Forum

We are so grateful to all EYB members who spent the time to complete our recent survey. We got some very useful information – read more in this blog post.

It was especially interesting reading the feedback comments at the end of the survey. Obviously each comment is just one person’s opinion, but some themes did emerge and I thought it would be useful to address some of those issues raised. Please do add any comments or questions you have.

Far and away the largest type of feedback was loving the site and appreciating how much more useful cookbooks are when they can be searched quickly for recipes. We really appreciate that and also the members who said they constantly spread the word about EYB,

The next largest comment was wanting more of your cookbook collection indexed. This is something we are very aware of though there are two major stumbling blocks. Firstly, indexing is very expensive (it costs on average 5 years' membership fees to index one book). We index as many books as we can but we have to spend within our budget to stay in business. Secondly, our members all own different books so we have to prioritize the books that will benefit the most members. As well as looking at how many members own a book, we also consider the size and age of a book – is it better to index 10 newer books or one older very large book that may not actually be cooked from anymore?

Quite a few comments asked for an app. We would be interested to hear why an app would be more useful than the mobile website. If it is just for access on your phone screen, have you added the EYB icon? That is explained here in Help.

Some members said the site was hard to use or needed the interface improved. We have a very large Help section  In addition the tutorials, accessed from the green Need Help? Icon at bottom right (not available on phones), walk you through all the main features on the site. EYB is the only website in the world that helps you find recipes in your own cookbooks and magazines, so it is worth persevering to learn how the site functions. And we always respond quickly to any emails asking for Help. In terms of making the site easier to use, we are always open to suggestions – here on the Forum or by email. Though we don’t have unlimited resources to spend on development so we will not be able to make every suggested improvement (or at least not immediately).

A few Free members said they would upgrade to Premium if the site was cheaper. As explained above, indexing is a very expensive process (probably why no-one else in the world has come into competition with EYB since we launched 10 years ago!). Add on all the other costs a website has – server, development, writing, marketing, etc – and you can see why we need a steady stream of revenue to stay in business. For anyone with cookbook or magazine collections, you have made a large outlay for those books and magazines - US$2.50 a month (for an annual membership) does not seem a lot to better use the magazines and books you have spent hundreds, or thousands, of dollars to buy.

Some members thought the site was too American. This is a bit ironic since I and my co-founder Fiona are British, though I now live in the USA and Fiona in New Zealand. We do make every effort to ensure cookbooks from English-speaking countries beyond the USA are indexed. If I look down the first page of newly indexed books (the latest 25) right now, 8 are published in the UK, 3 in Canada, 3 in Australia, and 1 in India. We also try to make the blog coverage beyond the USA though the English-speaking world is a very large place to keep track of for interesting subjects to share with our members. It would be very helpful if members let us know whenever they read something they think other cookbook-lovers would like to know about. Finally, for the giveaways we are finding publishers and kitchenware manufacturers outside the USA are less keen to provide books and products as prizes. And shipping costs from the USA for international winners are horrendous. We do try to add worldwide options when we can, often paying for them ourselves when the publishers are unwilling. Of the current giveaways, 23 are open to US members, 11 Canada, 6 Australia, 6 UK, 5 NZ and 5 are worldwide (any country).

There were a few other feature requests that some members did not seem to be aware we have:

Add books not listed to the Library – import the ISBN number using Import Books under the My Bookshelf tab. If the book is on Amazon as a food or drink book, it will get added. More info here in Help.

Exclude ingredients from searches – select the ingredient from the right col filters, then change the + to a -. More info here in Help.

Add Notes or photos to recipes – here is Help for Notes and photos. 

Use filters for searches by multiple criteria – here in Help  or view tutorial 3.

Make search results more precise – the best ways to do this are to use filters (as above) which are a direct match to the item not a word match (which can give false results). Also putting your search in speech/quote marks gives more precise results – e,g, “black garlic” will show only results with that ingredient whereas without the speech marks you see every recipe containing the words black and garlic.

We are always open to feedback – both positive and negative - on EYB - you don’t have to wait for a survey! There is a contact link at the top of every page.

Originally Posted by: Jane

 As well as looking at how many members own a book, we also consider the size and age of a book – is it better to index 10 newer books or one older very large book that may not actually be cooked from anymore?

. . .

Some members thought the site was too American. This is a bit ironic since I and my co-founder Fiona are British, though I now live in the USA and Fiona in New Zealand. 

