What EPLN’s readers think: survey results

Last month, Eden Prairie Local News (EPLN) launched our first-ever reader survey to ask you, our readers, what you thought about our publication and our coverage of Eden Prairie.

Turns out, overall, you’re pretty happy: over 91% of survey respondents said they were “very satisfied” or “satisfied” with EPLN’s coverage of Eden Prairie.

That’s not to say there’s no room for improvement. One of the most common comments we received through the survey was people asking for a calendar of upcoming events. While we do currently have a calendar listing upcoming events, it’s become obvious that people aren’t finding it. Look for some forthcoming changes in how we approach the calendar’s visibility. In the meantime, you can find it by clicking on “Calendar” on the navigation menu on our site, or going directly to https://www.eplocalnews.org/calendar/.

What you want covered

The top topics of interest among those who responded to the survey were development (e.g., new local building projects)/construction, local events and things to do, and local politics and elections. Several people indicated that they liked all the topics listed as options in this survey question (others were crime and public safety, local businesses and retail, feature profiles on individual people, schools, sports (including high school sports), and obituaries), with one person commenting, “If you are not covering it, I probably don’t know about it.”

We’ll be taking into account all of your feedback and suggestions for additional coverage in the coming weeks and months. Some of the additional coverage that people said they wanted included more on school board and city council meetings, volunteer opportunities, and Eden Prairie history.

While we have published articles on volunteering and calls for volunteers, we’ll be discussing the best approach to providing this information as well.

For those of you who would like to see additional coverage of not only Eden Prairie sports and sporting events, but also student activities and achievements in fine arts, academics, etc., we encourage you, or coaches/advisors, to use our Youth Sports and Activities submission form to let us know what’s going on (the Chess Team was the first to use it!). If you’re not seeing your college student’s achievements in our regular On Campus updates, send the information to editor@eplocalnews.org with the subject “On Campus.” 

Similarly, you can send us obituary information by emailing editor@eplocalnews.org with “Obit” in the subject line. We publish obituaries free of charge.

We’ll also continue publishing stories about your neighbors. As one reader put it, “positive stories about local people doing wonderful, inspiring things.” And our coverage of the outdoors will definitely continue to include Stan Tekiela’s well-liked NatureSmart column, which appears twice a month.

Voter Guide, donations, and thanks

We were surprised to learn of the very high percentage of voter participation among survey respondents: all but one said they were registered to vote. 

We appreciated comments like, “The 2022 election information print run was essential” and “The election pamphlet was balanced and comprehensive.” EPLN will again be publishing a printed Voter Guide for the 2024 general election. Eden Prairie addresses will find a copy in their mailboxes in early October. 

You can also follow our 2024 election coverage online, at the Election 2024 section of our website. 

We also noted that about half of you (a little over 48%) originally found EPLN either through social media or through verbal recommendations from friends and family. Thank you to those who are talking about us – you’ll be able to talk to EPLN representatives (and sign up for a free subscription if you don’t have one already) at our booth at the city’s Fourth of July celebration at Round Lake Park the afternoon of July 4. If you haven’t found our social media yet, you can follow us on Facebook, Instagram, and X (formerly Twitter). 

Thank you, also, to the approximately 60% of survey respondents who said they had previously donated to EPLN, a nonprofit organization. 

Several people said they would like a better understanding of EPLN’s financials or, as the survey put it, “Help me better understand why you need my money.” We hope this piece we published from EPLN’s chief financial officer is a start to fostering that understanding. Kelly Salwei, like all of our board members, is a volunteer. On the journalism side, we have one paid full-time person and three part-time, as well as several freelance or volunteer contributors.

For those of you who miss a printed newspaper – as do many of us – you may notice that the one-time printing and mailing of the 2022 Voter Guide in the fiscal year ending June 30, 2023, added about $7,000 to expenses. 

And, for those of you inquiring about advertising, please feel free to contact our ad team at sales@eplocalnews.org. Also, please thank our current advertisers for their support of local news.

Many survey respondents took the opportunity to leave comments in the free-write section, such as “Thank you for not leaving us in a news desert,” “Thank you so much for your hard work in providing relevant news specifically about Eden Prairie,” and “Thank you all for working hard to create a local news source. I appreciate it and can’t even imagine how much goes into it.”

We want to extend our thanks to you as well, in particular, to all who took the time to respond to the reader survey. We’ll be incorporating your feedback as we go forward.