The Art of Telling Art

Museums and Visitors: experience analysis 10 case studies

速

IBM Business Consulting Services

the art of telling art

*

“Driven by increasingly intense competition in an ever-more global marketplace, leading brands are focusing on improving the end-to-end customer experience as a basis for establishing competitive differentiation, boosting revenues and winning customer loyalty” IBM Institute of Business Value 2003

“A radical opposition between assets-work of art and assets-experience would be out of place. Also in the most traditional museums spaces devoted to experience widens thanks to the modification of the media-mix used for communication.”

Peppino Ortoleva

“We attend museums not because we love painters but because we love ourselves.”

Jackob Burckhardt

“Creativity is allowing yourself to make mistakes. Art is knowing which ones have to be kept” Scott Adams

“The most successful museums offer a variety of experiences concerning different segments of public, and reflecting different visitors’ needs”

Neil e Philip Kotler

“Experience is not what happens to a man; it is what a man does with what happens to him” Aldous Huxley

index

*

Foreword .................................................................................... VII Introduction ................................................................................ 1 Chapter

Chapter

Chapter

Chapter

Chapter

1 2 3 4 5

Sector Analysis ...................................................... 7 Demand analysis How free time is spent?

Offering evolution 10 sample museums

Profiles and Scenarios ........................................... 25

Customer Experience Evaluation............................... 43

Trends e Best Practices .......................................... 67 Museum and Brand Offering Evolution Technologies and Innovative Channels

Conclusion ............................................................ 85

Appendix ................................................................................... 89

Bibliography .............................................................................. 93

foreword

*

Defining solutions stimulating innovation has always been the IBM mission. Every day we approach different companies in terms of sector and business size, to which we provide our best capabilities and

technologies. Once our purpose was to support our clients’ business with powerful computer infrastructures,

today we fully aim at helping them create new ideas and approaches to encourage efficiency, growth, competitiveness and profits.

Nowadays the game is no longer about the technology available, but above all about knowledge and

expertise. A good technological infrastructure can make a company more productive, however growth and

profitability challenges need a transformation affecting business models, processes and people. To perform such a change it is necessary to have a deep understanding of the company, its competitive profile, its sector dynamics and its culture.

The ability to turn this business trend into projects, thanks to on-the-edge competences and instruments, is

the reason why we participate in the most important Italian and international companies’ transformation.

Generally, it is also our strength in sectors not strictly related to enterprises, where a great potential for progress can be unleashed.

IBM strongly believes in its role of “innovation engine” towards all society actors. It takes part in the creation of an eco-system that is functional to the development and competitiveness of the Country system.

This affects both enterprises and the non-profit world, where the IBM commitment is reinforced by the Fondazione IBM Italy's activity supporting schools, culture and disability.

These represent some of the fields where the relationship between enterprise and “sociality” can be a mutual source of enrichment. The challenge is to invest in this common heritage, making knowledge and competence exchange a normal procedure.

Our study, focusing on museums’ reality, is to be considered as an example of this exchange. It provides new keys to look into the relationship between organization and its public and, consequently, to provide new development opportunities of service enhancement.

This work denotes that methodologies usually applied in the business field can be extended, in the same profitable way, to other sectors apparently distant.

Andrea Pontremoli

General Manager IBM Italy, Greece, Israel & Turke

VII

VIII

foreword

*

The emotion that we feel through contact with a work of art consists of many

factors: personal sensibility, educational level, momentary mood. Nonetheless, enjoying a work of art also depends on its condition and availability. A visit to a museum - with all its steps, beginning with the decision to make it - is always a powerful experience. It is tied to the context, and it forms the framework where you can taste the emotions invoked by contact with art and culture.

The step-by-step analysis of this experience can help to identify those elements that affect the visitor’s perception, It also provides useful directions to decisionmakers and experts.

The art of telling art. But not only. The title of this study evokes, in the broad

sense, the capability of an organization to plan and offer services, focusing its attention on how to establish a mutually satisfying relationship with the user.

This study was developed by professionals from the Centre for IBM e-Business Innovation. It focuses on the experience of the relationship between people, be

they customers, users or visitors of a museum or specific organizations such as

companies or public and cultural institutions. The visitors’ experience in some of the most important museums in the world is analysed through a detailed reconstruction of their own relationship with the musuem's interaction channels.

Therefore, the object of this study is how the “customer experience” is seen as

the general result of the interactions between the costumer/user/visitor and the organization and its products and services.

A key idea is that museums, as organizations that maintain and preserve the cultural heritage and enhance possible forms of communication, can be studied with the same tools that are used for company services and which consider efficiencies for customers’ needs.

Some explanations are useful to help the reader understand the aim of the report.

IX

foreword First of all, the authors are aware that the museums studied do not represent the whole sector, which is composed of various elements in terms of cultural heritage, dimensions, locations and availability of resources. Therefore, it cannot make any generalizations. On the other hand, the detailed analysis of particular cases can lead other institutions outside of these ten museums to come to important conclusions.

The report has been developed with methodologies usually applied to the company sector. For instance, the segmentation of customer, the identification of development scenarios and the language used - typically “managerial” - appear, at first sight, strange to the museum sector. This does not mean that a cultural institution reduces its complexity by applying company management principles as an overall solution. The richness of the elements belonging to a museum require crucial competences and resources that cannot be replaced.

Nevertheless, I believe that facilitating the relationship between two different cultures would be an interesting input and an opportunity for a linkage between the world of the company and the museum sector.

The report does not intentionally deal with topics such as the policies of fundraising, the evolution of institutions in accordance with the legal system, the museum’s role in the maintenance and preservation of the cultural heritage, and so on. These topics are so complex that we cannot cover them here. In addition, the report does not aim to combine results on “user’s experience” with the criteria (whether economic or cultural) used to evaluate museums’ income, nor does it attempt to identify which models of museums’ management should be desirable (whether public/private cooperation or cultural institutions’ estates).

This work should be considered as a contribution to knowledge from those who study, experiment and make innovative solutions for customers in different industry sectors. It is an opportunity for confrontation between decision-makers and sector experts. A better understanding of the factors that lead to a satisfactory

X

foreword

*

museum visit experience provides useful information to help improve the quality of communication channels and services for visitors and to help apply targeted strategies for different kinds of customers..

IBM (active in our Country also with the support of the Fondazione IBM Italy) has always shared its competences and international experience, especially from our worldwide Research Centres, with the world of art and culture.

As a matter of fact, the cultural sector, with all its extraordinary complexity and richness, provides continuous input in order to apply IBM’s technology solutions to different environments with various needs and challenges. This is particularly

true for those museums that have evolved into organizations that also enable the cultural development of a community.

In brief, the experience of museum visitors is the framework of this study, and

the study is enriched by the various competences that IBM consultants can provide to the museum sector.

Angelo Failla

Director of Fondazione IBM Italia

XI

introduction

1

CUSTOMER EXPERIENCE.

Does it matter?

Driven by increasingly intense competition in an ever-more global marketplace, leading brands are focusing on improving the end-to-end customer experience as a basis for establishing competitive differentiation, boosting revenues and winning customer loyalty IBM Institute of Business Value 2003

One of the main characteristics of the actual competitive scenario is the distance between companies, that try to improve the relation with the final consumer, and the customers, that are more and more demanding and less loyal. The key to an understanding of this phenomenon is the Customer

Scenario: companies and consumers divided

Experience (encompassing all aspects of the end-user’s interaction with the company, its services, and its products.).

Customer Experience is an issue at the top of the minds of senior executives: according to a study conducted by the IBM Institute of Business Value1, 85% of senior business leaders believe they could increase customer loyalty and market share by focusing their organization on integrated Customer Experience strategies and implementation.

However it is difficult to undertake: because of organizational issues (who is the owner of this problem, affecting different functions and channels) and difficulty in finding the right competencies

Customer Experience: what the companies think

(spanning from strategy to marketing and communication, not to mention the technology side).

Forrester support this vision, according to a November 20032 research report, 92% of US executives rank an integrated customer view as critical or very important, but only 38% do it.

the art of telling art

1

IBM Institute of Business Value 2003

2

Forrester research 2003, IBM data elaboration.

1

introduction How do we frame the Customer Experience issue for the top executives of our customers?

Basically, by analyzing 4 key elements:

Relation

Framework of the Customer Experience Managment

Value Proposition

Company Value Realization

Customer Experience

Value Perception

User Value Expectation

1. Value Expectation – It Derives from customer wants and needs, previous experiences, company communication and word-of-mouth. Understanding key attributes of the different targeted segments and design scenario of interactions between customers/company is a major step to analyzing value expectations; 2. Value Proposition - It defines a company’s strategy in terms of the unique mix of product, price, place, services, and image. Value propositions change over time and should address value expectations of profitable targeted segments; 3. Value Perception - It is the customer evaluation of all of the benefits and costs of interacting with the company, compared to alternatives; 4. Value Realization - It is the outcome of the relationship between company and customer, and can be measured in terms of market share, wallet share and customer profitability.

