Is ScubaBoard representative of the diving population at large?

[AfterDark]

P.S. IMHO, Scubaboarders are NOT representative of divers. Scubaboarders are the core fanatics (with a healthy sprinkling of the lunatic fringe included). I suggest 9 out of 10 divers have never heard of Scubaboard. As proof I see way too many split fins, snorkels & Spare Airs and ZERO BP's, SMB's or doubles on my dive trips.ymmv...

I run in a fairly large group of divers both in RI and MA and have yet to find a diver that I didn't meet on SB that even knew about SB!

 

[RJP]

P.S. IMHO, Scubaboarders are NOT representative of divers. Scubaboarders are the core fanatics (with a healthy sprinkling of the lunatic fringe included). I suggest 9 out of 10 divers have never heard of Scubaboard. As proof I see way too many split fins, snorkels & Spare Airs and ZERO BP's, SMB's or doubles on my dive trips.

I run in a fairly large group of divers both in RI and MA and have yet to find a diver that I didn't meet on SB that even knew about SB!

If anyone is interested in helping get a comparison between SB and "the rest of the world" on the psychographic questions I've created a "Non ScubaBoard Link" that can be shared on FB, Twitter, whatever. (I have removed the race/ethnicity question.)

Please use THIS link to share outside of SB https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/2L3XXDM as it will be the only way I can keep the two data sets apart.

NOTE: ScubaBoarders please do NOT use this link to take the survey. If you haven't already... please use the link in the original post for your own responses.

Thanks!

 

[KeithG]

Well I've obviously been tested and psychologically examed too many times over the years. I didn't find anything offensive or unusual about the survey.

Congratulations! You have become immune!

 

[uncfnp]

Congratulations! You have become immune!

You have no idea. Let's see. I'm a female diver participating on SB while exploring the tech side of scuba and work in a profession full of dominate men! Yep, very immune!

 

[EFX]

If I restrict my answer to members as stated in the thread's first post then my answer is no. The majority are more experienced and serious divers judging by the bio's from those who have responded to various questions. I think most of the posts from divers with <100 dives are more representative of the diving population and these represent a very small number of posts. It may be that there could be a significant number of members who are less experienced but never or seldom post. That would tilt SB toward a more representative population. SB by itself does not cater to the general crowd because most of the forum categories are special (i.e. captain-to-captain, disabilities, tek-2-tek, rebreather, vintage, hunting, videography, etc., etc.). If you include all divers (i.e non-members) then I would say SB is more representative.

 

[Wookie]

You have no idea. Let's see. I'm a female diver participating on SB while exploring the tech side of scuba and work in a profession full of dominate men! Yep, very immune!

Hmmm. You might want to meet my wife.....

 

[drrich2]

Interestingly, even if ScubaBoard membership aren't representative of the overall certified diver pool, they may be representative of a subset that is a desirable demographic to target with marketing and services.

Here's my thinking. If a lot of scuba cert.'s go to one shot 'try it out' people who won't stick with the hobby, then over time, a lot of people will be counted as much of the 'diving population' who are actually not diving. Unless you intend to make reclamation the thrust of your marketing, they may be 'dead wood.'

If the ScubaBoard membership are indeed avid divers, they may be representative of the avid diver population. If that's what you aim to market to, that's useful.

Does this matter if your main thrust is a marketing push to get new people to enter the scuba hobby?

It can be. If you just want to draw anybody & everybody, maybe not. But if you mainly want to draw in the sort of person who's likely to stick with the hobby over time, well, then, we must ask if the ScubaBoard membership is also to some extent representative of them in some useful ways. Or at least, could that which is compelling to SB members be used to season marketing to those potential divers you hope to recruit? Or make product/service offerings more appealing to them once they do walk in the dive shop door?

Richard.

 

[scubadada]

SB is not representative of the "average" diver. I'm waiting for the survey results

 

[TMHeimer]

Interestingly, even if ScubaBoard membership aren't representative of the overall certified diver pool, they may be representative of a subset that is a desirable demographic to target with marketing and services.

Here's my thinking. If a lot of scuba cert.'s go to one shot 'try it out' people who won't stick with the hobby, then over time, a lot of people will be counted as much of the 'diving population' who are actually not diving. Unless you intend to make reclamation the thrust of your marketing, they may be 'dead wood.'

If the ScubaBoard membership are indeed avid divers, they may be representative of the avid diver population. If that's what you aim to market to, that's useful.

Does this matter if your main thrust is a marketing push to get new people to enter the scuba hobby?

It can be. If you just want to draw anybody & everybody, maybe not. But if you mainly want to draw in the sort of person who's likely to stick with the hobby over time, well, then, we must ask if the ScubaBoard membership is also to some extent representative of them in some useful ways. Or at least, could that which is compelling to SB members be used to season marketing to those potential divers you hope to recruit? Or make product/service offerings more appealing to them once they do walk in the dive shop door?

Richard.

This is very complicated for a simpleton like me. My wife is into that Targeting amd Marketing thing with her internet business. But I THINK I agree with what you're saying....

 

[RJP]

But if you mainly want to draw in the sort of person who's likely to stick with the hobby over time, well, then, we must ask if the ScubaBoard membership is also to some extent representative of them in some useful ways. Or at least, could that which is compelling to SB members be used to season marketing to those potential divers you hope to recruit? Or make product/service offerings more appealing to them once they do walk in the dive shop door?

I think the biggest issue is that, for the most part diver retention is a random event. The thing that SBers have in common is the random event of having become avid, active, engaged divers. We've all figured out our own reason to stick with diving... and that works for us. And when you look around here, there's a fairly wide range of diving types, styles, approaches and opinions.

This, unfortunately becomes problematic for the new diver. Since they've never really been giving a high-level reason to "be a diver" they are left to try it and see if they can come up with their own reason for liking it, since they've never heard a unified message as to why they SHOULD be a diver. When we don't tell the customer what the product really is many of those who try it actually won't know if they enjoy it since they have no frame of reference.

There are also implications for existing divers. As mentioned earlier in this thread or another, people stop availing themselves of goods and services that no longer meet their expectations. This becomes fairly frequent in cases where the customer has never really been told what they should expect.

You've hit part of it on the head. I think the best way to fix attrition is by addressing the "new diver" problem properly. Doing so will attract more divers, more of whom are likely to stay with the sport, because they came to the endeavor with must more specific and accurate expectations. And this unified message will continue to support the diver's experience going forward.