1. Question: What is the purpose of a BPA
audit?
Answer: To audit a publication’s circulation to identify and classify the
number of qualified subscribers based on geographic location, source of
the subscription and other business demographics. This information
is used by advertisers to determine whether ads run in the publication
are likely to reach a desired audience.
2. Question: Why does an advertiser care about
“qualified” subscribers?
Answer: Qualified subscribers are subscribers who are receiving the publication
because they requested to receive the publication. Issues of a publication
may be sent to advertisers and ad agencies, allocated to be given out
at trade shows, or sent in bulk to an address, available to anyone who
wants to take an issue. In these examples, the reader is likely
not part of the target audience for advertisers who advertise in the publication. These
types of subscriptions are considered “not qualified” because they don’t
go to specific subscriber who requested the subscription.
3. Question: What makes a subscriber “qualified”?
Answer: To start with, members who receive a subscription as a benefit
of membership, and subscribers who order and pay at least 1 cent for a
subscription are considered qualified. Advertisers
know these are subscribers who are actively interested in the content
of the publication, and are therefore likely to see and read ads placed
in the publication.
4. Question: Are there other rules for a subscriber
to be “qualified”?
Answer: Yes, part of the BPA functionality is to track a member or subscriber’s
qualification date. As long as that member or subscriber renews
or re-orders their membership or subscription within 3 years of their
last qualification date, they will continue to be considered qualified. Every
renewal or re-order results in the member or subscriber getting a new
qualification date. Members and subscribers who renew their
membership or subscription at least every 3 years are continuing to show
their interest in the content of the publication, which is what advertisers
are interested in.
5. Question: How does Personify keep track
of a member or subscriber’s qualification information?
Answer: Personify creates a record in Sub_Qual_Master for all members and
subscribers receiving an audited publication. Every
time the member or subscriber has a qualification activity, a new record
is created by Personify in Sub_Qual_Master, copying information from Cus_Audit_Default,
if available.
6. Question: How is the subscriber’s Sub_Qual_
Master record used?
Answer: Each time a subscription issue is fulfilled, Personify creates
a record in Sub_Issue_Fulfillment for each subscriber. If
the publication is audited, Personify also creates a record in Sub_Audit_Stats
for each issue for each subscriber. The
Sub_Audit_Stats record identifies the subscriber’s qualification code,
qualification method and qualification source as of that particular issue. It is from Sub_Audit_Stats
records that BPA audit reports are generated.