It’s been nearly two years to the day since I did the last ‘Great DC Rainmaker Survey’ – and thus I think it’s time again to see what you all are thinking. When I did this last time, I was blown away with how many of you responded. Almost as many as in some giveaways – over 1,000 people! What’s cool is at that level I’m able to make really concrete choices on where to focus time.
Last time I preempted the survey post with a bunch of historical text about where the blog has been and how it got there. A bit of the ‘history of DCR’ in one post. I won’t make you re-take that class, but if you do want to read it – I encourage you to do so here. Almost everything still applies, oddly enough. (Results were here)
With finishing up the site redesign last fall, I’m eager to hear your ideas for how to improve things further. Whether that be more posts about a given topic (i.e. chocolate), different product reviews, or diving into totally new ideas – such as doing demo day/camp of sorts. There’s plenty of room in the survey to provide written responses if you’d like.
The survey enables me to ensure that I’m still giving you interesting stuff. Or at least entertaining stuff. Of course, with as many people visiting as there are every day it’s hard to find 100% consensus, but I think 99.9% agreement is a totally reasonable goal, no?
Like last time I’ll leave the survey open for a period of time (probably a week), and then close it and tally up the results. Also like last time I’ll share some of the high level results and feedback on new ideas and new ways to improve things.
So I thank you in advance as I HUGELY appreciate your feedback. I promise, it only takes a second or few to complete. Thanks for reading!
CLICK HERE TO START SURVEY (NOW CLOSED)
Oh, the survey is anonymous (unless you want to provide an e-mail at the end for me to get back to you).
(P.S. – If you recently…or not so recently…ordered a sticker, another batch of them just went out…sorry for the delay! I’ll be switching over to a slightly new system that makes the sticker process near instant – Read: removes me from the equation.)
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Just done!
I just finished… but there is one thing I wish I would have added. Occasionally in your “tips” you have discussed clothing and other equipment, but I wouldn’t mind getting your opinions (or even full reviews) on the shoes and other, non-tech equipment you use. I understand your niche is fitness devices, and you don’t want to lose focus on that too much… but your kind of in-depth review could add a valuable voice to things like shoe reviews.
Just something to think about.
I do agree with Michael – it would be nice to have opinions on not-so-technical stuff. The flow of trainer reviews nearly drowned me recently ;-).
Done
Done and agree with Michael and Katri: clothing and shoes could be a positive addition. I also like to see more reviews on smartphone apps and have my doubts on guest reviews: it’s your style which makes me a returning reader.
done.
I think you do an awesome job as things stand, I visit here for the in-depth unbiased reviews on fitness tech gear that you do amazingly well. Gear reviews would be great so long as it isn’t detrimental to the tech reviews which is the reason so many visit your site!
Looking forward to the KICKR, RFLKT and latest power meter reviews!
My humble 2 cents: Please don’t feel the need to be all things to all people. There are lots of reviews available online for shoes etc. (plus shoes/gear performance is often so subjective, your critical eye/mind might be wasted there). Please keep reviewing things that are personally relevant to you.
My remark on the shoe/clothes front: don’t.
Every week a (new) brand will bring the newest and the best in clothing or shoes, depending on the season. Whereas with the technical stuff, there will be new things every 2 year – max, because they are so costely and need time to develop and debug. And the readers will take the time to decide, to weigh out their options price vs. needs etc.
Also this fast pace will have another consequence: Ray has done his review on a shirt he got in winter, and in spring there will be a new collection so you can’t find his shirt anymore. If it is technical rather than just esthestical (cf. the HR-shirt he reviewed a while back) than I can see the opportunity, otherwise he’ll just turn out to be the Vogue of sportsclothing…
With clothes it is “easy”: it fits or it doesn’t, you’ll like the colors,… all non measurable things. As I see for myself, running in a high tech fabric or running in a off the shelf t-shirt I got after an event, both will do just fine. And with shoes the same thing: they just have to be comfy. Again, I can see an opportunity when Ray decides to buy a new pair and he gives his remarks on the shoes he bought, but I think it would be unnecessary to buy a shitload of them just for comparissons sake or follow up on our questions.
Shoes and clothes won’t get software updates and people differ way to much on to another. Even twins can chose different brands for clothers/shoes, just because they prefer the one fit over another.
Come to think of it: same when Ray will decide to buy a new bike or swimsuit.
Maybe like he did with the househunting in Paris: narrow his choices and explain why he took one or another in brief. A personal story on why he’ll buy that certain bike/suit/shoes/shirt, (likes the color) I’d love to read it, but a full review “Ray style” won’t be possible in my opinion.
As I see for myself: I bought my wetsuit secondhand from a friend who said it was a good starterssuit, and my bike is my brothers. Both of them just work and when I want to buy a new one, I’ll trust my personal feel and fit more than something that just have to hang on my wrist or bike and register things.