What Consumers Want from Digital Magazines

Consumers want digital magazines that are interactive, cheap, and filled with a reasonable amount of content

Stay current with new digital magazine trends and you’ll stay ahead of the competition. That’s the idea, right? Those may be words to consider every day you step into the office and plan the day, or better yet, your next business move.

Wouldn’t it be great if the future could be perfectly detailed and explained to you prior to it happening? Of course it would. You’d have the ability to know what moves to make, when to release products, what publication platforms to focus on, and what is going to be “the next big thing” so you can get there before anyone else. Sounds perfect, huh?

Unfortunately, the reality behind this omniscience is that we cannot achieve it. Luckily we can rely partly on the scientific approach of collecting data and executing surveys to better understand how consumers think and act. More importantly, we can determine what will make them happy so they keep doing business with us.

The best thing about collecting this data is often times surveys will be completed by outside organizations. Which means you won’t have to use your precious time to compile such data. So naturally, you can focus on publishing while using the data to your benefit.

Oh, wait, did we just conduct a digital magazine consumer study this year? By golly we did!

And some of the information may surprise you, while the other parts will confirm the beliefs you already had.

  • iPad is reading device of choice: 58% of survey participants who read and subscribe to digital magazines use an Apple iPad. You might think Android was next on the list, but 30% went to Amazon, with Samsung (Android) in third place with 16%.
  • Tablets are used for the web: 90% of our participants browse the web on their tablets monthly, 81% check their email on their tablet monthly.
  • Email gets opened on tablets more than ever: In terms of daily use, email was the most popular activity. 67% said they check email daily on their tablet.
  • People definitely spend money on their tablets: 53% spend up to $99 a year on apps, magazines and other items in the app stores, and 5% said they spend more than $500!

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Getting into digital magazine specifics, our survey participants had lots to say about what they want in terms of functionality and price:

  • Content that interacts: The features most important to users were scrollable text, clickable links, and access to back-issues.
  • Digital editions on every tablet: 69% of digital magazine subscribers say that their tablet edition is the most valuable edition they own.
  • Environmentally friendly: 52% of our survey participants said they subscribe to digital magazines because it saves paper.
  • Cheaper: We don’t subscribe to this thought, but 90% of users think digital editions should be cheaper. Ninety percent!
  • A moderate amount of content: The majority, 47%, agreed that 11-20 articles was the perfect amount of content for one digital magazine.

Want to know what else digital magazine susbcribers say they want, including all of the data from our survey? Watch out interview videos and download the complete Digital Magazine Market Study now.  And, tell us below what you and your customers want.

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