Your Survey Feedback is Inspiring
Thanks for taking our recent survey!
Feedback is a gift. And I want to thank you for the feedback you gave about the content you want to see on this site.
Your input will help us stay on track and give you what you want.
Now I’d like to give back to you, by sharing the survey results.
Here are the highlights of the survey:
* * * * * * *
Over half of the Small Business Trends community visits at least several times a week (26% visit daily, and 27% visit 3 or 4 times a week).
31% of you come to learn about best practices from industry experts and 27% come to see what trends are driving industry.
47% of you have used the information from this site in your business to a significant degree — some of the ways mentioned were:
- “U.S. Veteran SBA loans [article] sparked an analysis of information we provide to potential franchisees.”
- “The introduction to ProPay led me to sign up for their credit card processing services.”
- “Best-kept marketing secrets … posted on my blog and shared with clients.”
Top 3 types of articles you want to read:
- How-to articles
- Timely topics like recession
- Industry trends
Topics you want more of:
- Small Business Advice
- Small Business Trends
- Marketing Tips
- Marketing Trends
37% of you don’t leave comments, just lurk and hang around.
You want articles that are short, sweet and full of links to explore. However, you added write-in comments like these:
- “When I am interested it is never long enough. When I am not interested, it is never short enough.”
- “I like a good balance of short and sweet articles and longer articles that go into detail.”
Technology products you want to see reviewed: PDAs and Laptops topped the list.
Some specifics you mentioned that you wanted:
- “More social, personal feel — just don’t be funny”
- “Business ideas”
- “How-to and training opportunities”
68% of you have referred or would refer Small Business Trends to friends (part of our “net promoter” score)
View the full survey results here.
* * * * * * *
Many thanks if you took the survey. If you think of anything to add, please leave a comment below.
Finally, I want to say that YOU are the reason we’re here, and I deeply appreciate your visits, your comments, and, yes, even your constructive feedback. And I think I speak for everyone, including each of the experts who contribute articles.
At first I was a little worried about doing this survey, being half afraid to look at the results. I mean, what if you hated the site??? Luckily, Ivana Taylor urged me not to worry. She said, “Go ahead. You’ll be happy you did.” She was right.
Based on your input, we will be making a number of changes to the design of this site and to the editorial plan. But one thing will not change — the focus here will continue to be on the pulse of small business. You are that pulse, and we will try to give you the most useful, inspiring, intriguing, thought-provoking, and downright fascinating experience possible.
April 9th, 2008 at 12:05 am
Thanks so much for sharing this Anita.
It’s amazing to see the variety! I guess most people really love balanced articles as well as “implementable” ideas.
= )
April 9th, 2008 at 3:59 am
Impressive! Thanks for sharing the information. The name of your blog is according to the findings! Your readers want to be on top of things and see what trends are coming in the small business area. Keep up the great work! Top of my head: a review or listing of different mobile tools could be a future post, e.g. smartphones.
April 9th, 2008 at 10:04 am
Interesting results, thank you for sharing them with us. I’m glad you found the survey to be a positive experience. Can’t wait to see how you fine tune things. Good work.
April 9th, 2008 at 11:41 am
I’m still waiting on your new logo!
April 9th, 2008 at 12:33 pm
My take away from this is that your readers are hungry for information but it needs to be easy and efficient for them to digest. Keep up the great work.
April 9th, 2008 at 1:46 pm
I’m glad you shared the results openly. It was interesting to see if anything I craved was on the minds of others as well. I have to agree with the comment this comment, too: “When I am interested it is never long enough. When I am not interested, it is never short enough.” I can relate to that, so I guess it is a balance.
April 9th, 2008 at 1:51 pm
Really interesting and it is great that you shared the results with the community. I’m most intrigued by the areas the respondents want less information. It looks like retail, globalization and social entrepreneurship are the least popular topics. Why do think that is??
Steve
April 9th, 2008 at 3:16 pm
Hi Steve,
Regarding why readers want less information in relation to retail, globalization and social entrepreneurship — that’s a great question. My educated guess is:
- Retail: retail is a specialized area and retailers/etailers tend to go to niche publications and communities for their information (eBay forums, etc.).
- Globalization: many small businesses just don’t relate to doing business across borders. This is seen as more of a “big company” issue. I’m not saying we shouldn’t be interested, I’m just saying for most people the focus is closer to home.
- Social entrepreneurship: if you’re into “green” business and causes, then you are REALLY into them. But I’d say that’s the minority. Most entrepreneurs and biz owners have to worry about their own businesses being successful first, before they can give mindshare or financial support to causes, no matter how worthy. It’s not that they’re against causes, just that they have priorities that take precedence.
As I said, just my educated guess. Anybody else have any other ideas on these 3 points?
Anita
April 9th, 2008 at 9:09 pm
It is really impressive with the speed with which you posted the full results. Most surveys you don’t really get to see the results or at best they are given months later.
I agree with your view regarding globaliztion that many small businesses focus closer to home. The thing is though, the world is getting smaller all the time.
April 10th, 2008 at 9:17 am
Susan, I can’t believe how many people I come into contact with in the average week, who are from other countries. Just look at you and also Martin Lindeskog — both of you regular contributors.
Ivana Taylor, who set up the survey for me, used QuestionPro which compiles the results and analyzes them automatically. I used to use Survey Monkey, but Question Pro seems heads above in the intelligence it gives instantly.
Anita
April 11th, 2008 at 3:03 am
Anita,
I currently use Survey Monkey, however I am going to check out QuestionPro as I was quite impressed with it. Thanks for the tip.
Susan
April 11th, 2008 at 8:58 pm
Anita and Susan: Yes, you have a global thing going on here!
May 22nd, 2008 at 2:08 am
[…] Note: Based on our recent content survey, there seems to be interest in reading reviews of technology products designed for small businesses […]