JCK SUBSCRIBERS ARE LONG-TERM LOYALISTS
We’re all familiar with many famous pairs – love and marriage, Burton and Taylor, Ron and Nancy to name a few – and our recent readership survey suggests another: jewelers and JCK. It revealed that just about half of all our subscribers have been with us for 10 years or more, a striking loyalty. Their principal reasons for signing up again, year after year, are that JCK keeps them informed about issues that are relevant to their businesses, that JCK is so “educational,” and that it is so current with its news and analysis.
Not surprisingly, information about diamond and colored stones is your primary concern and interest. Four out of five of those in the survey rate reporting on precious stones very important in their day-to-day operations. Up-to-date technical information is the number one topic for both diamonds and colored stones, reflecting the great interest these days in such issues as fracture-filled diamonds and the many treatments used in preparing colored stones for market. Selling techniques is the number two choice.
News about new products, as always, rates very high with readers. Security news also is an important issue, particularly with the larger stores.
Not only do our readers stay with us; they also like to hold on to their issues. More than half save their JCKs for future reference and another third clip and save individual articles. Of those who keep their issues, the average time is at least a year; remarkably, one in seven saves the issues indefinitely.
Our annual Jewelers Directory also wins high marks. About a third of our subscribers refer to the Directory at least once a week with their main interest in the product listings. The Yellow Pages section also is much in demand. I’m glad to say that you also give a satisfying vote of confidence to our recent expansion of the product information, a majority saying it is not only more useful but also easy to use.
Our twice-a-year Open To Buy issue featuring the latest in new products and services also rates well. Three quarters of our readers say these special issues are helpful, primarily to review new product trends but also to plan future buying.
To conclude this second report on our readership survey, I have to correct two errors in last month’s column where I used preliminary figures. In the “best coverage” section of our survey, 41% of jewelers say JCK offers the best coverage of diamonds and colored stones, 26% say Modern Jeweler and 15% say National Jeweler. For watches, the figures are JCK 34%, Modern 18% and National 14%. In the earlier column I inadvertently reversed the standings of Modern and National.