Alumni Share Views of College’s Communications

During March and April, the College conducted an online survey of alumni to learn more about their reading habits related to The Grinnell Magazine, class letters, email communications, social media, and reading online publications in general. This was a prelude to a redesign of the print magazine, which will debut this fall or winter, and development of a robust online version.

People were contacted by email with a link to an online survey. To ensure a balanced cross section of alumni, the College also mailed a postcard to 750 people who didn’t have an email address on file, inviting them to participate in the online survey or request a printed survey.

The survey garnered 2,213 responses from 6,937 valid recipients, a response rate of 31.9 percent. “Anything over 30 is considered really good by online survey standards,” says Carlie VanWilligen, associate director of analytic support and institutional research.

As a small incentive to participate, three respondents’ names were drawn at random to receive $50 gift cards for the campus bookstore. They are Janet Deyo Pugh ’68, Madison, Wis.; Charlene Tung ’92, Richmond, Calif.; and Mitch Herz ’05, Ann Arbor, Mich.

Here are a few of the results:

The vast majority of respondents, 79 percent, prefer to read magazines in print.

However, if The Grinnell Magazine were available in an attractive, easy-to-read format online, 35 percent said they would read it in that space and 44 percent said maybe they would.

The questions about reading online made some people believe the College will cease to publish its print version. “We will continue to publish the print edition,” says Jim Reische, vice president of communications. “This is about providing our readers with options. Publishing both print and online editions will be a little more work for the College, but we believe it’s worth it to give our alums a choice in how they want to connect with their college.”

The new online version, which is in development, will allow readers to comment on articles and share stories through social media. It will also enable the Communications staff to publish more photos and video.

To get a sense of what readers find most interesting about the existing content, the survey asked respondents to mark all stories/sections they recalled reading or skimming. For both the Fall and Winter 2014 issues, “Classnotes” and “Letters to the Editor” were the most popular. Feature stories that garnered the most votes were “Campus Myth Busters” in the winter issue and “Grinnell in World War I” in the fall. The winter Student Musings essay, “Beyond Admission,” also earned significant votes, as did the fall feature “Posse Scholars Enhance Campus, Leave Legacy of Leadership and Service.”

The survey also solicited ideas and suggestions for future stories or topics for the magazine, and Grinnellians did not disappoint. There were hundreds of comments in this section of the survey.

“We appreciate the variety of ideas we received,” says Jim Powers, director of communications. “It’s interesting to see trends. The comments also help us set editorial priorities.”

Many readers asked for more stories about regular alumni, alumni are doing interesting things but aren’t necessarily well known.

Readers also want to know more about how Grinnell is handling sexual assaults on campus and the Title IX cases mentioned in a Huffington Post article in March.

The editorial staff is mining these ideas for future stories and directions for the magazine’s redesign — its content and its look and feel. To submit story ideas anytime, email the editor at magazine@grinnell.edu.