Surveys are almost a guaranteed boost to any online engagement campaign. People like to take them and they love to see the results.

“Having at least one survey a week was important to help us gage our communities’ interest and our connectivity,” former Provo Daily Herald publisher Bob Williams said. “We’d get together every Wednesday as a team and choose a general survey for the next week.”

Williams wanted to find a way to add more surveys to the Daily Herald on specific issues without inundating their online readers.

Game changing moment

“Bob wanted to solve the problem before he retired,” recalls Rhett Long, the current publisher at Daily Herald and Ogden Standard Examiner. “We discussed a lot of different options but nothing really stuck until we met with the folks at World Table.”

World Table CEO, Bryan Hall, proposed a new approach: “What if instead of offering one survey for the whole site, or even one per section, we developed a way to let your authors offer their own surveys right in their articles?”

The publishers were immediately intrigued. “It was an ah-ha moment,” Long said. “Bob and I looked at each other and said ‘Now that’s interesting!”

Would it work?

Three questions were at the forefront of the new in-article surveys solution:

• Would it even be adopted by the authors/editors?
• Would it add value to the content or would it detract from it?
• Would it increase engagement or just use up valuable real estate?

Getting the authors to adopt it

“We first had to make sure it worked seamlessly with TownNews’ BLOX CMS because so many local media sites are using it now and their authors are used to those solutions being easy and familiar to their natural writing process,” said Hall. “We had worked very hard to make our engagement suite completely compatible with the BLOX CMS as part of our collaboration with TownNews, so we knew anything new had to meet the same rigorous standards.”

“Not only are the surveys easy to use for readers, it’s extremely intuitive for editors,” Executive Editor at Daily Herald and Ogden Standard Examiner Jordan Carol said. “It makes sense to ask questions about a specific topic right there in the article itself. It enhances the work of the reporter and reader discussion.”

Would surveys within the articles add or detract from the content?

Adding the surveys into the articles solved Williams’ desire to add more surveys and removed his concerns about over-saturating the site. “They don’t feel out of place or forced in anyway,” Williams said. “And because they are about the article, the responses become incredibly valuable extensions of the content itself. It’s a perfect solution.”

Daily Herald Online Editor Stacy Johnson said she agrees.

“We also see that the in-article surveys give our readers an opportunity to interact with our content, and feel a connection with the author and content in a civil way.” Johnson said. “Their responses become content as well. This connection gives our readers a reason to return to our website for additional content.”

The in-article surveys are designed to invite people to explain why they voted a certain way in order to help keep the conversations on topic and relevant.

“Keeping things on topic makes for a much better commenting experience in general. But it’s also great for our brand,” Johnson said. “The follow up questions are a very natural conversation starter and people seem to respond accordingly.”

NOTE: The system allows for comments to be selectively enabled/disabled on surveys as needed.

Would the new approach increase engagement or just use up valuable real estate?

World Table’s Engagement Suite allows publishers to track the different ways the readers respond to their author’s actions.

“Immediately we saw a jump in the levels of engagement on the articles we added surveys to,” Johnson said. “We knew something had changed.”

On average, Daily Herald saw 15x the amount of comments on articles where a survey was added. That’s a 1500% increase.

“That’s a lot more commenting going on,” says Rhett. “But when you really look at the data, there’s a lot more of everything going on when we add surveys to the articles.”

Engagement increases across the board

On pages where a survey was included, Daily Herald saw a significant increase in all types of interactions – not just comments and not just because of the survey responses themselves. Everything including article ratings, kudos given (think up-votes or likes), comment views, and signups, all went up.

For example, in 2018, Daily Herald audience interactions with the content go from 0.91 actions per article to a whopping 64.45. That’s 71 times more interactions when a survey is present.

Bob noted the difference between survey responses and all the additional interactions (clicks, ratings, comments, etc.). “What this tells us is that the surveys generate a lot more engagement than just the initial responses to them.”

More engagement yields more signups

Because World Table’s Engagement Suite allows publishers to track the different ways readers respond to their authors’ actions, the system is able to help publishers see which engagement efforts are best for their community.

Bob thinks perhaps the most beneficial result is the increase seen in new signups. “We found the surveys to be a great entry point for new users signing up and engaging for the first time with the paper,” he said. “It’s nearly one new signup per survey we put out there.”

