I conducted a readership analysis of the Stanford Report, which delivers news and information about the Stanford community via email each weekday.

1. ANALYSIS OF OPEN RATES
Stanford Report
January-July 2011
Brandon D. Brown

2. OPENS FROM EMAIL, JANUARY-JULY
 Overall average: 6,489.01 opens per day
 16.5% increase from 2010 (Jan-Jul)
 Highest open:
 8,041
 Wednesday, May 25, 2011
 Funky Frost: An Amphitheater's raucous rock 'n' roll era
 $20 million endowment created for bioengineering projects
 Provost to present 2012 budget plan to Senate Thursday
 Lowest open:
 5,999
 Friday, April 22, 2011
 Sugarcane changes local temperature, researchers say
 American Academy of Arts & Sciences names new scholars
 British theater duo bring experimentation to drama faculty

3. AVERAGE OPENS: MONTHLY
 January: 6,505.90  May: 6,601.81
 14.5% increase from 2010  18.4% increase from 2010
 February: 6,467.05  June: 6,507.90
 17.4% increase from 2010  18.7% increase from 2010
 March: 6,433.43  July (partial): 6,239.43
 16.4% increase from 2010  12.3% increase from 2010
 April: 6,410.81
 13.5% increase from 2010

4. HOW HAVE MONTHLY OPEN RATES CHANGED?
7000
6000
5000
4000
3000
2000
1000
0
2010 2011

5. AVERAGE OPENS: DAILY
 Tuesday continues to have the highest open
average
 Actual averages:
 Monday: 6,556.42
 Tuesday: 6,589.29
 Wednesday: 6,522.07
 Thursday: 6,332.61
 Friday: 6,446.74
 Although holidays continue to fall on Mon and
Fri, readership on both days has increased
significantly, by 18.6% and 18%, respectively

6. HOW HAVE DAILY OPEN RATES CHANGED?
7000
6000
5000
4000
3000
2000
1000
0
Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday
2011 2010

7. BREAKDOWN OF OPENS FOR ADS
 Averages
 Ad 1 (right-hand scroll bar): 71.64
 6.8% increase from 2010
 Ad 2 (bottom of page, larger): 62.28
 5.1% increase from 2010
 Most popular ads:
 Ad 1 location:
 Stanford Dining: Faculty/Staff Meal Plan
 Monday, January 10, 2011
 387 opens
 Ad 2 location:
 Stanford Dining: Faculty/Staff Meal Plan
 Friday, January 14, 2011
 233 opens

8. MONTHLY AD OPEN AVERAGES
160
140
120 62.95 66.09
100 56.44 57.95 64.12
62.6
80
60 Ad 2
69.29
Ad 1
40 83.9 75.8 78.5 76.5 72.7
58.1
20
24
0

9. ARTICLE HIT RATES
 Average for most opened article (per day): 879
 Most popular: 2,740
 Stanford’s new Matadero Trail opens to the public today
 Friday, May 20
 Least popular: 298
 Cantor Director Seligman to retire at the end of the year
 Tuesday, January 11
 Popular Themes:
 Health & wellness (BeWell@Stanford series)
 Changes to campus life
 Expansion
 Deaths
 University accolades
 Individual and group

10. TOP ARTICLES, JAN-JULY 2011
1. Stanford’s new Matadero Trail opens to
the public today (Stanford Report)
 5/20/2011
 2,740
2. Campus encourages commuters to
tweak p.m. drive home (Stanford
Report)
 2/16/2011
 2,310
3. BeWell@Stanford: Kerry Breuer’s diet
to end all dieting
 5/27/2011
 2,104
4. Q&A: Thomas Henriksen on the killing
of Osama bin Laden (Stanford Report)
 5/3/2011
 1,938
5. Facebook Open Office Hours with Betsy
and James Franco (Facebook.com)
 3/11/2011
 1,754

11. TOP ARTICLES, CONT.
6. The Stanford Prison Experiment: In
their own words (Stanford magazine)
 7/14/2011
 1,740
7. Early math lessons change kids’
brains, researchers say (Stanford
School of Medicine)
 6/8/2011
 1,711
8. Your exercise resolutions: Staying the
course (BeWell@Stanford)
 1/19/2011
 1,622
9. Eight scholars selected to the
National Academy of Sciences
(Stanford Report)
 5/5/2011
 1,602
10. Stanford v. Roche goes before U.S.
Supreme Court Monday (Stanford
Report)
 2/24/2011
 1,586

