Financial Times

Solution

Through the Feedback Forum, the research answered this question through a dedicated reader study collecting both quantitative and qualitative responses. The study aimed to dig deeper into brand sentiment by using emotionally charged questions including:

• Who introduced you to the FT? 
• What relationship did they have to you?
• Where were you at the time? 
• What first caught your attention about the FT?
  
  

These prompts helped respondents go into additional detail about not only their experience, but their personal and emotional connection with the brand. This allowed the research team to capture incredibly rich feedback, helping to tell a powerful story driven by their readers.

The team then went on to conduct text and sentiment analysis on their findings and segmented those responses by recency of respondent discovery of the Financial Times. This enabled them to note clear differences and themes based around reader loyalty and maturity with the brand.

Results 

One of the strongest recommendations that came out of the study findings was the financial opportunity around the introduction of gift subscriptions. This is something the organization has since been developing. The team expects to see this drive significant engagement with current readers leading to increased revenue and brand awareness.  

Additionally, Financial Times has expanded or launched several new community-recommended programs which have all shown encouraging signs of boosting audience engagement. These include: 

• A pub quiz night presented by one of the company's newsletters which brought together many of their advocates
• The introduction of a new Q&A tool called ‘Ask an Expert’ which connects the FT readership with their journalists and enables them to directly ask questions 
• Journalist participation in Reddit ‘Ask me Anything’ (AMA’s) forums