Saving Money on Your Next Readership Study, by Lewis Copulsky, Lewis&Clark

Magazine publishing has never been for the faint of heart, but in recent years it has become increasingly difficult to succeed financially. Readership studies (and other market research) are frequently put in the “optional spending” category, but not conducting them on a timely basis can put you at risk of losing both readers and advertisers. There are, however, ways to trim the cost of readership research short of skipping it entirely.

1. Scale back questionnaire length. For many years the standard mail readership survey was based on a four-page questionnaire. Cutting this back can save money on printing and data entry. To do this effectively you will have to be able to separate the “need-to-know” questions from the “nice-to-know” ones.

2. Trim the size of sample. A standard sample size for mail readership surveys has been 1,000 readers, but this is not fixed in stone. Ideally you want between 350 and 400 completed surveys (depending on your circulation). If, based on past experience, you can reasonably expect a response rate that will generate this number from a smaller sample size, you can consider this option.

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