Thanks to Victoria Leitch for the Scope ‘year in review.’

I might be a little biased, but I think we have had a great year with the ASC newsletter – Scope!

As current editor, I can proudly say that in the past year Scope has seen a number of improvements – many of which were implemented by (and should be attributed to the hard work of) my predecessor Sally Miles. A move to mailchimp has seen a greatly improved look and feel to the newsletter, and the introduction of a Scope writing team has allowed us to continue to improve our provision of new and varying content for members.

The newsletter has a very good open and click through rate, for those numberophiles (not a word, I know!) among us here are some stats since our move to mailchimp:

• Sent to an average of 480 subscribers (min was 434 in March, max was 547 in June)
• Average open rate of 50.1% (min was 43.3% in June, max was 56% in July)
• Average link click rate of 21.9% (min was 15.1% in August, max was 34.1% in April/May)
• The majority (>90%) of the opens are coming from Australia, but we also have opens in USA, Japan, New Zealand, Canada, UK, Poland and India

As a comparison for you, although stats vary pretty widely, an average open rate for a list our size would be up to 20% – so we really are doing very well.

Although we generally receive very positive feedback from readers, current discussion on the ASC discussion lists gave me cause to reflect on the format and content of Scope, and on that matter I offer the following thoughts.

I acknowledge that the current Scope format or content might not be to everyone’s taste, or might not be what you want to see. There is no way this can change unless people come forward and say something. There is a constant call for suggestions and opinions – this is included in every newsletter – and there is, and I believe always will be, an open call for content for the newsletter. The ASC communications team work damn hard on an essentially volunteer basis to bring you the newsletter and we desperately want to give you a quality publication that encompasses your vision for an ASC newsletter. Although we do receive some very positive feedback, which is always nice, we also invite any negative feedback or suggestions.

For those of you that have contributed content in 2013, I sincerely thank you for the effort you have put into improving our newsletter. Particularly to the Scope writing team, who put in many hours of blood, sweat and typing as volunteer writers – thank you!

We look forward to bringing you even more new and improved content in 2014.

… and I’ll say it one more time, please, if you ever have any thoughts, suggestions, events, or even if you simply want to tell me what the correct name for a numberophile is – email me at editor@asc.asn.au or if your comment is suitable for sharing, post it below!