Last month, we asked readers to give us feedback on how we’re doing, what they like about The Conversation Canada and what we could be doing better. Our 2024 reader survey was conducted by a team of researchers at Toronto Metropolitan University, led by Prof. Charles Davis.
Charles and his team are still doing a deep dive into the data, but he has provided us with some preliminary insights.
Survey results showed the top five most important reasons to read The Conversation Canada are:
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Editorial independence;
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Getting expert analysis of current events;
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The authority or expertise of our authors;
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Clarity of writing;
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No commercial agenda.
Readers were asked to compare The Conversation to other media outlets. Many said we were like The Guardian or the CBC, but most respondents answered “none” to that question – meaning we’re seen as being unique among the media landscape.
The survey also asked respondents this question: What three words best describe The Conversation Canada? Top responses: interesting, informative, trustworthy, relevant, unbiased and free (meaning we don’t have a paywall or charge subscriptions).
The data also tells us that most of the people who took the time to complete the survey – it was very long! – come from folks like you who are subscribers to our daily newsletter. We thank the hundreds of you who provided this valuable feedback.
Our work with Charles’s team at TMU continues. We’re soon launching our first ever survey of readers of La Conversation Canada. And a deeper analysis of the reader surveys will help us improve what we do.
Surveys are just one tool we use to better understand what our audiences likes to read. Over the last year we have gained insights from a firm called SmartOcto, which analyses how readers value different types of stories – the ones that attract the most eyeballs, the ones that score high in “reader depth” (meaning folks read them right to the end), the ones read most by our loyal readers (folks like you) and also our top “evergreen” stories (meaning they were published a while ago but they are still attracting a lot of readers).
For your weekend reading, I thought I’d provide a sample of these four types of reader behaviour stories over the last month. Thank you again for taking the time to give us feedback. Your insights are invaluable to us.
We’ll be back in your Inbox on Monday.
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