"How To Improve Music Testing Response"
In each newsletter, we present a guest article from one of our MusicMaster ProTeam consultants. This month, Tracy Johnson of Tracy Johnson Media Group shares five ways to get better response rates and results from music testing.
How can I improve response to music tests on my station? That's a most asked question today, especially about online music tests.
Most stations have bought into the methodology. But just when they finally start to trust it, response rates plummet. And you kind of know that the respondents each week (or month) are the same folks.
Online music surveys are a popular way for radio stations to gather information from listeners. It's inexpensive, especially compared to traditional callout methods. And it's faster and more accurate. Online music testing typically attracts a larger, broader sample, but many stations are seeing a serious decline in response rates.
Many research companies offer affordable solutions, some allowing stations to manage the entire process. This saves time, money, and gives stations more control over the results.
However, as in all research, results are only as reliable as input (sample and questions) and interpretation (how you interpret the results). That's where many stations find themselves in trouble.
But you can protect against making common mistakes by taking a different approach to music research by increasing response rates.
In the meantime, here are 5 things that will improve results:
Eliminate Music Clubs
Inviting listeners to join a "music advisory board" filters the response base to those who have an active interest in voicing their opinion on music. This is an important group of listeners, to be sure. But, it eliminates most of your audience.
Just the act of "joining a panel" introduces a barrier that reduces sample sizes. And, those individuals that respond tend to be much more interested in music. This can skew results and cause programmers to move songs through the system too quickly.
New songs tend to become familiar with those active music partisans more quickly and burn scores are higher. Following these results could cause your station to be more aggressive than you should be.
Eliminate your music "club" and open the online music test to everyone in the database-and beyond!
You may be worried that a percentage of the sample will spoil results because they prefer the wrong music types. That's a valid concern, but it's easy to manage. Simply ask a few music cluster preference questions in the screener. Then slice and dice the results as many ways as you want.
You'll increase the accuracy and get a better picture of each song's strength with core music fans and casual listeners.
Go Beyond Your Database
The station database is a great place to start getting response, but depending on how it's managed, it may be limiting results. Some databases are old, have never been "scrubbed" and contain only a small fraction of active participants. It feels good to hit a button and fire off 10,000 emails, but how many are really useful?
To offset this potential limitation, work with partners to recruit more responses in the sample. Advertising partners and local websites may be interested in trading free display ads. Or, they could offer it in exchange for inserting a question into the survey. The partner could gain insight into their brand, or potentially even generate leads for their business.
Facebook is also a great source to improve response. Send a targeted Facebook ad campaign and add new responses to the survey. Not only does this increase the research pool, some may discover the radio station and you'll earn new listening opportunities.
Promote On The Air
I've never understood why programmers resist asking for response on the air, and demonstrate how the survey impacts airplay.
Don't just run promos. In fact, those promos rarely generate reaction.
Instead, coach air personalities to promote the current survey, especially when introducing a top-testing song. For example:
HERE'S ANOTHER SONG THAT YOU'RE TELLING US YOU CAN'T GET ENOUGH OF...IT'S THE THIRD MOST POPULAR SONG IN THIS WEEK'S WXXX MUSIC SURVEY. LOVE TO GET YOUR THOUGHTS ON IT, TOO... AT WWW.YOURSTATION.COM/MUSIC.
Be creative. Have a brainstorming session to come up with dozens of creative ideas for promoting the survey. Once the team gets it going, it's easy and fun.
Match Test to Individual Tastes
When listeners enjoy participating, they participate more. So invite them to vote for songs they're more likely to respond to. If you've captured their music cluster preference (see above), direct them to respond to songs they're most likely to want to respond to. Use this to your advantage when writing an invitation to participate.
For example, the email invitation might be:
WE'D LOVE TO GET YOUR OPINION ON THE NEW SONGS FROM KATY PERRY AND KELLY CLARKSON! IT'LL ONLY TAKE A MINUTE, AND YOU MIGHT WIN $100 CASH JUST FOR PROVIDING FEEDBACK.
Of course, you don't want to test only the songs they're most likely to rate positively. Include the promised songs, but include a couple of songs from other genres.
Incentives Improve Response Rates
Most station solicitations are either: Make your voice known by being in our music panel, or Rate the music and win prizes.
Both approaches limit response rates. Incentives are important, but should not be positioned as the primary reason for engaging. And, we do want music fans to participate, but not as part of an exclusive club.
Build a recruitment strategy that leads listeners to participate through specific, simple messaging. Here are three ways to do it:
Display ads on your website featuring a popular artist or song and a link with message: Rate this song and win (incentive).
Email campaigns featuring the most popular songs. This not only positions music, but is an attractive lure to gain attention. The message: "Should WXXX play this song more or less? Let us know. Click here."
Involve the artist in the solicitation: "Taylor Swift wants to know what you think of her new song. Click here to rate (song) and we'll make sure she gets your feedback.
Note: Provide the record label with the information to send to the artist. Even better, ask artists to provide audio to invite participation. For example,
HI, THIS IS BLAKE SHELTON. I HOPE YOU LOVE MY NEW SONG AS MUCH AS I DO...BUT I REALLY WOULD LIKE TO KNOW. TELL ME WHAT YOU THINK BY VISITING (STATION URL).
Conclusion
Online music tests are more sophisticated, powerful and effective than ever. But it must be managed to be worthwhile. Follow these ideas, and add your own solutions to make it work for your station.
Want more advice like this? Read more about Tracy and his services on our
ProTeam page or on Tracy's website:
TJohnsonMediaGroup.com. Or contact Tracy directly at (858) 472-3546 or Tracy@TJohnsonMediaGroup.com.