I Thought I Knew the Answer Until I Saw Your Survey Results
Why Your Survey Results Reveal a Surprising Truth I Didn’t Expect
Have you ever asked a question, certain you already knew the answer?
What happens when the results completely flip your expectations?
I let the survey for my Meals-n-Minutes run for over a week, and the responses were... eye-opening.
If you participated in the survey last week, I certainly do appreciate you taking the time to help make my little part of the Substack world a better place for all of us to be.
I had a pretty clear idea of what readers wanted, or so I thought.
But your answers surprised me, revealing trends and preferences I didn't see coming.
It was a reality check that made me rethink some of my assumptions about cooking, political content, creative writing and community.
The details?
They're worth diving into.
Let's break it all down and see what you had to say.
The Numbers Are In
So, I emailed the survey out to you on Tuesday, February 4th. As you can see from the screenshot above, the email survey went out to almost 2,500 subscribers on my Substack email list.
The response?
Incredible.
Nearly 1,000 of you opened the email (39% open rate) and looked at the survey a total of 1,500 times. That means many of you opened it, thought about it, and even came back multiple times.
Whether it was curiosity or a desire to give thoughtful answers, I’m genuinely grateful for your engagement.
It all certainly helped immensely.
The Survey Results
I asked you to share your thoughts on what content you find most interesting in my newsletter. There were three categories to choose from, each representing different aspects of Meals-n-Minutes.
I included a complete outline of the categories and content found there. Here’s what I said in last week’s newsletter titled Can You Do Me a Quick Favor? that contained the survey:
In case you’re new to my Meals-n-Minutes newsletter and not familiar with all the content you can find here, I basically write on 3 different topics:
Save America column focuses on strongly on MAGA and America First Content. Timely analysis and commentary on key political events, with a focus on President Trump and his America First policies with no spin. Pro-Life, Pro-Christian. Delivered to your inbox each Sunday morning.
SuperFast Meal Mastery course will teach you how to:
🚨Master Time-Saving Techniques: Gain skills to prepare delicious, nutritious meals in minutes, transforming your daily routine by freeing up time for other activities without compromising on quality or health.
🚨Enhance Your Culinary Confidence: Learn simple yet effective cooking methods that will boost your confidence in the kitchen, allowing you to whip up meals even on your busiest days, making you the go-to cook among friends and family.
🚨Revolutionize Your Meal Planning Skills: Discover how to plan and execute meals with minimal effort and ingredients, leading to less food waste, more varied diets,
🚨Cooking that fits into any lifestyle, whether you're single, a busy parent, or a professional. Delivered to your inbox each Thursday morning.
Lessons I Learned in the Dark column focuses on creative writings, short stories, musings. A mélange of memories, dreams, reflections. Delivered to your inbox one to two times per month.
I wanted to know where your curiosity lies and what brings you back to read more.
The results?
As you can see, they challenged my assumptions and opened up new possibilities.
The numbers were clear.
The Save America column led the way with 57% of the votes. Meanwhile, 43% of you chose All of the Above, indicating that you enjoy a variety of content without leaning toward just one category. That includes political articles, cooking, recipes and creative writings.
That split was both surprising and inspiring. It showed me that while many of you are passionate about Save America content, there's still a strong interest in diverse topics.
Knowing this helps me strike a better balance and tailor future posts to what matters most to you.
Conclusions and Final Decisions
To help me crunch the numbers and make a better decision, I decided to ask Grok, the AI chat bot on X.
This is the input I provided to Grok:
I recently provided a survey to my readers to get their opinion on what content to keep in my newsletter. My Save America column got 57% and All of the Above got 43%.
There were four choices in the survey: Save American column, Superfast Meal Mastery, Lessons I Learned in the Dark and All of the Above.
I currently publish Save America once per week on Sunday. I publish Superfast Meal Mastery once per week on Thursday. And I publish Lessons I Learned in the Dark one to two times per month.
Should I make any changes to the publishing schedule based on the survey results. If so, what would the changes be, any recommendations.
And this is Grok’s reply:
Based on the survey results, it appears that your readers have a clear preference for the "Save America" column, with 57% favoring this content over the other options.
Here are some recommendations for adjusting your publishing schedule:
Increase Frequency of "Save America":
Given its popularity, consider increasing the frequency of "Save America" from once a week to twice a week. You could potentially publish it on both Wednesday and Sunday, or another combination that fits well within your content production capabilities and reader engagement patterns.
Reduce Frequency of Less Popular Content:
Since "Superfast Meal Mastery" and "Lessons I Learned in the Dark" did not garner as much specific support, you might consider reducing their frequency:
Superfast Meal Mastery could be moved to bi-weekly or monthly, depending on your content strategy and reader feedback on this adjustment.
Lessons I Learned in the Dark might also be reduced to once a week or bi-weekly, allowing you to allocate more time and resources to the more popular content.
All of the Above Option:
The 43% who chose "All of the Above" still appreciate a variety of content. To cater to these readers while focusing on what's most popular, you could:
Keep a mixed schedule but ensure that the "Save America" column remains the highlight of the week.
Use "All of the Above" weeks where you publish all three but perhaps in a lighter format or shorter pieces for the less popular themes.
Content Integration:
Consider integrating elements of the less popular columns into "Save America" or creating themed issues where you blend topics. For instance, a "Save America" edition could include a quick meal tip or a brief life lesson, providing a taste of all your content areas while emphasizing what readers prefer.
Feedback Loop:
After making these changes, run another survey in a few months to check if the new schedule aligns better with reader preferences. This will help you fine-tune your strategy further.
Promote Interaction:
Encourage more direct feedback through comments or additional surveys to understand if the new schedule meets reader expectations or if further adjustments are necessary.
By focusing on the "Save America" column more intensely, you cater to the majority's interest while still providing diversity in content, which might help maintain or even grow your readership.
Remember, the key is balance; you don't want to alienate readers who enjoy the other segments, but you also want to capitalize on the popularity of your strongest content.
I then asked Grok to give a very simple summation and recommendation based on the information above.
Here is Grok’s answer:
Here's a simplified weekly schedule:
Save America: Publish every Sunday.
Superfast Meal Mastery: Publish every Thursday.
Lessons I Learned in the Dark: Alternate weeks, on Thursday when not publishing "Superfast Meal Mastery".
My Final Decision
My final decision then is to leave the publishing schedule exactly as it is for now. And then in 6 months, I will do another survey. But for now, no changes.
What do you think?
Do you see any details that I am missing?
Are there any changes that you see I should make?
If so, leave them in a comment here:
I like Grok suggestion for content integration.