How to assess the Customer Experience

Through the lens of Customer Experience, we can read and analyze where misalignment results in lower than expected Value Realization: • Companies can leverage Customer Experience Management in order to understand customer wants and needs, and design a consistent Value Proposition to satisfy them; • Customer Experience translates the value proposition of the company into value perceived by the client. Customer Experience can either amplify or reduce the value proposition effort; therefore Customer Experience must be designed and managed across different channels and moments-oftruth.

Therefore, we need to analyze Customer Experience in an analytic and accurate way, through: • Channels: physical store, web, contact center, mail, kiosks, catalogue, etc.;

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introduction

1

• Touch-points: interactions at which the relationship between the customer and the company become concrete and real; • Moments of Truth (MOT): the essential moments in which interactions occurs between the user and the company. They are strategic moments to which a customer gives highest importance, and on which a user decides whether to continue or end their relationship with the company; • Irritant: promises a company makes, or user expectations that have not been fulfilled causing frustration to the customer. They do not have the same importance of MOT but they contribute to the creation of the offering’s global perception; • Value drivers: each interaction channel has its value drivers, that are: ease of use, contents and services offered, performances and trust ability. Furthermore customers evaluate how different channels are integrated and brand values are communicated.

Nowadays consumers interact dynamically with companies through different channels. For instance: banks - where increasingly demanding clients handle cleverly with the location, web and call centre, and they face up to heterogeneous realities; airlines - which use low cost sale channels and offer their services by means of agencies, airports, transports, and so on. In summary, all the different channels that affect the client’s life cycle (from the Customer Acquisition to Customer Care).

The goal is to support key decision-makers within companies answering key questions: 1. How can I address and improve Customer Experience’s value driver to increase market share, wal-

3 key questions to managing directors

let share and customer profitability?

2. What are the user profiles and the interaction scenarios that I must satisfy? Which services do I have to offer? Through which channel?

3. Am I the same brand no matter where my customer finds me?

This report aims at evaluating: • how Customer Experience thematics can be declined in the museum sector, characterized by strong dynamics and interesting potentialities (some not yet expressed); • Customer Experience on a sample of 10 museums3 (5 Italian and 5 international). The considerations that drove this choice were: 1. focus on the Italian sector but international, far-reaching work; 2. institutions importance in terms of visitor numbers; 3. geographical localization and representation.

The choice is subjective and partial; that was due to restrict the scope of our analysis.

3

the art of telling art

10 museums: - Galleria Borghese - Galleria degli Uffizi - Museo Archeologico di Napoli - Museo Egizio - Pinacoteca di Brera - The British Museum - The Metropolitan Museum of Art - Musée du Louvre - Museo Nacional del Prado - The museum of Cycladic Art

3

introduction The study is ordered as follows: Chapter 1 The study starts with sector analysis to: • identify market dynamics, players and trends • identify key demand attributes of 10 museums analyzed • understand the offering structure in terms of services and channels used

Value Proposition

Company

Customer Experience

Value Realization

Value Perception

User Value Expectation

Chapter 2 The study continues by dealing with the Demand Analysis in order to: • identify specific profiles of museum users • define, for each profile, its needs and expectations • highlight the way each profile interacts with the museum through three different stages: pre-visit, visit and post visit.

Value Proposition

Company Value Realization

4

Customer Experience

Value Perception

User Value Expectation

IBM Business Consulting Services

1

introduction Chapter 3

For each of the 10 museums analyzed, IBM consultants experienced the interaction scenarios and assessed 5 channels with their specific value drivers.

The Customer Experience has been evaluated, for each museum, by comparing the user’s Value Perception and the museum’s Value Proposition.

Value Proposition

Company

Customer Experience

Value Realization

Value Perception

User Value Expectation

Chapter 4 The trend and best practice analysis provides guidelines and directions to identify opportunities that can be found in the following areas: • communications • innovative services • technology These aim at improving Customer Experience and, potentially, Value Realization for the museum.

Value Proposition

Company Value Realization

the art of telling art

Customer Experience

Value Perception

User Value Expectation

5

1

Sector analysis

1

Demand features

How free time is spent Museums’offerings

10 sample museums

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chapter

1

Sector analysis

1. Sector

analysis

A radical opposition between assets-work of art and assets-experience would be out of place. Also in the most traditional museums spaces devoted to experience widens thanks to the modification of the mediamix used for communication Peppino Ortoleva

Characteristics of change

The museum sector is determined by strong dynamics factors (economic, social, institutional) that recently have affected offering evolution. The most relevant phenomena are: • on the demand side, the rise of cultural level, the increase of available income and greater attention paid to spending quality free time, increase cultural consumptions. Furthermore, the experience, expectations and needs of visits to museums have grown in terms of the information provided and presentation; • on the offering side, the little interest of public institutions in financing museum activities and the modified legislative system (e.g. in Italy, the Law Ronchey for paying extra services offered to the public) have increased the competition for finding financial sponsorship in the private sector; • on the public institutions side, the request for making museums a key focal point for recovering urban areas, and catalysts for social and economic regional development, significantly impacting income and employment.

Factors leading the change

In brief, this is the the museum sector’s current situation. Considering these external factors, museums are using management models, borrowed from the private enterprise, in order to enrich their offering. These can be defined by: • the use of technological factors, such as digitalization systems of cultural heritage, multimedia systems, 3D interactive design, and so on. Also considering the Web as an information and communication channel to reach a wider and varied audience; • a longer value chain, and the development of extra services, which complement the core offering of the collection exhibition; • the adoption of marketing strategies on different communication channels.

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IBM Business Consulting Services

1 The main sector features, which will be examined in the next paragraphs, can be summarized as follows (Table 1.1):

Players

Features

Sector

• Fragmentation and wide range of subjects • Museum systems, borrowings, exhibit exchanges • Offering evolution

Suppliers

• Private dealers, art dealers, private collections • Other museum institutions

Demand

• High differentiation in terms of cultural and socio-demographic characteristics

Substitutors

• Educational and cultural activities (archeological sites, historical monuments, cinemas, theatres, concerts) • Activities for mass media uses • Recreational, sports, and voluntary activities

Complementors4

• • • •

Table 1.1 Museum sector features

Tourism sector: hotels, airlines, restaurants, tourist offices Museum associations Added-value services suppliers (booking online, catering, cloakroom) Media (television, newspapers, magazines)

Obviously the sector is more wide-ranging. In the international view, there exists a case of services offering excellence and new technology use. In the museum sector, Italy has a prominent position due to its wide and rich cultural heritage. Hence, new trends are flourishing in which cultural heritage represents a valuable social and economic resource..

1.1

Demand features

A rapid progress has recently affected the museum sector.

The major changes, regarding both the level and type of demand, rely on:

Demand development

• “cultural” maturity level; • combination of working time and leisure time; • expectations for cultural contents; • exploitation of the cultural heritage.

Moreover, the offering is evolving in order to improve visitor experience and fulfil every user segment needs.

the art of telling art

4

Players belonging to other sectors (not directly involved in the museum activities such as the collection management), who make the museum offering more complete and/or suitable to the market.

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chapter

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Sector analysis

One of the most important demand features is the extreme segmentation that depends on different, equally important, variables in order to understand how to satisfy visitor’s expectations: • socio-demographic variables (age, race, income, education, religion); • psychological and behavioural variables (personal aptitude to recreational and cultural activities); • aptitude to spending; • Quality and way of spending free time.

Behaviours by education

In 2003 Doxa research5 revealed that the majority of museum visitors have a high-level of education: 45% of graduates visited at least one museum in the last year. (Chart 1-a).

Chart 1-a Behaviours by education

Have you visited a museum recently?

Yes, this year

Yes, 1 to 3 years ago

Yes, more then 3 years ago

No / do not remember

Elementary school degree or none

6%

12%

39%

43%

Middle school degree

18%

26%

37%

19%

High school degree

29%

32%

25%

14%

University degree

45% 0%

10%

20%

37% 30%

40%

50%

60%

12% 70%

80%

6%

90%

100% Doxa source 2003

Age is another significant variable. To note that the elderly have been left out from using all museum Behaviours by age

services: only 12% of people aged over 54 visited a museum in the last year. (Chart 1-b).

Have you visited a museum recently?

Chart 1-b Behaviours by age

Yes, this year

Yes, 1 to 3 years ago

Yes, more then 3 years ago

No / do not remember

Over 54 years old

12%

17%

37%

34%

Between 54 - 35

23%

31%

31%

15%

Between 15-34

29% 5

Doxa, Gli italiani e il patrimonio culturale, 2003, http://www.doxa.it/italiano/ nuoveindagini/beni_culturali.pdf January 2003.

10

0%

10%

30% 20%

30%

40%

25% 50%

60%

70%

16% 80%

90%

100% Doxa source 2003

IBM Business Consulting Services

1 Below there is a description of the most important user segments in the museum sector: 3 user segments: families, students, the elderly

Families with children: this segment is especially considered for a demographic reason (about 57.5% of Italian families have children6); families are influenced by their children in how to spend free time: children that could become potential visitors.

