READERS’ SURVEY 2022

Our 2022 Readers’ Survey invited readers of Professional Pest Manager and Termite Professional magazines to share their opinions on our publications. 

It’s been three years since our last readers’ survey in 2019 and there have been some notable changes since, not the least the launch of Termite Professional magazine. We’ve just completed our 2022 Reader Survey, so what did we learn?

 

Overall rating

When asked to rate Professional Pest Manager magazine, the good news is that we received an overall rating of 4.44 out of 5, with over 92% of respondents giving a rating of very good or excellent. This was up from 4.25 out of 5 in 2019. Hopefully the improvement was a result of the changes we made in response to the feedback we received back then. Whilst this improvement and score is very pleasing, there were still some suggestions for improvement and some good ideas for new segments in the magazine. Look out for some of these next year!

With the launch of Termite Professional magazine in 2021, we asked our readers to rate this new magazine separately. Termite Professional magazine received a marginally higher rating of 4.49 out of 5, with 91% of readers rating the written quality of the magazine as either high quality or extremely high quality. With Termite Professional magazine only being released annually, we try to produce a magazine of superior print quality, including cover images with special effects. With over 96% of readers saying the magazine print quality was high or extremely high quality, it looks like we are hitting the mark.

 

Favourite segments

Readers were asked to indicate which magazine segments they liked. Generally, the more preferred segments in Professional Pest Manager magazine were similar to previous surveys: Product & Services News, Termites, General News and feature segments. The only difference in this year’s survey was that the Termites segment was identified as the most liked segment, although this may have been inflated, in part, by the arrival of Termite Professional magazine.

The Termite Professional magazine articles covering the latest research and the keynote articles from leading termite researchers proved very popular. This highlights the desire for readers to learn about the latest research findings to improve their knowledge and understanding of termites. This was one of the key drivers for launching the magazine, so it was pleasing to get this feedback.

Over the last 12 months we have started to include QR codes in some articles, to give readers easy access to additional content and videos. Despite Covid making QR codes mainstream, only around a third of readers are using the QR codes in the magazine at the moment. We will try and make the QR codes more visible as they link to material that will enhance the reader experience.

 

Printed magazine or online?

Readers continue to spend over two and a half hours reading the magazine, with 88% keeping back issues of the magazine and over three quarters of readers going back to back issues sometimes, often or all the time. All good indicators that overall our readers find the content interesting and that the magazine is appreciated as a value reference material. However, Professional Pest Manager magazine is a multi-media publication with the magazine available online and individual articles published to the Professional Pest Manager website.

Although magazine readers continue to show a strong preference for reading the printed magazine – this is across all age groups, with 60% of respondents indicating they only read the printed version – some 40% read the online magazine some or all of the time. This mirrors global trends where specialist printed magazines continue to perform well, as readers find it easier and more engaging to read a printed magazine.

However, readers also regularly visit the Professional Pest Manager website, with nearly 80% having visited the website to read articles or access additional information. With nearly 1500 magazine articles and specific information pages on individual pests, professionalpestmanager.com is a trusted and invaluable pest control information source for industry professionals.

 

How often do subscribers re-read Professional Pest Manager magazine?

 

How does the magazine work?

Professional Pest Manager magazine is an independently owned magazine and relies on advertiser support and subscriptions. Importantly, the magazine has a target to include at least 50% ‘non-commercial’ material, to educate our readers on all aspects of pest control. In this regard, your subscription fees help us meet this goal and generate independent content. So, a big thank you to our paid subscribers. Our paid subscribers get a number of additional benefits, including a free listing on the pest control company locator on professionalpestmanager.com. Even if they get only one job through the directory over the course of the year, paid subscribers are already making money from their subscription.

The future In 2023 Professional Pest Manager has two new, exciting developments. In July, we will be hosting the inaugural Termite Professional Conference on the Sunshine Coast (scan the QR code for more information). Book your spot before the end of 2022 to access the early bird discount. Paid subscribers to Professional Pest Manager magazine get an additional discount. With the traffic to the Professional Pest Manager website rapidly increasing from members of the public looking for information on pests and professional pest control services, website advertising will be made available to pest control companies – a great way to target potential leads. More information will be released in the new year.

As always we appreciate your feedback and we would like to thank our paid subscribers and advertisers again for their continued support.

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