The votes have been counted, and the results are in. Geegeez asked you for your thoughts, and you responded in your hundreds. The first thing to say then is a very big

THANK YOU

I know that this crazy thing called t’internet is an ever more cluttered place, with more calls for your time than the speaking clock (remember when we all needed that?!). So it’s never taken for granted that you will spare five minutes to complete the annual reader survey.

For those who did, you will be shaping the future content of geegeez. For those who didn’t, well, maybe you’ll help out next time (and thanks in advance!) 😉

OK, to the results…

The survey was broken down into four elements: You and Geegeez; Racecards and Form Tools; Your Surfing/Betting Habits; and, A Bit About You.

Part 1: You and Geegeez

The first question was how long have you been visiting geegeez.co.uk, and over 90% of respondents answered more than half a year, with almost 85% veterans of at least a year. That sort of loyalty is a cherished thing, and it’s testament to the community we’ve built here. We don’t have bitching, and we encourage considered opinions as opposed to kneejerk one liners. It shows in the figures below. Thank you (again).

Answer Choices	Responses
A year or more	84.24% 278
7-12 months	6.67% 22
0-3 months	4.55% 15
4-6 months	4.55% 15
Total	330

You were then asked how often you visit, and over 85% of you pop by at least a few times a week. Hopefully that means there’s at least something that catches your attention often enough.

The most read parts of the site were my ramblings (bizarrely, 81% read at least once a fortnight), big race previews (64%), Stat of the Day (47%, which is very high considering this is a premium element not available to most visitors – it also says something about the engagement level of Gold subscribers, who LOVE the site!!!), racecards (43%, another great figure for a relatively new component), and so on all the way down to the tipping league which just 9% of people use.

Because of that it’s become harder to find bookmaker partners to sponsor the prizes for the tipping league, and it will now be a £100 monthly prize for the top player. The good news is that means there are no bookie account qualification rules, so do get involved if you’d like. It’s the ‘Tip League’ menu item at the top of the page.

We asked about the frequency of different content elements, and pretty much all were considered either ‘just right’ or ‘more please’, which is very pleasing. Some people said they would like to see less system reviews, and that’s fair enough. Geegeez caters for a broad cross-section of racing fans, and we know that others very much like and respect our independent unbiased trials.

The most ‘more please’ requests were for big race previews, and we’ll be taking that on board, starting with Newmarket’s July Meeting this week. The second most ‘more please’ requests were for more daily tips. I’ve taken that on board, and am giving thought to how we can best do this. As you will know, Stat of the Day and Double Dutch are great fun, profitable value services. Any new daily tips would need to have every chance of following in that vein, so it’s not simply a case of just throwing any old thing up. As I say, though, we have it in mind.

As for your favourite thing on geegeez, I am incredibly humbled that my blogs are still considered the number one content element by more than a quarter of you – the most of any component. And, just as pleasingly, I’m thrilled that newer stuff like the racecards (22%) and Stat of the Day (16%, again remember there are far fewer users of this content than other elements) is gaining a meaningful ‘hard core’ audience.

The next question was ‘what would you like to see added to geegeez?‘. The number one answer, which more than half of you requested, was weekend racing previews. OK, that’s a done deal. In the very near future, we’ll be introducing those, available on Friday afternoon. Like I said, if you ask, we’re here to respond. We want to make geegeez even better, and shape it as far as we can to your requests.

I was quite amazed to note that 31% of you said you’d like to see a forum on geegeez. We have tried this before, without success, and it’s a tricky old thing to get right. However, this far bigger than expected number is noted, and it’s something we’ll give consideration to. Again, it’s not simply about adding a forum – that’s the easy bit. Rather, it’s about ensuring it gets used, and that people are (generally) courteous and considered in their posts, much like the comments on the blog. The forum users amongst you will understand how much of a challenge that is!

There were also some really good requests in the ‘other’ section here, and they’ve all been noted, with some of them scheduled for incorporation.

Part 2: The Racecards and Form Tools

This section kicked off by asking if you’d used the geegeez racecards. 30% of you had not, which is a pity if you’re using cards somewhere else at the moment, because I think you might really enjoy ours… Anyway, the good news is that that means 70% of you have at least tried our cards and form tools. Thank you.

And two-thirds of you are still using them, either as Gold subscribers (31%) or the functionally rich free version (34%). Incidentally, you may like to note that the most powerful free form tool in Britain is available in the free racecard area. It’s called ‘Full Form Filters’ and, if you’ve not checked it out, I promise you you’re missing a trick. I use this tool every single time I place a bet on racing.