The main aspect is the method they use for performing the visit, which is quite different from a group or an adult couple visit: family members talk, communicate, and share feelings.

For instance, specific tours for children, in a sort of didactic laboratory, making their visit much more interesting and entertaining.

Students: this segment has the highest rate of participation7, although it represents a smaller portion of museum attendance (about 16% of all visits paid by the Italian population8), because of the low percentage in the total population (less than 9.9% in Italy9). On the other hand, museums should seem attractive: students are motivated to the visit if they can learn while enjoying themselves (edutainment is the term meaning what young people wish to get from the visit). Hence, not only the inner areas and the shortest-route settings play a central role to stimulate the experience, but also a guide can be a way of making the visit instructive and enthralling.

The elderly: in Italy, they represent a significant part of the entire population (25.6%10), but they constitute only 12.4%11 of the museum visitors. Despite a great availability of free time (6 hours a day on average12), they have a modest rate of visits. (13% of the over-60s go to a museum or an exhibition at least once a year13). Costs, poor information and limited mobility are the main inhibitor factors to the visit. The most important incentive considered is the free entrance which focuses the attention to the visitor; information is perceived as an improvement to the visit itself, above all it is more accepted if it anticipates the visit itself.

Associations to which the elderly belong are relevant interlocutors of this segment.

This macro-segmentation is not at all exhaustive, but it gives interesting elements which we will deal with in Chapter 2.

6

ISTAT, 14째 Censimento della Popolazione 2001, http://www.istat.it/Popolazion/index. htm, January 2004.

7

In Italy more than 45% of the students aged between 11 and 19 go to a museum or an exhibition at least once a year. ISTAT, Annuario Statistico Italiano, 2003.

8

ISTAT, ibid.

ISTAT, ibid.

ISTAT, ibid.

ISTAT, ibid.

Bollo A., Il pubblico dei musei: questo sconosciuto, 2002.

ISTAT, ibid.

9 10 11 12

13

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1.2

How free time is spent

It is commonly noted that visiting a museum occurs during leisure time. There are different ways to approach the visit. Generally, how free time is spent can be classified in terms of: • cultural activities (cinemas, theatres, concerts); • mass media utilization; • recreational, sports, and voluntary activities14.

Museums keep up with different competitors in the recreational, cultural and educational offering Free time spending

market.

According to the 2003 ISTAT data15, it is possible to define three essential dimensions, which place museums (along with exhibitions) in comparison with other free time activities (theatre, cinema, concerts, discos, sport events) - Chart 1-c: • amount of audience per activity (x-axis); • expense in percentage per activity (y-axis); • per head expense in € per service (sphere size).

Chart 1-c Museum’s position in the free time spending in Italy

40.0%

concerts and discos (25.2)

cinema (21.7)

35.0%

expense per activity (%)

30.0%

sports events (22.4)

25.0% 20.0% 15.0% 10.0% 5.0%

theatre (40.4)

museums and exhibitions (3.0)

0.0% 0.0%

10.0%

20.0%

30.0%

40.0%

50.0%

number of audience per activity (%) ISTAT source 2003 on 2001 data - IBM study

As a result, museums are the least practised activity during free time. Therefore, the expenses incurred are of medium-low level (though the admission is free in some museums and for particular kinds of visitors).

To upgrade its position (see the shifting in Chart 1-c), the museum should: • activate strategies to attract more visitors, to reduce the time users dedicate to other activities; 14

15

Nowadays volontary service is developing continuously: increasing portions of population spend more and more of their free time in this activity.

• enlarge the range of extra services offered to visitors, in order to raise per head expenses and, consequently, the total expense for this kind of use.

C.f.r. ISTAT, op. cit..

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IBM Business Consulting Services

1 The study on the last five years16 Italian visit trends shows a big growth in the frequency of both visits Growth in visitors and expenses

and expenses. (Table 1.2).

This large rise in expense would be especially due to extra service uses, lately developed (as seen in paragraph 1.3).

Museums/ Cinema Exhibitions

Theatre

Concerts/ discos

Sports events

TOT

CAGR* audience 1998-2002

1.1%

1.2%

3.3%

1.3%

0.7%

1.4%

CAGR expense 1997-2001

2.4%

3.5%

2.6%

N.d.

-2. 6%

1.5%

Table 1.2 Visit and expense trends of the italian audience 1997 - 2002

* Compounded Annual Growth Rate

Outside the Italian borders, a European Committee Survey17 shows that EU citizens also prefer to go to the cinema, as their main free time activity. Visiting a local museum is positioned in third place after sports events, and before concerts and theatres. (Chart 1-d).

Figura 1-d Museum’s position in free time spent in the European Union

Theatre Concerts Museums/Exhibitions Sports events Cinema 0%

5%

10%

15%

20%

25%

30%

35%

audience partecipation per activity (%) EUROSTAT 2002 source - IBM Study

the art of telling art

16

ISTAT, ibid.

17

EUROSTAT, Europeans Participation in Cultural Activities, 2002 http://europa.eu.int/comm/public_ opinion/archives/special.htm.

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Sector analysis

Furthermore, a 2001 survey, conducted on a sample of 14 European countries about museum attendance, revealed that the percentage of Italian visitors was under the European average (23% against 30%18 , see Chart 1-e).

Chart 1-e Percentage of European population attending museums

Sweden

52,0%

Denmark

46,0%

United Kindom

42,0%

Finland

38,0%

Netherlands

32,0%

Germany

30,0%

European Union

30,0%

Austria

30,0%

France

24,0%

Italy

23,0%

Spain

22,0%

Ireland

21,0%

Belgium

18,0%

Portugal

16,0%

Greece

14,0%

0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

attending (%) Eurobarometer 2001 Source

1.3

Museums’ offerings

Over recent years, museums’ offerings have noticeably increased. In fact, museums are turning from conservative institutions into supply service industries.

Museums now offer: • subsidiary services for the visit to enhance visitor experience (visits to restoration or research laboratories, practical arts and crafts exhibitions, thematical events, conferences and lectures); • extra services for the welcome and orientation of visitors (pre-visit didactic services, electronic kiosks for studying in depth), refreshments and shopping.

18

Il settore cultura nei grandi comuni italiani, 2003 http://www.romaeconomia.it/files/ CulturaPARTE%20I.pdf.

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IBM Business Consulting Services

1 Chart 1-f Museum offering composition

Succursal services Courses and workshop

Research services

Conferences

Social events

Environment Shows

Internal and external structure Panels Location

Texts

Collection

Multimedia devices

Bookshop

Space disposal

Catalogues Rest areas

Audio-guides

Brochures

Legend Pubs and restaurants

Representing items

Guided visits

Information service

Pre-visit education

Extra services

All of these services not only make visitors’ satisfaction levels higher, they also play a valuable role in communicantions and brand promotion. Finally, they represent a source of extra income for the museum. The following table shows data19, related to 2002 and compared to 2001, on some museums’ incomes obtained by extra services, and on the number of visitors using them. (Table 1.3).

No Visitors

Revenue (K€)

Cost per person (€)

647

2,079

3.2

4,4%

3,0%

17,9%

Bookshop

1,981

17,651

8.9

13.3%

7,7%

0.4%

Coffe shop

930

4,318

4.6

6,3%

-7,7%

-0,4%

Restaurant

68

977

14.4

0,5%

-11,7%

-0,7%

2,918

2,997

1.0

19,6%

-1.1%

0.0%

627

1,793

2.9

4.2%

6.3%

4.2%

Audio-guide

Pre-sales Guided visits Extra Services Income

29,815

Museums total income

60,657

the art of telling art

Table 1.3 Extra services income

Fruition No Visitors Revenue rate 2002/2001 2002/2001 (% on total visitors)

19

Touring Club Italiano, L’annuario della cultura 2004, T.C. I.

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The table reveals that in 2002 visitors mostly used the advance sale (19% of total visitors) and shopped at bookstores (13.3%).

Restaurants represented the most significant expense, although it was a service less used and decreasing in 2001, both in terms of turnover (-0.7%) and usage (-11.7%).

The next diagram displays the revenue distribution from tickets and extra services (Chart 1-g)20.

Generally, more than 49% of museums’ and archaeological areas’ revenues are due to extra services.

Figura 1-g Revenue distribution

Ticket sales 51%

Bookshop 29% Extra services revenue 49%

Coffe shop 7%

Pre-sale 5% Audio-guide 3% Guided visits 3% Restaurant 2%

The chart shows that incomes from shops and bookstores constitute the majority (29%) of 2002 total turnover, corresponding to 59% of the extra services revenue.

The following tables sum up the study on the importance of channels and services in the museum offering.

Channels represent how museums interact with users: a museum activates channels to provide its services to users during the whole interaction process (from pre-visit, to visit, up to post-visit phase).

The users decide what channel best fits their goals in the interaction process with the museum.

Services are the offering a museum can propose to attract visitors and make their experience comfortable and entertaining.

