Coastal Services Center

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Determining Your Target Audience (2 of 2)

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Ways to Learn About Your Target Audience

After your initial assessment of your target audience(s), you can use several methods to confirm that your initial determination is correct, to learn more about the audience characteristics, and to fine-tune your Web content. These methods include survey questionnaires and personal interviews.

Survey Questionnaire

• Post e-mail survey questionnaires to Web forums and discussion groups.
• Ask what features and content the people in these groups would like to see on the site. Ask them to rate the features in terms of importance, if possible.
• Ask what other Web sites they frequent, and what they like and dislike about each site.

Personal Interviews

• Interview several people from each of the potential groups you defined initially.
• Ask open-ended questions regarding the content they would like to have made available.
• Ask them how and why they would use the proposed Web site. What would make them use it more often?

For even more information on different types of survey methods, visit the on-line needs assessment module (link opens in a new browser window).