If you have an email inbox or a postal box and you have purchased anything, ever, you have likely been asked to respond to a customer satisfaction survey.
I had my first request before 7:30 this morning when I purchased an iced tea on my way to the office. The second request from another vendor was in my inbox when I arrived just after 8 a.m. Everyone is asking for our opinions, and more often than not we’ve trained ourselves to ignore them. Sometimes it just doesn’t seem important enough. But I suspect likely it is because taking the time to share our opinions doesn’t usually seem to make a difference. We pour our thoughts out and then – nothing.
It’s important to me and all of us at Springfield Business Journal to take a different path here. Many of you recently received a readership survey from us and 505 of you gave us your time and feedback. We are enormously grateful. Favorable or unfavorable, we asked for your opinions because we genuinely care, and I’m assuming you responded because you care. So, before the crickets have a chance to sing, I wanted to speak up and say thank you.
We owe you more than that, though. When asked what you saw as our greatest strength, some of you said it is our readers. I couldn’t agree more. When the influential readers of SBJ talk, we’d better be listening.
We are hard at work in our office with plans for a redesign and some enhanced features that will roll out with Volume 37, Issue No. 1 on Aug. 1. Your opinions will guide our way.
In general terms, here’s what we learned about you:
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The average age of our readers is staying about the same. Most of our readers are between 45 and 64 years of age. Ten years ago, when I fell below the average range, this seemed a little scary to me. Time, though, has proven southwest Missouri continues to make more 45 to 64-year-olds every year, and they are finding their way to SBJ or have reached a point in their careers where SBJ best meets their needs.
• More than half of respondents have a household income over $100,000.
• The vast majority of respondents hold executive-level positions.
• Most of you spend between 15 and 30 minutes reading us each week, and most still prefer the print version of our publication. The survey didn’t make it entirely clear if those who prefer our print edition just prefer print in general or prefer print to the digital option we currently have available. This will be something we continue to explore as we seek to improve and update both options.
Here are a few things you would like us to know about your expectations of SBJ:
• You expect a dedicated focus on business. Our survey indicates we are doing pretty well in this category. SBJ’s mission statement has changed very little in 36 years. When we were just starting, we strove to be the best weekly newspaper in southwest Missouri, providing readers with comprehensive business news and advertisers with the most effective means of marketing their products and services. We continue to strive to be the best. However, weekly has become daily, and newspaper has become news organization utilizing a full spectrum of delivery vehicles that now include print, digital, Web, video, events, blogs, etc.
• You expect us to get it right. There is no wiggle room on this one. We expect perfection. You expect perfection, and we are not perfect. I’m just sure I feel actual physical pain when I learn that we’ve gotten a fact wrong. I also get pretty itchy when I see a typo or mistake in print. I’m not alone in this. A group of about eight of my colleagues commiserate on Monday mornings as we pick apart our work in print the past week. You were kind with your survey responses when most of you said you rarely find mistakes. I want the rest of you to know we feel your pain – literally. This will remain an issue of paramount importance as we strive to improve.
• You would like us to step up our digital efforts. For those of you who prefer to read us on your smartphones, tablets and desktops, SBJ has a growth opportunity. Technology is advancing and improving daily. If we’re not, then we are behind. I am excited about some new things you will see from us soon in the digital arena and acknowledge there always is something more to do.
The recent SBJ survey provides a starting point. Being the best is not the end point. It’s all about the journey. Thank you for taking the journey with us. You, our readers and advertisers, will always be our greatest strength.
SBJ Publishing Inc. Publisher Jennifer Jackson can be reached at jjackson@sbj.net.