Two leading factors have been taken into account to assess the importance of channels and services: • the channel/service opportunity to contribute to museum revenue; • the potential improvement of user experience.

20

Touring Club italiano, op.cit.

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IBM Business Consulting Services

1 Channel

Importance

Rationale

Location

The place in which collections are exhibited.

Web

Area on the Internet that supplies up-to-date information on the museum, collections and facilities; it provides services for booking, shopping and community onli ne; it enables remote users to explore virtual collections and online exhibitions through images and interactive multimedia applications.

Audio-guida

Device that supplies extra information on the collections; it enables users to personalize the visit by thematical tours (by masterpieces, historical periods, authors, and so on); it integrates audio to text, images and animations.

Multimedia

Devices that allows contextualization and in-depth analysis of exhibits so as to enrich the visit.

Call Center

It conveys information on museum access and facilities (opening time, ticket fares, discounts, and so on); it addresses enquiries to specific and skilled personnel; it can allow ticket and tour guide bookings

Table 1.4 Museum main channels

.

E-mail

It provides personal contact between visitor and museum; it allows both to send information requests and to receive various documentation; it is easy, quick and free; it can be seen as a complementary for information searching both to the Web and Call Centre channels

Postal service

It sends information requests and receives brochures, invitations, newsletters, and so on.

Services

Importance

Rationale

On-line booking

Functionality that allows online tickets and guided tours booking, reducing waiting time at the museum ticket office.

Information desk

Desk where visitors can ask for information on museum structures, activities and facilities; it can be located in many contanct points according to user segment (groups, students, disabled people, and so on).

Bookshop

Place where visitors can buy a wide range of items (books, videos, stationery, scarves, T-shirts, jewellery, works of art, and so on) in relation to museum.

Bar

Place where a visitor can have something to eat and drink.

Group visit

It enables groups of users (friends/families/associations) to share their visit experience, sometimes benefiting from discounts or special terms; it offers, if requested, an individual guide who personalizes the tour, improves the group's knowledge, encourages discussion, makes the experience more enjoyable.

Specialist visit

This visit qualifies and personalizes the tour through direct experts contact; it combines in-depth contents with subjective elements of interpretation and communication

Membership

It offers special terms and benefits (free admission, discounts on catalogue items, special events, previews, shows, etc.); it can be distinguished by user levels and typologies (frequent visitors, donors, supporters, etc.). It creates a lasting relation ship between visitor and museum.

Video room

Room where visitors can deepen the visit experience, by consulting support materials (historical documents, reconstructions, and so on).

Library

Added value services mostly for scholars and amateurs.

Legend

the art of telling art

Low

Table 1.5 Museums Main Services

High

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Sector analysis

1.4 10

sample museums

A short description of the 5 Italian museums and the 5 foreign museums is given below.

Galleria Borghese http://www.galleriaborghese.it/borghese/it/default.htm Cardinal Scipione Borghese wanted it to be built at the beginning of 1600. Inspired by 16th century style, the villa soon hosted a great and rich collection, whose masterpieces are today known all over Europe. The most important core of the gallery is represented by sculptures as expressions of Ancient, Renaissance and Contemporary art, evoking a new Golden Era. Galleria degli Uffizi http://www.uffizi.firenze.it/welcome.htm Commissioned by Cosimo I around the middle of the 16th century, the Uffizi Palace was designed by Giorgio Vasari (1511-1574), painter and architect at the Medici court. The original purpose of the building was to host the thirteen Magistratures or Uffizi. From the beginning however, the Medici set aside certain rooms on the third floor to house the finest works from their collections. Two centuries later, thanks to the generosity of the last heir of the family, Anna Maria Luisa, their collection became permanent public property. In addition to Florentine paintings, the museum houses works mostly from the Renaissance period.

Museo Archeologico di Napoli http://www.archeona.arti.beniculturali.it/sanc_it/mann/home.html Founded in the second half of the 18th century by Ferdinando di Borbone, it brought together two separate royal collections: one in the palace of Capodimonte, the other in the Museo Ercolanese in Portici. Today it is one of the Italian richest archeological museums with its extraordinary collection of Greco-Roman and Egyptian works.

Museo Egizio http://www.museitorino.it/museoegizio It is one of the most important museums of Egyptology in the world after Cairo. Its history is traced at the beginning of the XVII century, when the Savoia acquired the Table of Isis illustrating the goddess Isis. The first nucleus of the collection dates back to the XVIII century, when botanist Vitaliano Donati first brought to Italy the statues recovered from an expedition on the Nile Valley. The current collection houses outstanding documents of religious and funeral traditions and everyday life.

Pinacoteca di Brera http://www.brera.beniculturali.it/pinacoteca/index.php Founded in 1776, the Pinacoteca is located, along with the Braidense National Library and the Fine Art Academy, in the beautiful Palazzo Brera. In the Pinacoteca gallery, there are works by masters of the Lombard and Venetian schools, and masterpieces of XIX century painting and modern art.

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1 The British Museum http://www.thebritishmuseum.ac.uk/ The idea of the collector Sir Hans Sloane established in 1759 by the Act of Parliament, the British Museum is the oldest, and one of the largest museums in the world. Its collections represent two thousand years of world history, from prehistory to modern times.

The Metropolitan Museum of Art http://www.metmuseum.org/ The Museum was founded by a group of American businessmen, artists, and thinkers in 1870. Its development was mostly due to great private collections gathered in the XIX century (ancient paintings, impressionist works, decorative arts, Asian pieces). The Metropolitan is the biggest art museum of Northern America and one of the most famous in the world. The collection is centered particularly on the XIX French art section, which shows the development of art in France from Romaticism to the Avant-garde, focusing on Impressionist works.

MusÊe du Louvre http://www.louvre.fr Established in 1793 during the French Revolution, the Louvre is now the most important and esteemed museum of France and of the whole world. The first pieces collected date to François I (XVI century), and the collection grew thanks to donations obtained during the Napoleonic Wars. The exhibits cover the entire history of art: form the beginning of ancient cultures up to the first half of XIX century.

Museo Nacional del Prado http://museoprado.mcu.es/home.html

By Joseph I Bonaparte, the museum was established during the reign of Ferdinand VII in 1819. The collections reflected the patronage of the Royal family of Spain: they consisted of works of Queen Isabel II, Charles V, Philip II and Philip IV. The Prado was founded as a museum of paintings, in fact, today it is the first art gallery of Spain. Apart from Spanish works, there are paintings from Flemish and Dutch art, and by Italian, French, German, English painters.

The Museum of Cycladic Art http://www.cycaldic.gr It was founded in 1986 from the collection of Greek antiquities belonging to Nicholas and Dolly Goulandris. It is devoted to the study and promotion of ancient Greek art. The collections are divided into two main areas: the Cycladic objects and the Ancient Greek ones. The former consist of artefacts, such as sculptures, pottery, and metal ware discovered in the Cycladic islands; the latter include artefacts from the Bronze Age to the Late Roman period. The most significant examples are represented by: pottery, terracotta figurines, sculpture, jewellery, and a good collection of coins.

the art of telling art

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Sector analysis

The most important data about the sector analysis of the 10 museums is displayed in the following tables Galleria Borghese

Galleria degli Uffizi

Museo Archeologico

Museo Egizio

Pinacoteca di Brera

Roma, Piazzale Scipione Borghese I

Firenze, Loggiato degli Uffizi, 6 II

Napoli, Piazza Museo, 19 III

Torino, via Accademia delle Scienze, 6 IV

Milano, via Brera, 28 V

8:30 – 19:30 Monday closed I

8:15 – 19:00 Monday closed II

9:00 - 20:00 Tuesday closed III

9:00 - 19:30 Tuesday closed IV

9:00 - 19:15 Tuesday closed

€ 8,50 € 5,25 discount <18 >65 free must book € 2,00 I

€ 8,00 € 4,00 discount <18 >65 free II

€ 6,50 € 3,25 discount <18 >65 free III

€ 6,50 € 3,00 discount <18 >65 free IV

€ 5,00 € 2,50 discount <18 >65 free V

400.065 VI

1.489.452 VI

320.052 VI

295.952 VI

187.927 VII

2002

2002

2002

2002

2002

415.581 VI

1.489.024 VI

315.949 VI

293.572 VI

192.870 VII

2001

2001

2001

2001

2001

Growth

- 3,7%

0,03%

1,3%

0,8%

-2,6%

Visitors

511.449 VII

1.495.498 VII

256.123 VII

413.696 VII

213.007 VII

1998

1998

1998

1998

1998

-5,5%

-0,1%

4,5%

-6,1%

-2,5%

€ 1.789.986 VI

€ 7.738.231 VI

€ 1.050.542 VI

€ 750.483 VI

n.a.

2002

2002

2002

2002

(last year available)

n.a.

n.a.

n.a.

n.a.

n.a.

% Tickets on total income

n.a.

n.a.

n.a.

n.a.

n.a.

