiences
• All of these three average out to being equal to
  a Very Interested response.
• A step behind these leading options was the more
  regular appearance of Resident Profiles.

More Regular Articles
Average 4.1
Average 4.0
Average 4.0
Average 3.6
15
Interest in More Regular Articles (2)

• Between the Very and Somewhat interested
  level on an average basis were the three areas
  of
• Seasonal Recipes
• Movies Theatre Reviews
• Hobbies
• Book Club Highlights Reviews

More Regular Articles
16
Interest in More Regular Articles (3)

• The remaining two potential ideas for extended
  exposure in HOTG appear not to be very well
  received.
• It is unusual to see a negative level of response
  as occurred with the suggestion of articles on
  pets.

More Regular Articles
Average 2.4
Average 3.1
17
Use of BGCC Information Sources
Sources Used

• HOTG magazine has the strongest level of usage as
  an information source of any of the BGCC
  communication options.
• The BGCC website is the next most used and is the
  on-line source of information for residents at
  this point.
• The Rec Centre guide and its more recent
  introduction of an electronic billboard are used
  at lower levels of frequency.
• However all of these options are used by the
  majority of respondents.

Never 1
Rarely 2
2.7
Sometimes 3
3.3
3.5
Mostly 4
3.9
Always 1
Averages
18
Use HOTG to Find Products Services
Sources Used

• HOTG readers make significant use of the
  magazines advertisers.
• Approximately three-quarters of the readers
  indicate that they use HOTG to find products and
  services either Always or Mostly.
• Most of the rest of the respondents also check
  that they use HOTG for this purpose at least
  Sometimes to find products and services that
  are
• Available in our area
• You can use or need
• Support local advertisers

Never 1
Rarely 2
Sometimes 3
4.0
4.0
4.0
Mostly 4
Always 1
Averages
19
Home on the Green On-line
Overall Interest

• Interest in receiving HOTG via the website is
  moderate at best, (averaging below somewhat)
  although overall half of the respondents express
  a slightly positive view of the idea.
• It is noteworthy that although over two-thirds of
  the respondents answered the survey on line they
  are not as positively disposed to reading the
  magazine on this basis.

Average
20
The Respondents Story (1)

• Slightly over two-thirds of respondents answered
  the survey using the BGCC website. Of the
  remaining third who responded via the paper copy,
  several actually printed the copy from the
  website.
• All five condos were well represented in the
  survey. Consideration was given to weighting the
  condos so that the responses represented equal
  positions in the total. However as the overall
  responses in all cases were similar this step did
  not appear necessary.

How Survey was Completed
On line 69
Response by Condo
Five
One
Four
Three
Two
21
The Respondents Story (2)
Respondent Gender

• While female respondents out numbered males,
  there is likely to be a somewhat larger
  population of women in BGCC given the age of
  residents. It is also likely that this response
  does indicate a somewhat larger proportion of
  female readers.
• Not surprisingly the respondents from BGCC are
  overwhelming a retired population.

Male
Female
Work Status
Part Time
Full Time
Retired
22
The Respondents Story (3)

• The respondents average number of years living
  in BGCC was very close to 8. Of course this
  varies somewhat within each of the Condos but
  presents the readers as relatively long term
  residents.

Years Living in BGCC