Information Overload?
   Did subscription cards contributed to the demised of  many a venerable Trade publication?    

Does the overwhelming amount of questions on a subscription card annoy you enough not to subscribe?

It is not hard to see why some Trade publications do so poorly in their recruiting efforts when it comes time to re-subscribe or add new subscribers to their subscription list.

They inundate the re-newer or subscriber-to-be with a barrage of survey like questions on the subscription vehicle  (card/application).

So much in fact that, just looking at some of these subscription vehicles makes one cringe and want to turn away from the task of even starting to fill one out... discouraging an otherwise qualified individual from subscribing or renewing as soon as possible, as intended by most publications subscription drive.

This is true and more prevalent with computer and tech slanted publications...  

...it is just a subscription drive folks!

While gathering enough information or demographics from a subscriber is a necessary evil to form an intelligent opinion as to a subscriber's degree of involvement in that particular industry and thus puff-up ad revenues. Some publications simply go to an extreme when conducting a subscription drive.

Sure it is easier to collect as much data from an already captive and, or a possibly receptive future subscriber, but.. that is what surveys are for.

Which by the way, if done through the internet can, and will produce results within hours. With cost relatively at a fraction of what an e-mail or phone survey would... which could take weeks and hundreds, if not, thousand of dollars more.

Going back to the subscription card.. the one that Fulfillment Houses/ad-Promotional Agencies are peddling in behalf and with the blessing of some publishers and or publications without any regards for the reader or subscriber.

As the late A.C. Spectorsky, Playboy's Associate Publisher and Editorial Director said on the first and throughout his "Baker's Dozen Principles": the reader must come first. 

Obviously... some publishers/editors could draw from A.C. Spectorsky "Principles, to stay the course, and some,  as we found with a past recruiting effort from the publication below, it hits the mark!

Here is a sample letter from a publication that did subscribe to the idea of  keeping the customer first and foremost. The letter is frank and up-front with the recipient.

The demographic gathering questions are brief, introduction is short, honest, and right to the point, it begins:

My personal guarantee: We are sending you this magazine for free. In return we ask for a little personal information. We will never reveal your information. We compile  our reader's demographics to sell ads. We help you. You help us. Thank you, Name of Publisher.

It doesn't get any more straightforward than that!

While some publishers may stick to the argument that a subscriber is getting valuable content and information critical to their industry by subscribing to their Trade  publication, without a good solid base of subscribers, there wouldn't be a publication to begin with.

After all, isn't that what the main objective of a subscription drive is? Aside from the fact that list compiling do and will generate additional sources of income?

With that in mind the following was the result of a non-inclusive unscientific "micro" representation study  of 132 publications by Golden Quill of subscription vehicles/cards.

The study was meant to identify which publications had the most and least amount of questions required to be answered on their subscription vehicles (cards/forms) by the intended targeted audience.

We found that some publications had fewer than 3 questions on their Magazine subscription vehicle (card/form). While others had a torturous amount of multiple choice questions... within questions.

One Trade Publication carried fewer than 9 questions but under these it had 92 sub, or multiple choice questions and a total of 168 checkable boxes on their subscription card.

True, not all the boxes needed to be checked out but the task of going through each individual question to see which better fitted one's profile to say the least, bordered on the overwhelming, not to mention tedious.

Worst yet. Some publications with "Long Forms" even included a survey, aside, and in addition to their required field of questions and multiple questions... on the same card!

The least

Your usual Magazine subscription card carries an average of 5-10 questions at the Low end.

However, the vast majority, of Trade Magazines listed 5 questions on their subscription cards. With the remainder being anything in between, above or below those counts, not counting USPS requirements such as Name-Address- Signature-Date and qualifier (Yes/No I would like to subscribe).

With entry boxes for Telephone, Fax and E Mail also listed but not a strict requirement for a subscription, with most publications.

The most

But as mentioned earlier. The Granddaddy of subscription cards with the Most checkable boxes in order for a recipient to be qualified and thus receive the requested publication belong to most Tech and Computer slanted publications.

One Trade Publication had fewer than 8 questions but a whooping 140 sub-questions or "multiple choice questions" and 225 total checkable boxes. By the way, this is known as a "Long Form" in the Industry.

Of all the publications reviewed for this article several have ceased publication.

Our listing was not an inclusive listing. In addition, publications tent to change their subscription vehicles to conform and adjust to changes in the market place, testing parameters and results as well as demands within their own publishing house and environments.

However, this provides a glimpse and or opens up a window into the different approaches taken by the various publications when doing a subscription drive.

Some publications have the capacity and resources to afford themselves the "Long Form" notwithstanding the lost of some subscribers. Others, seem to keep a much more watchful eye over the bottom line.

Many a publication also used a short, easy renewal form, letter or card, requesting only a "Yes" confirmation on your part (along with the date and your signature), to continue receiving their publication making the process fast and painless and yet... others doggedly stick with basically the same Long Format year after year, regardless of whether they are going after a new or existing subscriber.

It is true that positions within a particular organization do change, people get promoted, transferred etc., and with change comes new responsibilities. But this is nothing that a short form targeted at existing subscribers couldn't update.

Bottom line. If you are in the process of starting a new Book (industry term for "Magazine"), or even if you've already had, don't overwhelm your target audience with annoying "Long Forms" when doing a subscription drive. That will only hurt Your Bottom Line for the reader... come first! 

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