€ 1.782.615 VI

€ 7.494.948 VI

€ 996.756 VI

€ 711.770 VI

2001

2001

2001

2001

0,4%

3,2%

5,4%

5,4%

2,7%

(No of visitors to first 20 national museums)

5,7% VIII

21% VIII

4,6% VIII

4,2% VIII

2,7% VIII

2002

2002

2002

2002

2002

No of membership

n.a.

n.a.

n.a.

n.a.

974 V

Table 1.6 Italian museum data Location

Timetable

Fares

Visitors (last year available)

Visitors (preceding year)

(last 4 years)

CAGR (1998-2002)

Income (ultimo anno disponibile)

Ticket sales

Income (preceding year)

Income growth %

V

n.a.

Relative marhet share

I II III IV V VI VII

Official website, http://www.galleriaborghese.it/borghese/it/default.htm, marzo 2004.

Official website, http://www.uffizi.firenze.it/welcome.htm, marzo 2004.

Official website, http://www.archeona.arti.beniculturali.it/sanc_it/mann/home.html, marzo 2004.

Official website, http://www.museitorino.it/museoegizio, gennaio 2004.

Official website, http://www.brera.beniculturali.it/pinacoteca/index.php, marzo 2004.

Touring Club Italiano, L'annuario della Cultura 2004, TCI, 2004.

“Indagine annuale sull’affluenza dei visitatori nei musei italiani di maggior interesse turistico 2003”, http://www.touringclub.it/ricerca/dossier.asp?area=dossier, gennaio 2004.

VIII Percetage value derived from the 2002 twenty most visited museums in Italy. Visitors number from 1 to 13 comes from L'annuario della Cultura 2004, TCI, 2004; from 14 to 20 from “Indagine annuale sull’affluenza dei visitatori nei musei italiani di maggior interesse turistico 2003”, http://www.touringclub.it/ricerca/dossier.asp?area=dossier, gennaio 2004. n.a. Not available.

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IBM Business Consulting Services

1 The British Museum

Metropolitan Museum of Art

Musée du Louvre

Museo Nacional del Prado

Museum of Cycladic Art

Location

The British Museum London, Great Russul street IX

New York, 1000 Fifth Avenue X

Paris, Cour Napoléon XI

Madrid, Paseo del Prado s/n 28014

Athens, 4 Neophitou Douka

Timetable

10:00 – 17:30 Saturday Wednesday; 10:00 20:30 Thurday Friday IX

10:00 – 17:30; 09:30 – 21:00 Friday Saturday Monday closed X

9:30 – 18:00: 9.10 – 21:45 Monday Wednesday Tuesday closed XI

9:00 – 19:00; 9:00 – 14:00 Tuesday Saturday XII

10:00 – 16:00; 10:00 – 15:00 Saturday; Tuesday and Sunday closed XIII

Free entrance IX

Offering suggested $ 12,00 $ 7,00 students and old people X

<18 years old, not employed 5 couriers for disabled free XI

4.623.500 IX

4.200.000 XIV

2003

2002

4.813.000 IX

5.300.000 XIV

5.093.280 XI

2002

2001

2001

2002

Growth

- 3,9%

-20,8%

12,1%

42,2%

n.a.

Visitors

5,460,537 IX

n.a.

5.729.000 XI

n.a.

n.a.

Fares

Visitors (last year available)

Visitors (preceding year)

(4 anni prima)

1999

€ 8,50 € 6,00 evening

€ 3,01 € 1,50 evening Sunday free XII

€ 3,50 € 1,80 discount XIII

5.707.559 XI

2.318.515 XVI

2002

2003

n.a.

1.630.378

XVI

Table 1.7 International museum data

n.a.

1998

CAGR (4 years)

-3,3%

n.a.

-0,1%

n.a.

n.a.

n.a.

€ 91.972.414 XV

€ 195.531.655 XIV

(last year available)

2003

€ 90.380.000 XI

€ 20.378.658 XVIII

2002

2002

2001

Ticket sales

n.a.

€ 11.376.668 XIV

€ 1.110.000 XI

€ 2.592.165 XVIII

2002

2002

2001

n.a.

5,8%

1,2%

12,7%

n.a.

€ 88.691.983 XV

€ 198.626.872 XIV

€ 84.770.000 XI

2001

2001

n.a.

n.a.

2002

3,7%

-1,6%

3,8%

n.a.

n.a.

18% XIX

20% XX

50% XXI

2002

2002

2002

n.a.

n.a.

15.234 IX

n.d.

550.846 XI

4.602 XXII

n.a.

Income

(last year available)

% Tickets on total income Income (preceding year)

Income growth %

n.a.

Relative market share (in N° di visitatori, relativa ai primi 20 musei nazionali)

No of membership

IX X XI XII XIII XIV XV XVI XVII XVIII XIX XX XXI XXII

Official website, www.thebritishmuseum.ac.uk, marzo 2004.

Official website, http://www.metmuseum.org/home.asp, marzo 2004.

Official website, www.louvre.fr, marzo 2004.

Official website, http://museoprado.mcu.es/home.html, marzo 2004.

Official website: www.cycaldic.gr, marzo 2004. http://www.guidestar.org/index.jsp, gennaio 2004. http://www.staruk.org.uk “Más visitantes en el Prado”, http://www.telentrada.com/CDA/TelEntrada/Noticias/Fichas/ficha_noticia/0,2119,2a1b4c5dfgh6985ijkl,00.html, January 2004.

“Las Cifras de la Cultura en Espana 2002”, http://wwwn.mec.es/mecd/jsp/plantilla.jsp?id=41&area=estadisticas, January 2004.

“Città Visibili Città Vivibili - I servizi nelle metropoli europee”, http://www.romaeconomia.net/files/cittavivibili.php, January 2004.

Percentage value derived from the 2002 ten most visited museums in the United Kingdom, http://www.staruk.org.uk, January 2004.

Percentage value derived from the 1999 twenty most visited museums in the USA, in IAMDSI, Art Museums and the Public 2001, January 2004.

Percentage value derived from the 2001 five most visited museums in France, "Newsletter Supplement International Museums Statistics", www.nationalmuseums.org.uk, January 2004.

“Memoria de Actividades 2002”, http://www.amigosmuseoprado.org/interior.asp?mp=1&ms=5&mt=28, January 2004.

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Sector analysis

The following table highlights which channels and services are available in the 10 museums.

Galleria Borghese

Galleria degli Uffizi

Museo Archeologico

Museo Egizio

Pinacoteca Di Brera

British Museum

Metropolitan Museum NY

MusĂŠe du Louvre

Museo del Prado

Museum of Cycladic Art

SERVICES

CHANNELS

Table 1.8 Channels and services available in the 10 museums Location

Web

Audio-guide

Postazioni multimediali

Call Center

E-mail

Postal Service

Booking on-line

Information Desk

Bookshop

Bar

Group visits

Specialist visits

Membership card

Video room

Library

Legend

22

Available/Used

Unavailable/Not used

IBM Business Consulting Services

2

*

Profiles and Scenarios

2

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Profiles and scenarios

2. Profiles

e Scenarios

We attend museums not because we love painters but because we love ourselves Jacob Burckhardt

From the data collected in the sector analysis about demand features and, particularly, demand segmentation, five user profiles have been defined.

Each profile has diverse needs when approaching the museum and the museum has different interests in acquiring new customer segments: • young people, because they could potentially become frequent visitors • the elderly, because they have a lot of free time during the week, not only at the weekends • foreign tourists, because they can increase awareness of the museum abroad.

Consequently, the museum has to be equipped and competent in order to fulfil various needs from international and multichannel environments.

Profiles do not intend to represent the whole museum audience, but they highlight the wishes and needs of some user segments, in order to understand the user global experience in the museum.

Five profiles have been chosen according to those issues: a family, students (one disabled), the elderly, a teacher, a manager.

Profile These describe all user groups’ macro-features: demographical, attitudinal, behavioral and geographical. Each profile also highlights needs, goals, expectations and time constraints.

The elements analysed to understand users' expectations

Scenario This depicts the interaction of the user described in the profile section with the museum, in different channels and in subsequent moments: from museum offering awareness (pre-visit), to benefiting from services (visit), ending with the maintenance of the client relationship (post-visit).

The scenario is described both by text and by a chart in order to emphasize the user’s path through different channels, the Moments of Truth, and the Irritants.

Moment of Truth MOT, in short, are the essential moments in which interactions occurs between the user and the museum. They are strategic moments to which the user gives highest importance, and on which the user decides whether to continue or end their relationship with the museum.

MOT mainly affects the pre-visit and the visit itself; as a matter of fact, they can cause either the success or the failure of the experience. MOT are particularly relevant for users approaching the museum for the first time.

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IBM Business Consulting Services

2 Irritants Irritants can be promises a museum makes, or user expectations that have not been fulfilled causing frustration to the visitor. They are responsible for the overall perception of museum offerings, improving or worsening visitor experience.

Irritants affect mostly the visit and the post-visit; they can define whether the user wants to continue or end their relationship with the museum. So they can preclude a visitor to from becoming a retained user.