12. TOP ARTICLES, CONT.
11. Stanford ‘disappointed’ in High Court
ruling in Roche case (Stanford
Report)
 6/7/2011
 1,537
12. BeWell@Stanford: Realistic steps to
successful fitness plans
 1/5/2011
 1,503
13. Ten undergraduates win Deans’ Award
for academic work (Stanford Report)
 5/9/2011
 1,474
14. Memorial set for visiting scholar Rune
Nielsen (Stanford Report)
 1/19/2011
 1,438
15. Memorial Church weddings offer unique
way to say ‘I do’ (Stanford Report)
 7/6/2011
 1,431

13. TOP ARTICLES, CONT.
16. Campus to receive collection of 20th-century
American art (Stanford Report)
 6/14/2011
 1,429
17. Want to lower your medical contribution in
2012? (BeWell@Stanford)
 4/29/2011
 1,376
18. BeWell@Stanford: Cliff Nass on our
love/hate relationship with smartphones
 3/17/2011
 1,334
19. Stanford submits expression of interest for
NYC campus (Stanford Report)
 3/18/2011
 1,274
20. Orange Bowl goes to the Cardinal: Stanford
40, VA Tech 12 (GoStanford.com)
 1/4/2011
 1,262

14. TOP 10 RESEARCH ARTICLES
1. Early math lessons change kids’
brains, researchers say (Stanford School
of Medicine)
 6/8/2011
 1,711
2. Failure can lead to ‘breakthrough
thinking,’ GSB’s Shiv says (Stanford GSB
News)
 3/7/2011
 1,195
3. Separation anxiety: Are we plugged in but
tuned out? (Stanford magazine)
 1/24/2011
 1,192
4. Psychologists’ exercise raises GPAs of
minority students (Stanford Report)
 3/18/2011
 1,187
5. Type-2 diabetes linked to autoimmune
reaction in study (Stanford School of
Medicine)
 4/25/2011
 1,175

15. TOP RESEARCH ARTICLES, CONT.
6. Shadow Mothers: Why the first shift still
matters (Clayman Institute)
 7/5/2011
 1,163
7. How ‘computer geeks’ replaced
‘computer girls’ (Clayman Institute)
 6/6/2011
 1,029
8. Researchers try to untangle the root
causes of autism (Stanford magazine)
 1/19/2011
 985
9. Research shows sharing in sorrow
might make us happier (Stanford
Report)
 1/6/2011
 983
10. Paying star employees well is a good
strategy for innovation (Stanford GSB
News)
 1/25/2011
 945

16. IN THE NEWS...
Most popular stories Least popular stories
 Stanford student becomes  Stanford law students
youngest venture capitalist appeal three strikes (Link to
(Link to Menlo Park Patch) Washington Post)
 5/10/2011  2/1/2011
 709  178
 10 great opening lines from  What would you do if you
Stanford admissions essays saw a waitress refusing to
(Link to CBS serve gay parents? (Link to
MoneyWatch.com) ABC News)
 6/16/2011  5/20/2011
 619  332
 America's best high schools  Thiel Fellowship pays 24
(Link to Newsweek) talented students $100,000
 6/21/2011 not to attend college (Link to
 468 Chronicle of Higher Ed)
 5/26/2011
 341

17. CAMPUS ANNOUNCEMENTS
 Readers care about their safety and personal wellness
 Top Announcements:
 Police sketch released of the suspect alleged to have
assaulted a female student Monday, Jan. 3, near Manzanita
Field
 1/7/2011
 998
 Police sketch released for Munger robbery suspect
 5/12/2011
 804
 Happiness Within Reach conference
 1/28/2011
 605

18. SUBJECTS LEAST LIKELY TO ATTRACT CLICKS
 Clicks under 300
 Women’s athletics
 Lively Arts/performances/film screenings
 Links to external news stories (In the News section)
 Senate meeting minutes
 Some subjects have attracted more clicks this
year, more than likely due to their high-profile
nature
 Obituaries
 Senate meetings (decisions, pending changes)
 Awards