Ah, that explains why its "tea" rather than "fika" ... You need to add more Scandinavians to your staff :-)

I bristle at the suggestion that an older cookbook is not actually cooked from anymore. From the Facebook groups I can assure you that "old" cooking is very much alive and well and that "old" cookbooks are treated as great finds in sales. That being said, I have found that the books actually getting indexed are a nice selection from my library. Those indexed that would be much lower priority for me, I can understand why they got done rather than my choices. Kudos here.

I may have been one who called the site too American as shorthand for American-British-Southern Europe-Near East. The reason is that the cupboard ingredients, recipe types, courses, and occasions don't fit well for those of us with a Pacific Rim or Artic orientation. Some cupboard ingredients are rarely in my cupboard while items I consider essential are not "standard". Look, I know the brand of fish sauce a local critic carries in her purse so the essentials are always available. Yes, she admitted it on NPR. Early on I entered an online recipe for a magnificant dal only to be told it was a curry; it may be curry to the British but its a dal to South Asians (and most on the Pacific Rim).  As a result I rarely search by category except for breads and drinks. Frequently, even the way the recipe is presented doesn't fit the "standard recipe" model - I'm thinking of a Finnish recipe that included mashed potatoes in the title but not in the ingredients or instructions -- it was assumed the cook was smart enough to turn to a recipe with the instructions or knew enough to not require a recipe. Or a book of sandwiches that rarely lists bread as an ingredient - listed only if a specific bread is needed; it gives no quantities ... but does tell you how to make your saurkraut.

I'm not expecting any change in the focus, but I hope the above helps those with a American-British-Southern Europe-Near East bent to understand the rest of us.

I don't believe membership is too expensive. I actually joined years ago and cancelled because my collection is weird, and you only had about 5 of 100 of my books indexed. I took another look a few years ago and was gobsmacked at how far you had come, how many of my books you'd managed to index - and growing - and how the other parts of the site had grown, like the blog, recommendations and all the  extra things. I rejoined in a heartbeat. I would pay more, too, especially as your indexed library grows. (I am not begging you to put the prices up though lol!)

I come from a markteing background and can almost guarantee the most of the people saying it's too expensive would never be satisfied, no matter what you do. They are not your tribe :)

Definitely not too expensive, in the Uk a single cookbook would generally cost more than an annual subsciption to EYB.  Plus, the pleasure and benefits I get from this site are immeasurable!  I probably look at the site an average of twice/thrice a day over the course of a week.  I love the way you search for one thing and then go off on a tangent and discover something quite unexpected and different.

I appreciate this post as it's good to know what other people are thinking with regards to the survey.

EYB has become one of the tools I use most in my kitchen.  I love it!  I use it to prevent waste, for inspiration, and to prevent me from buying a cookbook I already have.  I think the quality is good and I have always had exceptional customer service.  I would seriously consider a lifetime membership if one was offered!

I remember completing this survey last year, and don't particuarly feel the annual subscription is expensive either (even when factoring in foreign exchange rates which inflate the figure (for NZ)). I also enjoy contributing to the resource by indixing some of my NZ collection (those where there are a reasonable number of copies held).  That benefits me and others.

One thing I would really love is to have appliances/cooking method (such as microwave, pressure cooker) idientifiable as an indexing term along perhaps with other pieces of cooking equipment accessible.  Obviously many microwave receipes for example will have microwave used in the recipe title, but others don't, and knowing what cooking method is used can be useful.  Ditto for other equipment such as pressure cooker, slow cooker, instant pot (not familiar with the last of these).

And finally, I guess it's a big gripe - I hope I can explain it so you understand.  When editing a book I'm indexing, at the checking stage (or possibly earlier) it's possible to sort the recipes by (for instance) title so that I can find specific recipes by title.  However if I edit one of these recipes the recipes below revert back to the original sort order.  It would be useful if the recipes stayed on the screen in the order they'd been sorted into, rather than having to re-sort and then navigate to the screen one was on again.

Hi Jane ... of course you know how much I love EYB - been here since close to the beginning and still use it almost daily!  I do talk it up, but sadly most of friends and family are not big cooks like me.

Reading this post I just have to with the best of intentions say that most folks now-a-days just don't have the appetite/patience for referencing separate documents when using a website or tool of any type.  They expect it to be intuitive in and of itself.  I find, in my professional life, if folks have to keep referencing a separate how-to, it's just not worth their time and trouble.  That is a major consideration when my organization is looking to procure a new system - how intuitive it is to use without a lot of training and reference.

I know y'all have put a lot of time and effort into your help documents but that is one place I would spend my development efforts - making the site intuitive without the need to reference separate HELP documents.  People really want to be able to do stuff at the speed of light, especially when on-the-move with their mobile devices.