The analysis Every user profile shows a complete experience of the museum (pre-visit, visit, post-visit) through different channels (Location, Web, Call Center, Audio-guide, E-mail).

During the profile path, MOT are defined and located (temporally and channel impacted). Afterwards Irritants are defined in the same way.

These criteria will be discussed later to assess the correspondence between each museum and usersâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; needs.

Starting from the profiles and scenarios analysis, supported by the data from the sector analysis (Chapter 1), it is possible to outline the essential features of the Value Expectation.

Relation Value Proposition

Company

Customer Experience

Value Perception

Value Realization

User Value Expectation

In the following pages, 5 profiles and scenarios are presented.

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Profiles and scenarios

Scenario 1 - The Rossi family The Rossi family is composed of 4 people: father, mother, and two children. The father is a manager of a small mechanical company. The mother is a part-time worker in the services area. Both children go to school: the youngest, Andrea, is 8 years old and attends the third year of primary school; Giulia is 14 years old and attends the first year of high school. The Rossi have been using a computer for 5 years. The parents use it to shop online and e-mail, while their kids perform school research. The speed connection is 56Kb. It takes about 2 hours for the Rossi to get to the town by car, where there is an important and famous museum.

Time The family has a strict amount of time available for extra activities. In fact, Sundays have become high expectation days for everyone.

The time dedicated to visit the museum is about 3 hours.

Goals To organize and pay a visit to the neighbouring cityâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s museum.

To enjoy the day together.

The parents want to see some masterpieces that, for several reasons, they have never had time to view.

The kids want to enjoy themselves as well as learning.

Basics The parents think it is necessary to buy the tickets before getting to the museum, because their children are not so patient to queue.

Andrea and Giulia want the visit to fit their young-age needs, enjoying themselves and increasing their knowledge.

At the end of the visit, the whole family wants to find a nice cafeteria where they can rest and eat and drink something.

Chart 2-a The Rossiâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s visit experience

PRE-VISIT

Activity

Web

Call Center

@

E-mail

Location

Audio-guide

MOT

Irritants

28

Searching for the Official web site

Searching for information (timetable, parking, guided tour for children)

Tickets and guided tours booking

Car park

Information on opening times

Guided tours for children available

Tickets and visit booking

Waiting time to pick up booked tickets

Low site visibility (web address and/or placement on search engines)

Museum phone number available

Information on car parks or cafeteria unavailable

IBM Business Consulting Services

2 Before the visit Channels: location, web, call center, audio-guide, e-mail.

The mother access the Internetweb to get some information about the museum.

She types www.museumname.xx and: 1. finds the museum site 2. does not find the museum site irritant If 2, she types www.google.com and searches for “museum name”. The museum official website is listed # (over the 10th irritant). She finds information on the opening hours MOT, on the guided tour service targeted for children MOT, on a car park near the museum (if no informationirritant), on a cafeteria inside the building (if no information irritant).

If she cannot find any information, she searches web for the museum phone number and calls the Call Centre call center. If she can not find the phone number irritant, she calls an information center and gets the right number of the Call Centre call center.

The family shares the information and chooses when to go.

So the mother books web/call center the tickets MOT for the day chosen and the guided tour MOT (if they cannot book these tickets, the family choose an alternative activity).

MOT: the essential moments in which interaction occurs between the user and the museum. They are strategic moments to which the user attaches importance, and on which they decides whether to go on or end with the relationship.

Irritants: they can be promises a museum makes, or user expectations that have not been met causing frustration to the visitor.

They are responsible for the overall perception of the museum offering.

The visit The day of the visit arrives. After having parked their car, the family gets to the ticket officelocation and queue to pick up the tickets previously booked MOT. They look for a cloakroom for their coats (if none, closed, or to be paid irritant).

They reach the area for the childrens tour, they check out if the guided tours start time matches with their reservation (if it is delayed or they need to wait for a long time irritant ) and start the visit.

After the visit After two hours, Giulia wants a fruit juice and Andrea is hungry. They get to the museum cafeteria MOT and spend half an hour there.

Gulia asks her mother if they can go to the museum bookshop (if none or closed

irritant

) because she

wants to buy a book about the works of art she has seen.

VISIT Pick up booked tickets

POST- VISIT CìSearching for cloakroom

Guided tour

Searching for cafeteria inside the museum

Activity

Searching for children book at the Bookshop

MOT Irritant

Cafeteria inside the museum available

Cloackroom unavailable, closed or charges fee

the art of telling art

Delay or long time waiting for the guided tour

Bookshop unavailable or closed

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Profiles and scenarios

Scenario 2 - Students: Michele and Andrea (disabled) Michele and Andrea are friends since high school, and now they attend the University of Architecture in a large town, where a famous museum is located.

Both of them are 23. As all students, they still live with their families and do not owe any money, apart from a monthly wage.

Andrea is disabled and wheelchair bound. For their trips, they can use the car of Micheleâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s mother.

The students remember that they paid a quick visit to the museum during a school trip, without having ever seen all the works exhibited.

Time Michele and Andrea have a lesson timetable that is very flexible. Apart from the examination session, they have a lot of free time for their hobbies.

They decide to spend a whole afternoon (3-4 hours) visiting the museum.

Goals To perform an instructive visit.

To learn in a pleasant way as much information as possible about the works of art.

Basics Michele wants to make sure that the museum allows Andrea to visit quietly, without obstacles and any embarrassment due to his disability.

Chart 2-b Michele ed Andreaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s visit experience

PRE-VISIT

Activity

Web

Call Center

@

E-mail

Location

Audio-guide

MOT

Irritants

30

Serching for museum information

Opening times info available

Searching for informatiom on accessibility

Tickets and guided tour booking

Car parks

Information on disabled access

Booking unavailable

Long time waiting to picked up booked tickets

IBM Business Consulting Services

2 Before the visit After looking at the Internet web to find out the museum opening hours MOT and accessibility issues for the disabled

MOT

, Michele wants to make sure that what he read is reliable. He finds the museum

phone number and calls up call center to ask information about the disabled access MOT. He also wants to knowcall center whether it is possible to book web/call center the admission tickets (if not possible irritant).

The visit Michele and Andrea travel to the museum

location

in Michele’s mother’s car. After parking, Michele

picks up the booked tickets (if he has to wait for a long time irritant), or he queues with Andrea at the desk reserved for the disabled (if none or closed irritant). They want a guided tour to fully appreciate all the collection aspects. Michele buys these tickets too (if queue irritant), he tells Andrea to meet him at the cafeteria and looks for the guided tour start time (if they have to wait more than an hour irritant they decide to begin the visit on their own). During the visit, Andrea reads the captions concerning the works of art, assessing the information accessibility MOT (if not updated, unclear, not very exhaustive or qualitatively poor irritant). He also uses the services for the disabled (toilet, lifts, etc.) MOT.

Channels: location, web, call center, audio-guide, e-mail.

MOT: the essential moments in which interaction occurs between the user and the museum. They are strategic moments to which the user attaches importance, and on which they decides whether to go on or end with the relationship.

Irritants: they can be promises a museum makes, or user expectations that have not been met causing frustration to the visitor.

They are responsible for the overall perception of the museum offering.

After the visit At the end of the visit, Michele is enthusiastic about the works of art he’s just seen and asks how to become a member of the museum (if not possible or not available irritant), in order to receive information on events, temporary exhibitions, conventions and discounts.

VISIT Booked tickets pick up

POST-VISIT Guided tours tickets purchased

Activity

Subscription to museum’s Membership club

Guided tours

MOT Irritant

Masterpieces info accessibility

Desk for the disabled closed or unavailable

Queue to purchase and/or long time to wait for guided tour

the art of telling art

Not updated, readable, exhaustive informative cards

Available infrastructures and services suitable for the disabled

Unavailable subscription to a museim’s Membership club

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Profiles and scenarios

Scenario 3 - The elderly: Giovanni and Anna Giovanni and Anna are two retired teachers. They live in a small town and are both fond of art, reading, and painting.

They organize with a couple of friends a day-long visit to a museum close to their town. They prefer to travel there by train.

Time Both Giovanni and Anna are retired, so they have lot of free time for their interests.

They can spend the whole morning (3-4 hours) visiting the museum.

Goals To have a nice and interesting day without getting too tired; to visit the museum and eat in a typical restaurant suggested by a friend of theirs.

To find a stimulating environment of temporary exhibits, in order to return visit every three months.

Basics Clear and exhaustive information on the exhibits.

The rooms not too crowded and equipped with benches to have some rest, as one of them requires it.

Chart 2-c Giovanni and Annaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s visit experience

PRE-VISIT

Activity

Web

Call Center

@

E-mail

Location

Audio-guide

MOT

Irritants

32

Searching for opening times

Tickets purchase

Information on opening times

Long time waiting to buy tickets

No special terms available

IBM Business Consulting Services

2 Before the visit Giovanni finds a chapter about museums in a guide book on the cultural heritage of his region. So he proposes a museum visit to his wife and some friends. The book describes the main works and it informs them about the building address and the public transports to get there. Anna calls up call center to be sure about the opening hours.