19. SR HIGHEST OPEN COUNTS
1. 8,041-Wednesday, May 25
 Funky Frost: An amphitheater's raucous rock 'n' roll era
 $20 million endowment created for bioengineering projects
 Provost to present 2012 budget plan to Senate Thursday
2. 7,984-Monday, January 10, 2011
 Helping researchers find solutions to real-world problems
 New curriculum gives English majors the big picture
 Hennessy praises Harbaugh for re-energizing football
3. 7,811-Wednesday, March 30
 Undergraduate Admission invites 2,427 to the Class of 2015
 Blood test may help predict heart transplant rejection
 Sharing Stanford’s harvest through the Gleaning Project
4. 7,782-Tuesday, April 26
 Knight Management Center Open House set for Friday
 Q&A: Stedman on democracy’s surge, integrity in elections
 Racial disparity persists in heart-transplant mortality rates
5. 7,587-Tuesday, June 21
 Childhood in a ‘dustbowl:’ thin soup, wooden mattresses
 James Jucker, retired industrial engineering professor, dies
 Trustees approve several campus construction projects

20. SR HIGHEST OPEN COUNTS, CONT.
6. 7,399-Tuesday, February 22
 Disordered proteins may be a culprit in spreading disease
 Math stereotypes equal too few women in STEM fields
 Video: Hennessy on meeting The Stanford Challenge
7. 7,350-Monday, January 31
 Scientists’ ‘nanodomes’ could lead to thin-film solar cells
 Pan-Asian Music Festival focuses on Mongolia, ‘the steppes’
 Lythcott-Haims holds Facebook Open Office Hours
8. 7,348-Tuesday, January 4
 Orange Bowl goes to the Cardinal: Stanford 40, VA Tech 12
 2010 Annual Report addresses campus transformation
 Raindrops reveal how a wave of mountains moved south
9. 7,248-Tuesday, May 3
 Q&A: Thomas Henriksen on the killing of Osama bin Laden
 ‘Small fry’ fish also vulnerable to population plunges
 Writer Thomas Friedman on Facebook Open Office Hours
10. 7,168-Monday, June 13
 Felipe Calderón: ‘You must never, ever give up’ on ideals
 Gail Bowman: No need to be perfect to live a successful life
 Rob Reich: ‘Your education here has not been frivolous’

21. THE DISH
Most Popular Least Popular
1. Pundits reflect on ANDREW 1. CHARBEL FARHAT named fellow of
LUCK's decision to stay at Stanford the Society for Industrial and Applied
and forgo the NFL for now . . . Mathematics . . .
 Friday, January 7, 2011  Monday, April 11, 2011
 744 hits  67 hits
2. Here's something you don't see 2. Psychologists LERA BORODITSKY
every day: Five very large and NOAH GOODMAN receive 21st
helicopters landing on the Sand Hill Century Science Initiative grants
Road playing fields, one carrying from the James S. McDonnell
PRESIDENT OBAMA... Foundation . . .
 Thursday, April 21, 2011  Thursday, February 17, 2011
 664 hits  72 hits
3. GRADUATE SCHOOL OF 3. KAROL BERGER receives the
BUSINESS records a stunning Glarean Award for musical research
aerial shot of the campus . . . ...
 Monday, March 7, 2011  Thursday, June 30, 2011
 497 hits  76 hits

22. CONCLUDING REMARKS
 Readership is still consistent, but has significantly increased
 Combination of increase in voluntary subscribers and the
audience becoming more acclimated since the SR is in its 2nd full
year of being online
 Tuesday averages most opens, and five of top 10 SRs were
published on Tuesday
 Ad 1 location (right-hand scroll bar) has a 15% increase in
average opens over Ad 2 location (bottom of page)
 However, ads displaying sales/discounts/good deals are the
most popular overall, despite location
 Again, stories that the readers can connect to are the most
popular: BeWell series, campus changes, deaths of
students/faculty/staff

23. CONCLUDING REMARKS, CONT
 When it comes to research articles, readers appear
to be more interested in topics that affect them on a
daily basis: family, health, salary
 The Dish
 Does not attract as many readers as the SR, but what’s
hot is hot and what’s not is…not
 Intro statement to story makes a difference, the more
descriptive and exciting the better

24. RECOMMENDATIONS
 Conduct an annual readership survey
 This will place the open rates and clicks into context for the researcher and allow him or
her to provide more insight as to why certain stories/ads/etc. are popular and what topics
readers want to see included
 Limitations to measurement
 Use of Facebook and Twitter means that not all opens and hits are counted
 Time of emails
 Would it help to send the SR a little later in the day to prevent getting overlooked in
readers’ inboxes?
 Survey readers to see if they think a time change would be beneficial
 On-going tracking of data
 Excel spreadsheet templates will allow researcher to compile data and perform
calculations in a neat, organized manner
 Better for tracking trends
 The Dish
 A social media platform would be especially useful for this segment
 Also, maybe using this section specifically for stories with some sort of entertainment value
would be helpful
 Consider a new layout/design