Who's Reading and Following Trail Builder Mag? Our First User Survey Results Are In
As a new magazine and media outlet, we’re building everything from scratch. That ranges from backend systems to communications to marketing and more. One of the challenges is collecting data. While we can and do extract key bits of data from social media analytics, we wanted to create a survey to get more feedback from you. Why? Through Trail Builder Mag, we are creating a platform to inspire, inform, and connect together around the common goal of building, maintaining, and advocating for more trails. We want to build something that is not only meaningful and helpful to you but where you get a say as well. Welcome to the results of our first user survey.
Whenever you create and conduct a survey, you open yourself to helpful feedback and even negative backlash. Both of those types of responses were given in our user survey. While some of the comments may sting a bit, I am grateful you spoke up and shared your opinion. Your opinion matters because you matter. Surveys are imperfect, and I definitely know I could’ve worded questions better or selected different categories for some of the questions. However, everything we gleaned was informative and profound. It’s also exciting because I am gaining a clearer picture of who’s tracking along with our newsletter and social media. Since surveys also only grab a cross-section, I know many of you didn’t fill it out. It could be because English isn’t your first language or that surveys are kind of boring. With that said, let’s dive into some of the results!
What I’ve listed below are some of the highlights from the survey. Meaning I didn’t want to bore you with everything we asked. I also added some commentary to show how we’re processing the survey results.
GENDER
We’ve been working hard to make sure Trail Builder Mag is welcoming for all. As a result, here’s the breakdown of gender from our survey: Male (70.76%), Female (27.12%), Non-Binary (1.69%), and prefer not to say (0.42%). Now, does this reflect everyone? Time will tell. But we’re stoked that over 1/4 of respondents are women. We’re intentional about creating space for women in trail building through the kind of content we create and curate. Obviously, with what’s happening this year at the Redbull Rampage, there is much healthy dialogue about the role of women in mountain biking (and I’d add trail building).
AGE
Here’s the breakdown in age from largest representation to smallest: 36-45 years old (32.77%), 46-55 years old (26.89%), 26-35 years old (23.95%), 56-65 years old (9.66%), 18-25 years old (5.04%), and 65+ years old (1.68%). What does this mean? How do we engage both older and younger demographics in trail building? We want this to be a magazine for all.
EDUCATION LEVEL
This one is intriguing for me. Not only do I work in higher education, but there’s also the growing professionalization of trail building as a maturing industry. Whether you’re a planner or engineer or have a Master’s in non-profit leadership, trail builders appear to be pretty educated. Here’s the educational breakdown: College degree (45.38%), Completed graduate school (24.37%), Some college (18.49%), High school / GED (10.50%), and did not finish high school (1.26%). Regardless of one’s educational background and achievement, the good news is that there’s a place in trail building for everyone.
HOUSEHOLD INCOME
Mountain biking isn’t cheap. Trail builders are mountain bikers. It was interesting looking at the data on household income. Also, those who filled out the survey ranged from those involved in trail building professionally to those who have careers outside of trail building and are volunteers. Here’s how it looks for annual household income from the survey: $100,000-$200,000 (30.60%), $75,000-$100,000 (21.55%), $50,000-$75,000 (20.69%), Under $50,000 (19.40%), $200,000+ (7.76%). Since this is “household income,” it can mean different things for different people.
EMPLOYMENT
In our feedback section, this was one of the areas we got crushed (and rightly so). Why didn’t we list “trail building” as an occupation? Truth be told, I used a couple of different generic occupation lists for this survey. Next time, I’ll be sure to add trail building as a category. Here were the top categories for the industries people are employed in: Business, management, and administration (17.78%), Installation, repair, and maintenance (17.22%), Architecture and engineering (14.44%), Community and social services (12.22%), and Science and technology (8.89%) round out the top five.
HOW OFTEN DO YOU PARTICIPATE IN TRAIL BUILDING?
Moving beyond demographic information, this gets into the fun topic of trail building and how often you’re out on the trail. The results? Weekly (at least once a week) (29.53%), Daily (24.87%), Monthly (at least once a month) (24.875), and once in a while (20.73%). This is a helpful question because it begins separating those who build professionally for a living from those who are active volunteers.
HOW MANY BIKES DO YOU OWN?
This is a must-ask question. I also figured the answer would be … “100% of respondents own 10+ bikes.” I mean, I even counted my 2002 KHS soft tail that I still ride and my 1987 Diamondback Ascent. Here’s the breakdown of how many bikes you own (cough): Two (31.77%), three (24.48%), one (17.71%), six or more (10.42%), five (9.38%), and four (6.25%). I still think all of you own at least 6+ bikes.