Once they reach the town by train, they take the public transport as shown in Giovanniâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s guide book.

They get off at the right stop, suggested by the driver. Finally they arrive at the museum location where they check out the opening times MOT. The visit Once at ticket office location, they queue irritant and, at their turn, ask what special terms (if noneirritant) are offered for the over 60s.

They leave their coats in the cloakroom (if none, closed or to be paidi rritant), they also want to use an audio-guide audio-guide (if none irritant ) to help them with the visit. They begin listening to the audio-guide (if low quality audio irritant, if not exhaustive irritant, if impossible to choose a theme tour: periods/authors irritant

, if hard to usei rritant). Halfway through the visit, they decide to interrupt the tour because Anna

Channels: location, web, call center, audio-guide, e-mail.

MOT: the essential moments in which interaction occurs between the user and the museum. They are strategic moments to which the user attaches importance, and on which they decides whether to go on or end with the relationship.

Irritants: they can be promises a museum makes, or user expectations that have not been met causing frustration to the visitor.

They are responsible for the overall perception of the museum offering.

is a bit tired and they look for a bench MOT to rest for a few minutes. In the room they stop, Giovanniâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s eye is caught by a certain painting. He reads all the information concerning the work of art (accessibility MOT and clearness MOT), but he is not very satisfied, so he asks additional questions to the room personnel (if none or unrecognizable irritant , if not expert irritant).

After the visit At the end of the visit, they go to the bookshop (if none or closed irritant). Here Anna looks for the biography of an artist and Giovanni for a picture to give to his grandchildren.

VISIT Cloackroom research

Visit through audio-guide

Searching for benches to rest

No audio-guide renting

the art of telling art

Activity MOT

Searching for Bookshop

Irritant

Information accessibility on art works

Benches availables inside the museum

Cloackroom unavailable/closed/charges fee

POST-VISIT

Available and clear information on art works

Impossible to choose a theme tour with audio-guide; audio-guide not exhaustive, low quality audio, hard to use

Museum staff unrecognisable, unavailable, poor competence

Bookshop closed or unavailable

33

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Profiles and scenarios

Scenario 4 - A teacher and her students Marta is 37 and teaches Arts Education at a secondary school in a small town. It takes about four-hours to drive to the nearest museum. Marta introduced some notions about restoration during her lessons.

She wants to set up a visit to a museum with her second year students (13 years old on average).

She decides to contact the Call Centre to fix the visit.

Time Marta arranges a day-long school trip. The visit to the museum is supposed to start in the late morning; in the afternoon a restoration lesson should be taken.

Goals To have a nice and interesting visit for her students in order to raise their interest in the arts and cultural heritage of the region.

At the end of the visit, to attend a restoration lesson to experience what the students have learnt in recent months at school.

Basics To gather all the required information to encourage the students and their parents to participate in the school visit.

To book the admission tickets and a guide who supports Marta during the visit.

Chart 2-d Marta and her studentsâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; visit experience

PRE-VISIT

Activity

Web

Call Center

@

E-mail

Location

Audio-guide

MOT

Irritants

34

Searching for opening times info, groups special terms, guided tour, restoration lesson

Information on opening times

Receiving informative brochure

No groups special terms available

Booking and arrangement

Children activities available

Impossible to set up restoration lessons

Tickets purchase

Tickets and guided tour booking

No cash desk for group available

IBM Business Consulting Services

2 Before the visit Marta contacts the museum by phone call center, and gets information about the opening times MOT to set up the visit. She wants to know if there are special terms for groups (if none irritant ). She asks for an informative museum brochure MOT (paper or multimedia). She inquires about a guided tour service for their studentsMOT and if she can organize a restoration lesson (if not possibleirritant ).

Finally she asks if it is possible to book the ticketsMOT and the guided tourMOT in advance.

The visit The day of the trip, all the class travels to the museum location. Marta queues MOT at the ticket office to pick up the tickets (if none dedicated to groups irritant).

Marta asks the guide where to find the cloakroom (if none, closed or to be paid irritant) so that the students can leave their bags and coats.

Marta follows the guided tour along with their students and parents. They are accompanied to the room where the restoration lesson takes place.

After the visit

Channels: location, web, call center, audio-guide, e-mail.

MOT: the essential moments in which interaction occurs between the user and the museum. They are strategic moments to which the user attaches importance, and on which they decides whether to go on or end with the relationship.

Irritants: they can be promises a museum makes, or user expectations that have not been met causing frustration to the visitor.

They are responsible for the overall perception of the museum offering.

At the end of the visit, Marta takes her students to the cafeteria before leaving the museum MOT. She also asks if the students can join a “club for young friends of the museum” (if not possible irritant), so that they can get information on future activities.

VISIT

POST-VISIT

Searching for cloakroom

Guided tours and didactic activities

Waiting time to pick up booked tickets

Searching for bar/cafeteria

Activity

Subscription to Museum’s Membership club

MOT Irritant

Bar/cafeteria inside the museum

Cloakroom unavailable/closed/ charges fee

the art of telling art

Museum children Membership Club unavailable

35

chapter

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Profiles and scenarios

Scenario 5 - A manager Mark Harris is a young manager aged 33. He graduated in Economics, and for several years he has been working in a multinational company headquartered in Berlin. He travels a lot for work and his weekends are often busy, too. In two weeks he will go to a country where he does not know the main language. At his destination there is a world famous museum. Mark checks his electronic agenda to make sure that he will have a couple of free hours, between the various meetings, to visit the museum.

Time Mark has very little time to spend for himself and his hobbies, because of his full-time job.

The visit is supposed to last 2 hours, from 2.30 pm to 4.30 pm. At 5 pm Mark has a scheduled meeting, so he cannot stay any longer at the museum.

Goals To see the museumâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s main works in the established timing (max 1,5 h) To do the guided tour in his mother tongue (with a personal guide or an audio-guide) so as to learn as much as possible.

To buy the museum catalogue.

Basics To get information via e-mail paying attention to the timing.

To do the visit efficiently with no delay.

Chart 2-e Markâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s visit experience

PRE-VISIT

Activity

Web

Call Center

@

E-mail

Location

Audio-guide

MOT

Irritants

36

Searching for museum information (masterpieces, opening times, etc.)

Information on masterpieces in foreign languages

Sending e-mail to set up a visit (information and booking)

Opening times info

Low site visibility (web address and/or list position in search engines)

Answer to e-mail enquires within 8 working days

Pick up booked tickets and searching for visit support materials

Tickets booking and guided tour (or audio-guide)

No tour with fixed time duration

Foreign languages museum map unavailable

IBM Business Consulting Services

2 Before the visit Mark searches for the museumâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s official website web. First, he edits www.museumname.xx (if not easy to reach

irritant

positioned

); then, he searches for the web site address on a search engine (if the museum is low

irritant

) to make sure what the main works are MOT.

Mark e-mails the museum to get information on opening times MOT. He explains his needs and, particularly, his short time available. He says answer very soon, within 8 working days He wants to book a ticket

MOT

e-mail

that he will be in town in two weeks and he needs an

MOT

.

and a guide that will conduct the visit in his language MOT, or an audio-

guide MOT which describes the main exhibits in about 1,5 hour (if not possible irritant): from 3.00 pm to 4.30 pm. Once he has received the answer, Mark considers if the information is coherent and complete.

The visit Mark travels to the museum by taxi. He queues at the ticket office location to pick up his ticketMOT. As he awaits the guided tour to begin, he looks for a museum map in his language (if not available irritant

) which shows where the main masterpieces are located. He starts the guided tour with the guide or

Channels: location, web, call center, audio-guide, e-mail.

MOT: the essential moments in which interaction occurs between the user and the museum. They are strategic moments to which the user attaches importance, and on which they decides whether to go on or end with the relationship.

Irritants: they can be promises a museum makes, or user expectations that have not been met causing frustration to the visitor.

They are responsible for the overall perception of the museum offering.

the audio-guide, and while listening (if it has a bad quality irritant), he reads the works captions in his language (if no captions irritant, no removable cards irritant, no boards irritant available). If he uses an audioguide, he chooses a tour concerning the museum's masterpieces (if not possibleirritant).

After the visit Mark enters the bookshop MOT and asks the assistant (in his own language) for the museum catalogue (if published in his language

irritant

). He pays by credit card (if not possible

museum, he stops at the cafeteria (if none or closed

irritant

irritant

). Before leaving the

) for a quick snack, because the visit went on

too long.

VISIT

POST-VISIT

Foreign language guided tour (or audio-guide)

Searching for bookshop

Activity MOT

Searching for cafeteria

Irritant

Waiting time to pick up booked tickets

Bookshop opening

Audio-guide low audio quality

the art of telling art

No captions, removable cards, informative boards in foreign languages

Impossibility to follows specific and personal tours

No museum catalogue in foreign languages, payment by credit card unavailable

No/closed bar/cafeteria inside the museum

37

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Profiles and scenarios

The following tables sum up the Moments of Truth and the Irritants of every scenario.

