Fencing.Net Survey - Results and Findings

[Craig]

First of all, thanks to everyone who participated in the online survey. I now have 2 data points for tracking satisfaction with the site.

I'll be reviewing all of the comments and suggestions submitted with the survey and grouping them into their major areas to see what jumps out as the next area of improvement.

From the last survey I came away with two major goals: Expand Fencing.Net's audience and provide more fencing news. By going through the site redesign and addition of the content management system, fencing.net has achieved a new level in being able to deliver news to the fencing community.

General Questions

Frequency of Visiting Fencing.Net:
The frequency of vising the site went down, from 82% visiting multiple times/week to about 53% now. I expected this change as the audience has broadened with the addition of the news sections. Since the most frequent visitors use the forum, I expected that if people were coming for content outside the forums then the frequency would go down. (For those in sales/marketing - this is why dips in some metrics are not bad things.)

Why did you come to Fencing.Net?
Looking for information on the sport remains at the top.
The big movers were:
- Looking for fencing news increased from 48% to 70%!!
- Forums decreased from 58% to 34%
- Videos and Photos both increased from 27% to 33%
- Equipment Search increased to 30%

Top 2 Box Answers: The "top 2" box score refers to the combination of the top 2 on the 5 point scale for satisfaction. This is what a lot of market research companies look at when doing surveys.

Rate satisfaction with:
Intro. Info: 75% (up from 65%)
News: 85% (up from 50%)
Drills: 54% (down from 65%)
Forum: 64% (down from 79%, but "Do Not Use" went from 17% to 24%)
Product Reviews: no change
Overall: 97% (down from 100%)


Based on the survey results, the change in providing more news articles was a real hit! Obviously there is room for improvement in the Training Tips/Drills area. This is where I'll need to find some help - but the USFCA has similar problems in getting submissions.

I'll post a summary of the open-ended comments once I get a chance to classify them. In glancing at them I've received a number of good comments and ideas - I'll have to see what can be implemented!

And lastly - I'll have the winner of the DVD set announced early next week.

Thanks again for your support, ideas, and help.

Craig

[Army Fencer]

Thanks Craig for all the work you put in.

[wflaschka]

I still can't figure out how Craig has a job, a life, a family, an online store -- and still manages to put through so much work on the site. I guess he's very organized.

About the dip in weekly visits -- that's a significant drop. I think it's partly due to the improvements in the CMS, so that people have to visit less in order to get the same infodose they had before. But in my case, I'm always visiting for the bulletin board... the bboards seem to be a big draw, and a big factor in retention. Yet in the left-hand navigation, the Forums aren't weighted or highlighted (I'm constantly clicking "Tournament Results" by accident). An additional or larger placement for the link, or a permanent graphic for the bboard, might get more people to that critical area of the site, and possibly convert more of them to the cycle of weekly dependence.

[prototoast]

Originally Posted by wflaschka

I still can't figure out how Craig has a job, a life, a family, an online store -- and still manages to put through so much work on the site. I guess he's very organized.

I think it's pretty obvious. There is no "Craig." He is a composite character, but until the truth is made available to the public, the myth of the mighty "Craig" will live on!

[Craig]

Originally Posted by wflaschka

I still can't figure out how Craig has a job, a life, a family, an online store -- and still manages to put through so much work on the site. I guess he's very organized.

About the dip in weekly visits -- that's a significant drop. I think it's partly due to the improvements in the CMS, so that people have to visit less in order to get the same infodose they had before. But in my case, I'm always visiting for the bulletin board... the bboards seem to be a big draw, and a big factor in retention. Yet in the left-hand navigation, the Forums aren't weighted or highlighted (I'm constantly clicking "Tournament Results" by accident). An additional or larger placement for the link, or a permanent graphic for the bboard, might get more people to that critical area of the site, and possibly convert more of them to the cycle of weekly dependence.

Thanks for the comments.

As to the observation on the dip in frequency of visits: I don't think that it's due to people visiting any less, as I'm seeing about the same amount of traffic coming through the forums. I think that it represents an expansion of the readership of Fencing.Net. Before the CMS, there really was not much new information so the forums were really the only attraction for anyone other than a first-time visitor.

Since the CMS, monthly traffic has increased from about 400,000 page views per month to over 700,000 page views per month! I would expect that with such a shift in readership, that the usage would move from the "hardcore" users to more casual readers.

And now that we're doing things like the photos and video clips for review, bandwidth usage has grown from about 16GB/month to over 33GB/month! That will only increase as I get more video clips up and we get closer to the Olympics.

In the week of the 2000 Games I had the highest site traffic for that year, so I expect the traffic here to double for August while the Olympics are on and then taper back out to a more sane level. Hopefully the site will be able to handle it.

[Craig]

Oh - One other update.

The comments so far have been great. The one recurring theme has been "Okay, the news looks good but we want more international news!"

I take that as a good thing - the news has wet the appetite for even more and broader coverage.

Here's what I need: Are there any French, German, or Italian speakers that visit the forum and would be able to help out with some news article translations? If so, email me at craig (at) fencing.net.

Thanks,
Craig