For those who are Gold subscribers, check this out. It’s the latest addition to the cards, called “Then What?”, and it’ll be landing soon. [It tells you how many horses have run from each past race, and how they’ve done – neat, eh?!]

There is a whole glut of other new additions too, and our ongoing commitment is to continue to build out features and functions that are easy to follow, and help to find winners. Although the price of subscription may rise for new members, those already on board will never pay more than they currently do.

The most popular parts of the cards and form tools are, unsurprisingly, the Race Analysis tab – very soon to be renamed ‘Instant Expert’ for what I trust are obvious reasons… and also the feature-packed cards themselves. They scored a ‘Like It/Love It’ rating of 21%/70% and 32%/56% respectively – pretty pretty cool.

And 81% of you like/love the Full Form Filters too. Good work!

As I’ve said, we’re always looking to add things to the cards/form tools, and obviously we want to add the things you want. So, we asked, “What would you most like to see added to the cards/form tools?”

Your replies were as follows:

The Form Follower is in the process of being added now, and will be available in the near future, so I’m somewhat relieved that it was a popular request for inclusion. (Phew!)

The top two answers were both ratings related, and that came as no surprise. We do have a speed rating that we were working on as much as three years ago (!), which we’re dusting down and reviewing. As with the tipping elements on the site, we won’t just publish any set of numbers. They’ve got to demonstrate their value.

The same goes for form ratings, although this is a far more difficult area. To produce a geegeez rating is not really a possibility right now, as I estimate it would take me in the region of three months to ‘reverse engineer’ my thought processes and have them codified into a rating set. And, even then, I’m not entirely certain I want to do that anyway!!!

So, I’ve made a couple of overtures to ratings providers who I know, trust and respect and, with luck, we’ll be able to license them and publish them on site. This is not, as you might guess, a cheap option. But you get what you pay for, and if we’re going down the ratings path, we want the best we can get. (Note, my view of the best is driven by profitability not popularity. Popularity in ratings terms always means the available odds take a hit).

I was slightly surprised that the thing you’d most like to see added to the cards/tools was a set of speed ratings. I thought it would be a form rating, but I was wrong. That was the third most popular choice and, as you’ve read, we’re working on both of these elements.

The second most popular choice was a system builder. While we have the data to do this, I’m still loathe to go down this route. The main reason is that I believe there is a fantastic tool which serves this purpose already available at horseracebase. I have no desire to encroach on Chris’s (the site owner) territory and, in any case, I don’t think we could do nearly as good a job without a huge focus of energies. So, while it’s possible we’ll do a bit more in terms of filtering the reporting output and some basic query functions, there’s no plan for a ‘full on’ system builder. If you want that, I can’t recommend horseracebase highly enough.

Asked whether the Gold membership was value for money, 78% said it was ‘Excellent’, with a further 20% considering it either ‘Good’ or ‘Reasonable’. That’s 98% of Gold subscribers felt that the subscription was at least reasonable, and the vast majory – over three-quarters – saying it was excellent. I’m really pleased about that, as we’re trying to deliver a serious value package. Your comments suggest we’re doing pretty well on that score.

Part 3: Your Surfing/ Betting Habits

In the third part, many of you were kind / honest enough to share how you surf  and bet. Here’s what you collectively said…

Asked which other sites you visit at least weekly, 71% said RacingPost.com, 60% SportingLife.com, 56% oddschecker.com, and 44% AtTheRaces.com. Personally, I was surprised that all of these figures weren’t higher.

The next image is a bit more complex, and outlines what respondents use on various sites. The percentage figures relate to the number of replies for that site, rather than as a percentage of the entire response (if that makes sense).

We can see from this that people who use RacingPost.com, for instance, use it mainly for cards and results. People mainly use SportingLife.com for results. And respondents mainly use geegeez.co.uk for cards, tips and blogs.

I asked you about sowshul meejah. You know, twitter, facebook and that lark. This has been a growing area, so it seems many of you who were previously reluctant have taken the plunge and gone all ‘social’ online. 54% of you are facebookers, 44% tweet or read tweets, and 22% of you (the geeks like me, I’m guessing!) are on Google+. Only 31% are not on any of those three social platforms.

But… 67% do not follow me (fair enough) or geegeez (why on earth not?!) on facebook/twitter/google+

If you currently don’t, you’re missing some good stuff, and you can join us via the links in the sidebar (to the right, and up).

Onto betting habits, and 88% of you usually back bet, as opposed to lay (6%) or arb/trade/other (6%). That’s the smallest lay figure I’ve seen in the survey results, and it strongly hints at how hard it is to turn a profit from that game.

Right on half of you currently subscribe to a tipping service, either paid (29%) or free (21%); and 53% of you use a “one or two” (36%) or “a few, or loads” (17%) of betting systems.

