questionnaire analysis

Questionnaire evaluation

To find out in more detail about what people look for in a magazine our group decided to do a questionnaire. We asked our target audience several question to help us structure our magazine layout and style. Each member of our group asked 10 females between the ages of 10-16 to see what young girls look for in a magazine, as this was our target audience for our own music magazine.
The results will help me design my own music magazine as I will know what interests our target audience the most. This will make my magazine more successful. Our questionnaire consisted of questions based on the appearance of the magazine, feature inside the magazine and marketing techniques. I will analyse the data from the questionnaire.
Here are our results:

The first question I asked was ‘When purchasing a magazine, what influences you to buy it?’ My findings showed that cover stories and the celebrity on the cover was the most appealing feature from the cover. This may be because the audience all have celebrities they associate with and like, this attracts them to the magazine. The cover stories were also relevant to the reader when purchasing the magazine. This will help me as I know now that the cover stories must be of interest to the target market and appropriate for their age. The least feature which least interest them is the free gift. I gather this might be because the free gifts in magazine are usually very small items and not of interest to all. Many magazines do not include this selling point anymore either.

The next question I asked was about the price, ‘Does price influence your choice of magazine?’ 90% of the chosen people said yes. This meant that I would need to make sure that the price is in range of what young teenagers can afford. The following question was also based on the price, ‘How much are you willing to pay for a magazine?’ the most popular answer was £2-£3. When designing my magazine I will need to consider this and ensure my price of the magazine falls somewhere between that price range to reach to the mass. This price is similar to other magazines aimed at the same audience. To assist me when I designing my front cover I asked the question, ‘Do you prefer a simplistic or detailed front cover design?’ Most of the people asked said detailed covers. I feel this could be because when consumers are buying magazine they want to know what is inside the magazine. This question also relates back to the question what influence them to buy a magazine. Cover stories are part of the detail. If the magazine is simple it may come across as plain and tedious. The detail brings excitement and looks interesting. I will make certain that my magazine is also detailed and looks fun.
In addition to the questionnaire I asked whether colour influences their choice of magazine. Majority replied yes. Due to the fact that our magazine will be aimed at young females I will need to make sure that the colours on my front cover are bold, bright and fun. They will also need to be ‘girly’ colours such as pink, yellow orange etc. By using vivid colours on the front cover of my magazine would help it become more eye-catching and attract the audience. It will also help my music magazine to stand out from the competitors.

‘How often do you buy a magazine?’ was my next question. This question was asked to see how often our magazine should be put on the shelf. The popular answer fortnightly and this may be because fortnightly magazines tend to be cheaper than monthly ones and young teenagers can’t afford the more expensive magazines. From my research other than this questionnaire I found out that magazines aimed at the younger ages all release new editions fortnightly. Nobody answered ‘daily’. This eliminates one option completely when considering how often our magazine should be sold.


To obtain detail about whether consumers read or take any interest in what is in the contents page I asked, ‘Do you always read the contents page?’. I found out that 50% said they do read the contents page and 20% said they read it sometimes. This means that my contents page must be attractive in order to get more people to read it. To further my knowledge about the contents page I asked ‘Do you always read the editors letter?’ Many magazines contain an editor’s letter which is usually on the contents page. I found out that 4 out of the 10 asked always read the editors letter. The others sometimes read it. I will need to consider this and see whether I should include the editor’s letter. If it is included it will need to be more engaging with the audience.
Another question I asked was ‘Do you think a contents page needs images?’ 90% of the people I asked replied yes and this means that I must include a few images in my magazine. Although the magazines I analysed did not include many images.To settle on what cover stories I should include I asked ‘What is the first thing you turn to in a magazine?’ The popular answer was celebrity interviews and celebrity gossip. On my front cover I will need to make sure these stories are included. The least popular was horoscopes; I now know that this will not need to be a priority story on my front cover. This information will also help me to decide what to include on my double page spread and contents page.By carrying out this analysis of my questionnaire I have gained a better understanding of my target market and what attracts them to a magazine. I will refer to these finding when I produce my music magazine to make it appropriate and appealing