You spoke, we listened – Subscriber Survey 2019

In October we ran our 2019 newsletter Subscriber Survey. This was an opportunity for us to find out what you like about APO’s service, what you want more of, and what you could do without. Our readers and website users are what makes APO tick, so your opinion and insights are invaluable to us. An enormous thank you to all those who completed the survey! 

Survey highlights

• Where you work: Not surprisingly, the majority (92%) of our subscribers are employed, and of these, half of respondents (53%) were employed in government, followed by not-for-profits (23%) and universities (13%) – with the remaining employed in the private sector.
• Your employment role: We confirmed that many of our readers are policy officers. There were also significant cohorts of managers and researchers.

• Time as a subscriber: You’re a loyal bunch, with the majority (52%) of our subscribers being subscribed for 1-5 years and 18% for more than 5 years.
• Content: Overall, respondents are most interested in social issues, followed by politics (including government and policy), health and indigenous issues.

The majority of subscribers are happy with the newsletter content – with 88% saying that APO newsletters had everything they need – thanks to our brilliant editors who tirelessly curate our newsletters. But wait there’s more! Most respondents (77%) have visited the APO website to search and browse our full collection of over 43,000 resources. But 11% didn’t know we had a website. If you’re one of them, go to our How to page to learn more about how you can get the most out of APO.

* Results taken from 564 respondents.

In your own words

Overwhelmingly, our subscribers provided us with positive feedback that made us feel all warm and fuzzy inside. There were also some really helpful comments about what you want from your newsletters, which will help shape and inform our services as they develop. As part of our 2020 ‘New Direction’, we’ll be updating our newsletter offerings so that we can bring you even more tailored and valuable services. Read more about our changes in 2020.

We learnt that you want more organised and topic-based content, and struggle with the volume of content:

‘I rarely have time to read or even scan the whole newsletter.’

‘Grouping articles would help ease of readership or allow opt in selection of topic areas.’

‘My biggest problem is volume. I don’t have a solution – just thought I would share.’

And that you really like our unique and informative service:

‘I am grateful for the wonderful service you provide – just in terms of efficiency gains for researchers and public-sector employees alone, you make an enormous contribution to governance in this country. Thank you!’

‘It is a really fantastic and amazing resource that has been incredibly useful for my policy and research communication research. Thanks for all the great work. Please keep going.’

‘I love this resource, extremely useful for the comprehensive cover of policy and research.’

And when we asked you what else you would like us to know, this is what you told us:

So, thank you.

Any more feedback for us?

If you didn’t get a chance to give us your feedback, we’d still love to hear from you! Simply reach out to us using our Contact page. 

If you’re an existing subscriber and you’d like to help us improve our services by providing some more information about yourself – including role, organisation and sector – please update your profile by clicking on ‘update subscription preferences’ in the footer of any APO newsletter. Any information you provide will be used by APO to improve our services in accordance with our Privacy Policy. 

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