The Economist

Skopos designed and implemented a digital community panel solution, ensuring continuity of the R&N programme while modernising its delivery:

• Recruitment: Leveraged The Economist’s subscriber lists to build a digital panel across three core territories — UK, US, Europe, and Asia Pacific.
• Quantitative core: Digitised the magazine content to enable structured, online surveys, preserving the essence of R&N while removing offline barriers.
• Qualitative layer: Introduced digital qualitative tools (discussion boards, online diaries, ad-hoc forums) to allow for deeper exploration when needed.
• Improved user experience: Made participation easy, accessible, and rewarding, increasing response rates and engagement.
• Scalable design: Built the programme in a way that could flexibly address both routine content testing and strategic research questions.

The transition to a digital model delivered significant impact for The Economist:

• Achieved major efficiency gains in speed, resource requirements, and cost-effectiveness, delivering measurable bottom-line value.
• Enhanced the audience experience, positioning the R&N programme as modern, intuitive, and aligned with subscriber expectations.
• Provided the business with a richer and more dynamic source of insight, covering:
  • Readership profiling (who engages with content, and how).
  • Content evaluation (which articles, themes, and formats resonate most).
  • Future proposition direction (new features, sections, or subscription benefits).
• Enabled The Economist to act faster on insights, feeding findings back into editorial and commercial decision-making on an ongoing basis.
• Reinforced the brand’s ability to listen to and adapt to its global readership, strengthening loyalty and advocacy.

Ultimately, the project not only modernised the R&N programme but also created a strategic audience insight asset, ensuring The Economist remains closely connected to its readers in an increasingly digital media world.