The ResponseSource Journalist Enquiry Service, previously just known as ResponseSource, has been running since 1998. It was the third service offered by journalist Daryl Willcox when he founded DWPub (the original name of the ResponseSource collection of services) and has gone through a few changes during its 20 years.

Here are some of the best features we’ve added to the Journalist Enquiry Service over the past couple of years:

Keyword highlighting
Keyword highlighting makes the enquiries that are most important to you stand out in your inbox. Unlimited keywords can be saved on the user administration page. (Introduced Sep 2017).

Digest emails
Receive twice daily summaries of today’s open requests. Review enquiry short summaries, click through to the full enquiry online. Useful if you don’t have time to review all the individual queries. (Introduced Jul 2017)

Outlet circulation and Moz rank data from the ResponseSouce Media Contacts Database
Including outlet circulation and Moz rank data from the ResponseSource Media Contacts Database helps subscribers evaluate an outlet quickly. (Introduced 2016)

More Control
We introduced user control of category selection. (Introduced 2017)

Blogger statistics a requirement
We introduced a strict requirement for bloggers to supply in-depth data about their claimed readership. This makes it easier to decide whether the blog is a suitable fit for the brands you represent. (Introduced 2017)

Reply quickly
A small technical change with big benefits. We changed enquiry email reply-handling so that instead of having to copy and paste the enquiry reply email (how the service worked for years) you can just hit reply to the enquiry, just like you would with a normal email. (Introduced 2016)

Reply forwarded confirmation email
We introduced confirmation emails to provide confirmation (and reassurance) that your carefully crafted reply has been forwarded on to the journalist. (Introduced 2016)

Here are a few statistics on how journalists used the service in 2017:

National Press media opportunities consistently delivered
ResponseSource distributes over 500 journalist requests a week from National Press, Regional, Trade, Broadcast, and other outlets. A fifth of enquiries, or about 100 media coverage opportunities a week, come from National Press journalists.

Most frequent enquiry types
Enquiries looking for ‘information for an article’, or ‘spokesperson or expert’ made up more than 50% of all enquiries in 2017.

Sender Types over the last three years
77% of requests are from Staff and Freelance journalists. Bloggers sent 11% of all requests in 2017.

Media Types sending requests
Consumer media is the most common ‘media type’ from last year. Blogs are fourth.

Do you use the Journalist Enquiry Service and have some feedback? Let us know here.

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