Readers Rave about the Quality of TRSA’s Magazine
TRSA recently completed its AdBrand™ Survey of January’s Textile Services. The study offered advertisers insights from readers on each of their display ads, while the magazine staff received comments on the quality of the publication’s coverage of the linen, uniform and facility services industry.
The views recorded in the draft report and in a “verbatim” comment section, are slated for distribution next week to January display advertisers. Each advertiser will receive a customized report with qualifying information about the survey respondents, along with reader comments on their ad and the publication generally. The critiques of the 24 ads published in January’s issue were generally thoughtful and upbeat. The same goes for comments on the magazine itself. “I think it is great to use as a tool to keep up to date with news in our industry and new products,” wrote one respondent speaking of Textile Services. Another wrote that, “As someone who doesn’t get to visit other laundries very often, I find it incredibly useful when making decisions on large purchases. I like to see inside other plants and imagine how different pieces of equipment might work in ours. It’s also great to see what our trusted vendors have been working on/promoting. It helps keep me connected to others in the industry.”
The online AdBrand survey, conducted by Signet Research, Ft. Lee, NJ, drew responses from 143 laundry operators from across North America and worldwide. Respondents answered a series of questions about the magazine and each display ad. Specifically, the survey asked about their awareness of the company that had placed the ad and whether they’d consider buying goods or services from that company if they had a need for them. Signet describes the combination of these two responses as the “AdBrand Score.”
The survey respondents were mainly key decision-makers. Among them were Owner/President/CEO (19%), Vice President/General Manager (21%), Plant Manager, Production Manager/Director of Operations (20%) and Sales & Service (22%). The survey respondents represented all industry sectors as well, including F&B linen (33%), healthcare (26%) and industrial (33%). Ninety percent of the respondents described themselves as actively engaged in purchasing equipment, textiles, carts, chemicals and other goods for their companies. For example, 53% said they were involved in “recommending, approving or purchasing” textiles. Forty-six percent said they were similarly involved in buying laundry machinery. Fifty-three percent cited their role in cart purchases, and 44% said they were involved in buying chemicals for their companies.
As for specific “actions taken” as a result of reading ads or articles in Textile Services, 81% of the respondents said they’d taken one or more actions related to their businesses because of items they saw in the publication. Examples included “Bought products or services advertised” (28%); “Recommended, Specified Products” (30%); and “Requested additional information from a company, sales representative or distributor” (22%).
Reader appreciation for the display ads published in Textile Services came through loud and clear in the AdBrand survey. Seventy percent of the respondents agreed with the statement that “The advertising in Textile Services educates and is an important part of the publication.” More than half (54%) of the respondents also agreed with the statement that they, “read Textile Services as much for the advertising as for the articles.”
In addition, the study identified the January issue’s most-popular ads. It cited the top five scorers in terms of total responses to each ad as measured by the aforementioned AdBrand Scores (i.e., awareness of the company and their willingness to consider buying goods or services from that company if needed). The top-scoring AdBrand advertisers for January included:
- JENSEN USA Inc.: 175
- Kannegiesser ETECH: 172
- Ecolab Textile Care Division: 159
- Ellis Corp.: 158
- Tingue: 156
To encourage laundry operators to complete the survey, TRSA offered each respondent a $10 Starbucks online gift card. At the conclusion of the survey, Signet oversaw a blind drawing of five respondents’ names. Each of these people received a $100 online gift card from Amazon. The gift card winners for this survey included:
- Laura Cook, Alsco Uniforms, Pensacola, FL
- James Debus, Alsco Uniforms, San Diego
- Bill Garcia, Braun Linen Service Inc., Paramount, CA
- Rick Garland, Enterprise Laundry, Springfield, MO
- Rich Pulley, Alsco Uniforms, Seattle
If you didn’t participate in January’s AdBrand survey – either as a respondent or advertiser – you needn’t fret.
In July’s issue of Textile Services, TRSA will sponsor a second readership study, the AdStudy® survey from Signet. The AdStudy is designed to measure the number of respondents who recall seeing and reading each ad. As with the AdBrand Study, the AdStudy survey will include opportunities for respondents to offer verbatim critiques of each ad. Advertisers often cite this operator feedback, which typically includes ad design and content suggestions, as among the most-valuable aspects of these surveys. Most advertisers receive the equivalent of 1.5-2 pages of verbatim comments per ad.
If a supplier partner would like to learn more about TRSA’s readership surveys, contact your ad rep. If you’re not sure who that is, contact TRSA at 877.770.9274 or email Textile Services Senior Editor Jack Morgan at jmorgan@trsa.org. TRSA would like to thank each of our advertisers for supporting January’s survey issue, as well as all of our readers who completed the AdBrand study.