In fact, through 2018, The Daily Herald saw an average of 0.9 signups per page when a survey was present compared with 0.12 signups per page for pages with no survey.

Signups in this case refer to users creating a World Table account to comment with (usually a one click process or an email). While it’s not yet a full paying account on the paper, as part of its policy, World Table hands all the contact information over to the papers to help them grow their email lists.

Where do we go from here?

As media sites look for better ways to engage their audience members, the online in-article surveys have shown to be a powerful catalyst for immediately driving engagement. The ability for authors and editors to quickly gather relevant feedback from their readers within the very content they are producing, and give their community a voice at the same time, could have a significant impact on the industry going forward.

The in-article survey tools are part of the World Table Engagement Suite and are fully integrated with TownNews’ BLOX CMS.

Inquiries can be made at staff@worldtable.co.

Bryan Hall is the CEO of World Table. He can be reached at bryanhall@worldtable.co.

World Table has a complete suite of audience engagement tools, including one of the best and easiest to use online commenting systems. All our tools are fully integrated with TownNews’ BLOX CMS, and install in a matter of minutes.

For help with other systems contact support@worldtable.co.

The post Daily Herald sees immediate jump in engagement from new TownNews-integrated in-article survey tools from World Table appeared first on The World Table.

“To everything there is a season…” (Ecclesiastes 3:1) and this is especially true with important, sacred, or private information.

I tell my eleven year old daughter and my eight year old son two very different versions of Santa Clause. To everything there is a season. When my son is old enough, my wife and I will tell him the “other” truths about Santa. We will also determine that date and time ourselves with no help whatsoever from anyone else. Both issues are private to our needs.

Just because someone demands something from you does not mean you must, or even should, give it to them.

Everything has a time and a place. This simple principle holds true for much more serious matters as well. I am not obligated to disclose anything private against my will. And neither do I have the right to demand any amount of information from you.

This reminds me of a great message in the KEEP PRIVATE THINGS PRIVATE principle from The Way of Openness:

Personal dignity is based in large part on your freedom to choose when and where to share your inner self with others.

The post To Everything There Is A Season… appeared first on The World Table.

Ever stand in front of a mirror and take a long hard look at yourself?

I mean really look deep into your own eyes and ask yourself who is actually staring back at you?

If you try it for more than a few seconds (without looking away), it can be quite arresting.

If you try it for more than five minutes, it can significantly affect what kind of day you will have.

Try it for yourself and you’ll see what I mean.

Forget about your hair, or zits, or makeup, and just stand there, staring into your own eyes, until it is no longer uncomfortable.

(NOTE: The longer it takes to feel perfectly at ease, the more you need this exercise.)

Something magical happens after about five (maybe ten) minutes: You’re forced to have an honest conversation with yourself.

Either you will have the courage to talk to yourself honestly, or your will look away. There is no in between.

You will either have the conversation, or your won’t.

Again, try it for yourself and you’ll see what I mean.

Have the conversation.

It might bring some tears, or bad memories, or just plain old disappointment, but you’ll finally get the feedback you’ve been so desperately craving.

May I share a great quote from the BE HONEST principle from The Way of Openness?

“When you get to a point in life where you can be perfectly honest with yourself, being honest with others happens naturally.”

The post The Honest Mirror Test appeared first on The World Table.

Kindness has a magical way of succeeding when so many other things fail.

It is true that on some rare occasions kindness does not solve the problem or make the situation any better.

But this is the exception to the rule.

Try this simple test and see for yourself:

Be kind ten times today.

If you’re stuck in a funk with someone you care about, try being kind.

If you’re annoyed with someone at work, try being kind.

If you have been avoiding eye contact with certain neighbors, the waiter, or even odd looking strangers, just pause for one second and remember all the crap you’ve been through in your own life and cut them some slack this time.

Just be kind today and observe the outcome.

I’ll bet you nine times out of ten it very much succeeds.

May I share a great quote from the BE KIND principle from The Way of Openness:

“Kindness is never outdated.”

The post When Kindness Fails…It’s The Exception appeared first on The World Table.

Frankly, it was a tremendous opportunity for me that I didn’t deserve.

It took almost no time before those who were over me figured out I was not what they had hoped for.