Just 10% of respondents have one or no online bookie accounts, and 73% have four or more. In the days of value betting, getting the best price (especially best odds guaranteed) is worth a lot of winners over the course of a year, so I’m pleased that most geegeez readers have a range of account options when looking to make a bet.

Here is how many have which account:

Answer Choices	Responses
Betfair	80.43% 226
bet365	75.44% 212
Paddy Power	70.46% 198
William Hill	65.84% 185
Ladbrokes	64.41% 181
Skybet	63.35% 178
Coral	57.65% 162
Bet Victor	55.52% 156
Betfred	52.67% 148
totesport	43.42% 122
Boyle	36.65% 103
Betbright	22.06% 62
racebets	20.64% 58
Tote Ireland	19.57% 55
ColossusBets	5.34% 15
Total Respondents: 281

The one that I expect to see most growth from over the next year is Colossus Bets, a genius concept that recent readers will know I love. The little syndicate I formed (eight players, £50 each, made two bets and won both times. We pulled out around £3,000, which was nice 🙂  )

Do have a look at it – I’ve a review of ColossusBets here.

Almost half of you have opened a new account in the last three months, probably as a result of one of the many loss-leading bookie offers that pervade around major Festivals and sporting events. These are normally huge punter-friendly opportunities so it’s great to discover that 47% have got involved.

The other 53% either have all the accounts already, or are missing a trick, I’ll venture.

Asked how often you bet, 36% wager every day, and 43% most days. That’s 79% who bet more often than not. Me too. Great, isn’t it?! 1% of respondents never bet, so it’s gratifying that those people still visit geegeez for a racing read.

I cheekily asked how much you bet on average, and you were candid enough to share that info. 10% of those who replied said their average bet stake was less than £2, with another 35% betting £5 or less on average. At the other end of the spectrum, 14% average £20 or more… and 5% told me to mind my own beeswax!

Now then, reasons…

I enquired as to the MAIN reason you bet. 62% said ‘to win money’. Fair enough, but it is noteworthy that 38% didn’t say that. Not everyone has profit as a primary motivator. Don’t get me wrong, I bet for two equal purposes: for fun and profit. But one without the other wouldn’t work for me. Actually, I guess a small loss over time in pursuit of a leisure activity would be all right. Luckily, in recent years, I’ve derived both fun (a lot) and profit (a bit) from my betting. I hope almost all of you can say the same for at least one of those two elements!

So why else do people bet? 34%, i.e. pretty much everyone else, had fun/entertainment or the challenge of the puzzle as their primary reason for betting.

The secondary reason you bet was, you said, for fun (34%) and/or to win money (28%). Aggregating those two answers tells us that 96% of people have making money from betting as one of their two main reasons. Hardly earth-shattering news, granted, but reassuring to know all the same!

And almost 70% of you look on betting as fun as well as a profit-generating exercise. I know some people consider betting a business and that’s fine, I guess. It’s not for me though. If it was just numbers, I think I’d probably get ‘a proper job’, no offence intended to those accountancy types out there…

Part 4: About you…

And finally, I asked a few things about you. Starting with, in which decade were you born? 83% of you were born between 1940 and 1969. That’s a big time span, of course, and it means that somewhere around five-sixths of geegeez readers are in their forties to seventies. My opinion, for what it’s worth, is that those with more years on their score card tend to be a bit more considered about things, so it’s hugely flattering that we have a discerning community.

Of course, I’d also like to encourage more young people to geegeez, a problem not unique in racing to this site. With only 13% of respondents born in the 1970’s or later, this clearly remains a challenge for me. Any ideas?!

Over 97% of you are male, less than 3% female. This was a bit of a surprise as we have historically had (a few) more women race fans visit the site. Not sure why this number has changed.

78% of respondents live in England, with 6% Scotland, 4% Wales, 8% Ireland, and 4% rest of the world. Again, no big surprise except that there aren’t more non-English UK visitors. Maybe that’s down to the soft southerner who runs the site..!

Prize Draw winner

Thank you so much to everyone who responded – 332 of you on the main survey, and 140 on the ‘invite only’ Gold survey. There were prizes of Lifetime Gold subscriptions for those who took time out to complete the survey, and the winners are:

‘Open to all’ survey

Brian Farrow

Gold Subscribers only survey

Mike McKinley-Good
Terence Barraclough

Thanks again to all who completed the survey. If you didn’t win one of the Lifetime Gold subscriptions, at least be assured that your thoughts and comments have directly contributed to making geegeez.co.uk more like the site you’d have it to be.

Best Regards,

Matt