Our survey says…

Well, our survey results are in and counted and organised and I have to say that we are really really pleased both with the level of response we received but also with the comments that were made and that information that we were given.

The areas for improvement that were raised were broadly these :Improve our proof reading, less silly spelling errors and other mistakes, tighten up on the design and look and feel of the magazine and ensure that communication remains as high as it has been this year and that it doesnt drop

We’re really thrilled that we already have solutions in place for the first 2 and that communication has been recognised as being good this year.  That means a lot to us.

Below are some more pieces of information that we obtained from the survey.  We hope that the next time we ask for your comments we are able to do it in a way that allows us to offer prizes to thank you for your time in completing the survey.

Yarn Forward subscriber survey, August 2008

We asked over 700 of our subscribers a set of 10 short questions, no identification was asked for and no incentive was offered to complete the survey.  We received 256 replies which is a 37% response rate, well over the industry average response rate of 26%.

A selection of great comments  :

Best knitting magazine I’ve seen since Vogue knitting in the Eighties.

Fantastic! wish I had subscribed sooner.

Brilliant!  The best knitting magazine available in the UK at the moment, I absolutely love it. 

I love your magazine and wouldn`t want to miss an issue.

Love it.  Yarn Forward is just what the UK has been waiting for all these years.

More detailed results :

71% spend more than 10 hours a week knitting

34% spend more than 3 hours reading each issue of Yarn Forward

76% have been knitting for longer than 15 years!

51% spend between £30 and £100 a month on knitting

35% have an average household income of over £50,000

Average age – between 31 and 40

Summary

Our readers are in their 30s, high earners with a good level of disposable income.  Experienced knitters who know what they want and spend a significant amount of time and money on their hobby.  Yarn Forward is seen as a leading magazine for the more experienced knitter, people really appreciate the yarn substitutions, large size range and detail of articles.

Long time..

I hadn’t realised it had been so long since we updated here, a combination of new staff, office moves, summer holidays and a full on production schedule have had us all running around for the last few weeks but I think that we are all settling into a good routine now.  That should mean more time to blog (and hopefully not too often at 4.30 in the morning!)

Issue 7 is well underway, we have photoshoots planned for both this week and next and the samples are currently piling up in the offices.   Its always interesting to see how the designers interpretation of the sketch and swatch that I see when I commission a design turns out, sometimes it looks exactly as expected and other times its slightly different.  I’m thinking about writing a series of blog posts about how designs are commissioned for the magazine, would anyone be interested in that?

In other news we have just closed our subscriber survey, thank you SO much to everyone who replied.  I’m processing the results now and they should be available in email to all subscribers and on the blog later on in the week.  If you are a current subscriber who does not receive our emails please drop a note to feedback@yarnforwardmagazine.co.uk and we’ll add you to the list.  We don’t send out too many emails, a couple a month maybe, and as a subscriber you’ll find out interesting pieces of news before we tell the rest of the world.