WHICH SOCIAL MEDIA PLATFORM DO YOU REGULARLY USE?
Instagram (43.28%), Facebook (30.81%), LinkedIn (9.29%), Twitter / X (4.40%), and TikTok (3.42%). Again, super helpful and no surprises. Instagram skews toward younger demographics, and Facebook skews older. TikTok hits an even younger demographic. While we do have a TikTok account and a whopping one video posted, there won’t be videos of me dancing … yet.
HOW DO YOU CONSUME MOUNTAIN BIKING OR TRAIL-BUILDING MEDIA?
The survey had respondents rank in order of importance where they most consume mountain biking and trail-building media. The results? Social media (#1), internet/websites (#2), and magazines (print or digital) (#3). Magazines were definitely in last place. This is also why we are active on social media and posting trail-building content on our website.
HOW WELL ARE TRAIL BUILDER MAGAZINE ISSUES PRICED?
This was one of the questions I knew I had to ask, but I wasn’t looking forward to the results. 82% of the respondents reacted negatively to how the first issue of Trail Builder Mag was priced. 82% I had that hunch when I priced the first issue. I went back and forth on figuring out how to price it, knowing that we don’t have enough ads yet to cover all our costs. As I’ve shared repeatedly early on, I’m building this from scratch with no upfront funding. My goal is to make this sustainable from day one. That is also why I’m willing to be adaptable and flexible. You’ll see a price change for Issue #2. I appreciate all of your feedback.
HOW ARE SHIPPING COSTS PRICED?
Interestingly, the results were the same for shipping costs, where 82% of you said our shipping prices were too high. Again, this was a challenge to calculate in terms of how much we would eat some or all of the shipping costs versus passing some onto you. What was exciting was that at my last check, 30% of magazine orders were from outside the United States. I want to grow this and make sure our magazine is accessible. Again, we’ll modify shipping prices for Issue #2 as well.
ADDITIONAL COMMENTS - IS THERE ANYTHING YOU WANT TO ADD THAT WOULD BE HELPFUL FOR US TO KNOW?
Ok, this was probably the best part of the whole survey. Why? Because you were actually able to type in and say what you wanted to share. Lots of positives as well as criticisms. Both are needed. Some responses were very lengthy. Here are a few highlights …
Loved your first edition. Picked up some loppers one of the trail builders had on his hip thanks to the picture.
Thank you for highlighting the growing presence of women trailbuilders in your first issue!
I would purchase or subscribe to print magazines if shipping was more reasonable or there was local distribution.
No political virtue signaling would be nice.
I know this magazine is specific to bike building, but there’s a lot of us that would love to see it expand to expand to ALL trail construction and maintinece. It would be really cool to have this be almost like an industry publication for all of us that do this professionally. No matter what happens, this is a great step for the profession and community. Y’all rock.
Why is trailbuilding not an option for our employment on this survey?
Expensive. I'd recommend quality advertising to offset costs. Love the content and community!
Issue 1 was amazing. Loved it cover to cover!!!!
I think if you opened up to include “dirt jump” trail (or what they would call “trails”) And trail builders, there is another aspect of our culture/art that would be appreciated.
How to get a trail started and how to work with government agencies to get a trail system started.
It's a great, and much needed product. Keep going, charge what you have to and let's encourage donations.
Talk about issues , difficulties and complications that the builders have had in certain jobs or certain circumstances While building, and what the remedy was to make the best trail. Such as tricky rock, sections, water, Water crossings, Bridges, steep, terrain, remote locations. And also how to tips and tricks
TB needs to avoid being a circle jerk of trail builders and riders talking in circles about the past or their achievements. The only people who find that interesting are ... the authors and their friends. Not saying that a good story with roots in trail building occasionally is bad, it just can’t be the focus or this thing will die on the vine quickly. The thing that most real builders want are example of high tech vs low tech building solutions to common trail building design and execution issues.
I am a trail builder and I am looking for content that has a critical side to it. I know this magazine is run by builders and we know there is a spectrum for trail building; I don't want every article to rate builders but an opinion mixed in would be nice.
Being a European citizen a printed magazine is becoming too expensive with local tax and fee. Otherwise I would always prefer a printed version.
And there you have it. The results from our very first user survey. Thank you to each and every one of you who took the time to fill out the survey. Your voice has been heard. You matter.
Words: Sean Benesh Photos: Sean Benesh
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Sean Benesh
Sean is the Founder and Editor-in-Chief of Trail Builder Mag. He is also the Communications Director for the Northwest Trail Alliance in Portland, Oregon. While in grad school, he worked as a mountain biking guide in Southern Arizona. Sean also spends time in the classroom as a digital media instructor at Warner Pacific University.