This resulted in a very public flogging that left me completely humiliated.

An older gentleman came to me afterwards and offered to help me get up to speed.

He patiently worked with me every day for a few months until I eventually learned what I needed to know.

Strangely, through the process we never forged a great bond or friendship. He came, helped, and then left.

What makes this experience meaningful is not what happened to me as a result if his help, but what had happened before I met this man.

I had grown up in a very small and very conservative community (religiously and politically).

In both appearance and lifestyle, this man represented everything I had been raised to believe was “wrong.”

And yet, he was the only person who cared enough to help me make it through that very difficult time.

So, while I did learn a lot about the job from this man, I actually learned much more about life.

Let me share this great quote from the PRESUME GOOD WILL principle from The Way of Openness:

“…more often than not, we sabotage our [relationships] because we presume the other party has bad will…”

The post Wow…I Had You Totally Wrong appeared first on The World Table.

How would you feel towards me if every time you asked me a sincere, but difficult question, I avoided giving you the very answer I knew you were seeking?

On a scale of 1 to 10, how much would you say you could trust me? Or, how honest would you say I was?

Those kinds of charades can be very infuriating for good reason.

On the flip side, how would you feel towards me if every time you asked me a sincere or difficult question, I tried to answer it as clearly and helpfully as I understood you wanted me to?

You’d probably think I was pretty cool.

Tough questions, and tough answers, aren’t for pansies. They require emotional effort and maturity. But they are at the heart of every great relationship.

Here’s a great quote from the ANSWER THE TOUGH QUESTIONS principle from The Way of Openness,

“The mere act of vocalizing our answers to tough questions has a powerful effect on everyone involved.”

The post I Can Neither Confirm Nor Deny… appeared first on The World Table.

It turns out that roughly 108 billion people have lived on this earth.

And you are one of them.

As if that figure isn’t staggering enough, here’s another number that will blow your mind:

1 (also pronounced “one”).

In all that 108 billion that have ever lived, there is only one version of you.

No one else looks, smells, or acts, exactly like you, and no one ever will.

Whether you like it or not, you are completely unique for a ka-triillion years in both directions.

So today’s as good a day as any to quit trying to be like anyone else.

Permit a great quote from the ACKNOWLEDGE THE DIFFERENCES principle from The Way of Openness:

“Similarities are a great place to start, but a shallow and boring place to end.”

The post It’s Only You Out There… appeared first on The World Table.

What if every time you went to a restaurant, the loudest, most talkative person in line could automatically jump strait to the front?

It sounds odd but we’ve all seen this on occasion, someone barges into some establishment and demands to be served immediately at the expense of everyone else around them.

Unless there’s an obvious emergency we tend to look at those people as selfish jerks. I mean, you and I would never do that!

Now imagine that same person never really leaving, but, instead just standing there at the front of the line buying the same thing(s) or demanding the same service(s) over and over and over again (or even worse, buying totally random things over and over again – but still never leaving).

Sounds absurd right?

But that’s kind of what happens when we refuse to share the floor with others in a conversation. We become that person.

Sharing the floor with others isn’t so much about splitting the time evenly. It’s about sharing the turns or opportunities to speak equally.

Here’s a great quote from the SHARE THE FLOOR principle in The Way of Openness:

“…hogging the floor is just rude, and nobody wants that.”

The post Did I Take Your Spot? appeared first on The World Table.

Have you ever desperately needed a listening ear only to have someone tell you all the things they would do if they were you?

It’s a real bummer. They keep jawing on and on and all you hear from them is: “I don’t care about you right now.”

Here’s a harder question: Have you ever been that person? I know I have. And it’s caused me some serious grief in life.

But I found this little trick I use on myself to keep me in check. Would you like to hear it?

It’s not for the faint of heart. In fact, for those cursed with the gift of gab it can be the hardest thing you’ll ever do…

Here it is: Try to spend an entire day pausing for just one second longer before responding, speaking, or even nodding, in every conversation you have.

If you’re wondering why that would be so hard to do, or, how it could change your life…you just haven’t paused long enough to get it.

I love this quote from the LISTEN WELL principle from The Way of Openness:

“To listen well…is the epitome of love and empathy in action.”

The post The Power Of One More Second… appeared first on The World Table.