May 30 "How Can We Improve?" Survey Results

In our last issue we asked some simple questions of our readers to determine what direction they want to see OS/2 e-Zine! go. While these surveys are done mainly for internal purposes, we assume many of you might be interested in what your fellow readers have to say. So below you will find the complete results of our questionnaire.

Answers to our survey were accepted from May 30th until June 11th. We had a total of 373 replies to our questionnaire with 35 "spoiled" entries (replies were considered "spoiled" if they did not contain an e-mail address, if all questions were not answered or if they were duplicates). This left 338 valid replies. The results were as follows:

Would you like a print version of OS/2 e-Zine! delivered to you via postal mail?

When we first started OS/2 e-Zine!, a prominent OS/2 developer told us that we should seriously consider creating a print version. Over the years we have resisted this temptation for many reasons: printing and distribution costs, marketing difficulties, and lack of experience to name a few. But we wondered if we were missing a potential "gold mine". The obvious thing to do was ask, so we did.

A surprising number of readers (62.4%) told us that they did not want a print version of OS/2 e-Zine!. This may be due to the fact that a print version would obviously be much less timely than the electronic 'zine we've been putting together for almost three years. Still, a significant number of you (26.0%) did express interest in the idea, so it's not something we're dismissing at this point. For now though, our main priority will be ensuring the long term stability of the traditional electronic version.

What yearly subscription fee would you pay for regular delivery of a print version of OS/2 e-Zine! every two weeks?

Paradoxically, considering the number of people who said they did not want a print version of OS/2 e-Zine!, only about one in four (27.5%) told us they would not pay any fee for such a product delivered every two weeks. While this was our largest single group of respondents, many more (42.7%) felt they would pay somewhere between US$15 and US$50 per year for bi-weekly delivery.

What yearly subscription fee would you pay for regular delivery of a print version of OS/2 e-Zine! every four weeks?

Another option that has been suggested for a print version of OS/2 e-Zine! is to print only once every four weeks, combining two issues at a time before sending them. For this type of service, your responses were roughly the same as for a bi-weekly product. Again, a little over a quarter of readers (26.3%) would not pay any fee but this time a little over 40% (42.6% to be exact) told us they would pay only between US$15 and US$30 per year.

Complete Survey Results

Would you like a print version of OS/2 e-Zine! delivered to you via postal mail?

Category	Count	Percentage
Yes	88	26.0%
No	211	62.4%
I have no opinion / I'm not sure	38	11.2%
TOTAL	338	99.6%

What yearly subscription fee would you pay for regular delivery of a print version of OS/2 e-Zine! every two weeks?

Category	Count	Percentage
I would not pay any fee	93	27.5%
I would pay less than US$15	13	3.8%
I would pay US$15	34	10.1%
I would pay US$20	4	1.2%
I would pay US$24	1	0.3%
I would pay US$25	2	0.6%
I would pay US$30	64	18.9%
I would pay US$36	1	0.3%
I would pay US$40	3	0.9%
I would pay US$50	35	10.4%
I would pay US$60	1	0.3%
I would pay US$100	6	1.8%
I would pay more than US$100	1	0.3%
I have no opinion / I'm not sure	79	23.4%
TOTAL	338	99.8%

What yearly subscription fee would you pay for regular delivery of a print version of OS/2 e-Zine! every four weeks?

Category	Count	Percentage
I would not pay any fee	89	26.3%
I would pay less than US$15	17	5.0%
I would pay US$15	72	21.3%
I would pay US$18	1	0.3%
I would pay US$20	2	0.6%
I would pay US$22	1	0.3%
I would pay US$24	1	0.3%
I would pay US$25	1	0.3%
I would pay US$30	66	19.5%
I would pay US$40	1	0.3%
I would pay US$50	8	2.4%
I would pay US$100	3	0.9%
I have no opinion / I'm not sure	75	22.2%
TOTAL	338	99.7%

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