It also shows the user profiles affected by each MOT and Irritants and the channel on which the single MOT and Irritant could be available or activated.

Teacher

CHANNELS

Manager

Elderly

SCENARIOS

Family

MOMENT OF TRUTH

Students

Table 2.1 Scenariosâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; Moments of Truth

Pre-visit Information on opening times

Information on disabled access

Web Call Center Location E-mail Web Call Center

Informative brochure dispatch

Call Center

Answer to e-mail enquiries within 8 working days

E-mail

Information on masterpieces in different languages

Web

Guided tour specifically for children Ticket booking

Childrens guided tour booking

Web Call Center

Web Call Center E-mail Web Call Center

Foreign language guided tour booking

E-mail

Audio-guide booking

E-mail

Location

Visit Waiting time to collect tickets

Works of art information accessibility Information availability and clearness

Location

Location

Services for the disabled

Location

Benches inside the museum

Location

Post-visit Bar/cafeteria inside the museum Bookshop open

38

Location

Location

IBM Business Consulting Services

2 CHANNELS

Table 2.2 Scenariosâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; Irritants

Manager

Teacher

Elderly

Students

SCENARIOS

Family

IRRITANTS

Pre-visit Bad site visibility: address

Web

Bad list position in search engines

Web

No museum phone number available

Web

No information on car parks available

Web Call Center

No information on bar/cafeteria available

Web Call Center

No special terms for groups

Call Center

No specific lessons to attend

Call Center

No ticket booking

Web Call Center

No tour with fixed time duration

E-mail

Visit

No/closed desk for the disabled

Location

No desk for groups No/closed/paid cloakroom

Location

Location

Long time queuing to buy tickets

Long time waiting to pick up booked tickets

Location

Location

Delay or long time waiting for the guided tour

Location

Informative cards not updated, readable, exhaustive

Location

No special terms for users segments

Location

Unclear recognition of the museum satff

Location

Not satisfying competence of the museum staff

Location

No captions in foreign languages

Location

Assenza di schede mobili in lingua

Location

No removable cards in foreign languages

Location

Location

No museum map in foreign languages No informative boards in foreign languages

Impossibility of renting audio-guide

Audio-guide

No audio-guide specific tours

Audio-guide

Bassa qualitĂ del sonoro dell'audioguida

Audio-guide

Audio-guide contents incomplete

Audio-guide

Location

Audio-guide

Post-visit No/closed bookshop Museum membership unavailable Museum childrens membership unavailable

Location

Location

Museum catalogue in foreign languages unavailable

Location

Payment by credit card unavailable

Location

No/closed bar/cafeteria inside the museum

Location

the art of telling art

39

3

Customer Experience Evaluation

3

* 41

chapter

3

Customer Experience Evaluation

3.

Customer Experience Evaluation

Creativity is allowing yourself to make mistakes. Art is knowing which ones have to be kept Scott Adams The analysis conducted on the 10 museums has considered 5 channels: • Location: is the physical place where the user can perform the visit, see the collections, get information and use the available services; • Web: is the institutional presence of the museum on the Internet; • Call Center: is the phone contact between user and museum, through operators or IVR (Interactive Voice Response); • E-mail: allows individual contact between user and museum, through the electronic mailing system; • Audio-guide: is the device used to get information while the visit is taking place.

The evaluation of all channels depends on the specific indicators analysis (value drivers). Each value driver is the result of an assessment of different parameters21. The number of these parameters, per Table 3.1 Value drivers

every value driver and channel, is listed below:

Channels

value driver / No parameters per value driver

Tot.

Location

Information

6

Space

6

Services

6

Offering

5

Performance

5

28

Web

Usability

5

Functionality

5

Visibility

5

Security

5

Performance

2

22

Call Center

Usability

5

Functionality

5

Performance

4

13

E-mail

Usability

5

Functionality

5

Performance

4

13

Audio-guide

Usability

5

Functionality

5

Performance

4

13

87 parameters in total.

The channel evaluation scale, as well as value drivers’ in each channel, ranges from 0/10 minimum (existing channel but not used) to 10/10 maximum (excellent channel).

Each channel has been given a different rating grade according to their importance in the museum sector: • Location

55%

• Web

20%

• Call Center

15%

• Audio-guide

7%

• E-mail

3%

The percentages (or weights) are related to the paragraph 1.3, and the values have been determined by our experts.

21

In Appendix the parameters details per channels and value drivers

42

All the values are shown in a chart that illustrates the channels evaluation for each museum.

To facilitate an immediate comparison, two additional data are shown:

IBM Business Consulting Services

3 • the average weighted value on the 5 channels: this defines a numerical value of the museum’s Value Perception, calculated using the formula below: Value Perception = [(Location 0,55) + (Web x 0,20) + (Call Center x 0,15) + (Audio-guide x 0,07) + (E-mail x 0,03)]

• the channel average value weighted up by the 10 museums: this defines the position of the other players and the market average value.

Pondered average of all channels for each museum

Normal rating of the channel for each museum 2.0

Location

Chart 3-a Guideline to charts

Average value of all data of the 10 musemsi

5.8

7.1

5.8

7.1

Web

Museum

Visitor

Call Center Audio-guide E-mail 0.0

1.0

2.0

3.0

4.0

5.0

6.0

7.0

8.0

9.0

10.0

At the same time, another analysis is carried out to reveal the user’s satisfaction grade. It concerns the MOT (Moments of Truth) and the activation of the Irritants for all defined profiles (family, students, the elderly, teacher, manager). During the interaction with the museum, each profile satisfies a certain percentage of its MOT as well as activating a certain percentage of its Irritants. In order to get an overall value for the user's satisfaction, every MOT fulfilled is weighted 1,25 and every Irritants not activated is weighted 0,75.

The datum obtained (computed by all MOT and Irritants composing the scenario) determines the overall satisfaction grade that the profile obtains by interacting with the museum: it represents the Value Proposition.

In other words, the Value Proposition22 is evaluated using this formula: Value Proposition = [(MOT x 1,25) + (1- Irritant) x 0,75] / 2

Relation Value Proposition

Company Value Realization

Customer Experience

Value Perception

User Value Expectation

The results of the analysis conducted on the 10 museums are shown on the following pages.

Every museum card sums up the evaluation of all museums’ channels and gives details of Location and Web - the most remarkable channels.

the art of telling art

22

The weightening of MOT and Irritants element defines the histogram of the profile satisfaction grade (see the following pages).

43

chapter

3

Customer Experience Evaluation

Galleria Borghese

6.8

Location

Galleria Borghese

Web

3.6

4.7

Call Center

4.4

4.7

Audio-guide

6.9

Customer 5.6

E-mail

3.4

NOT AVAILABLE 0.0

1.0

6.9

2.0

3.0

4.0

5.0

6.0

7.0

8.0

9.0

10.0

Weighted average 5.7

Location Information

7.8

•

Information is always available, both general (timetable, fares, maps) and specific (captions, boards, cards).

•

Space is an average value because of room personnel low availability and good competence to answer visitor’s specific questions.

•

Service management turns out to be excellent (information desk, bookshop and cafeteria). There is also a didactic laboratory where children can experience the contact with a work of art.

•

Offerings are excellent thanks to guided tours and multi-language availability.

•

The site reveals a lack of usability. Users cannot identify Gallery contents because of some interface problems: element positioning in the pages, improper design. Moreover, navigation labels continually move about.

•

The site is not very functional. No search or personalization is possible.

Information is available in Italian and English. Booking service (compulsory) is the only functionality offered.

•

Web address is easily to find, but it has a low visibility level. Therefore, some search engines reveal it by the artist's name, works or collections. No general or geographical key words are recognized..

6.1

Space

8.2

Services 7.2

Offerings 5.5

Performance 0.0

1.0

2.0

3.0

4.0

5.0

6.0

7.0

8.0

9.0

10.0

Average Location 6.9

Web www.galleriaborghese.it/borghese/it/ Usability

3.4 1.8

Functionality Visibility

2.1

Security

1,5 9.0

Performance 0.0

2.0

4.0

6.0

8.0

10.0

Average Web 3.6

44

IBM Business Consulting Services

3 • The Location gets a good result, slightly over the average of the 10 museums. The Gallery shows complete and satisfying information, offerings and services.

• The Galleria Borghese Web section is part of the Polo Museale Romano (city public museums responsible board) website. It displays some information on the museum. Contents and functionalities do not turn out to be suitable for the institution’s importance.

• The Call Centre, though it uses IVR (Interactive Voice Response), does not always offer functionalities appropriate to convey the information requested by the users.

• The Audio-guide is an effective support to the visit. Contents are clear and complete, and it is possible to choose the description by room and work of art..

• The E-mail is not directly managed by the Galleria, but it refers to the Polo Museale Romano. This channel has been tested by sending some requests to which no response occurred.

Mot/Irritants: Value Proposition 80%

Family

17%

•

The Family and the Teacher, because of the impossibility of booking the visit for the children, could decide for an alternative activity. The other MOT are always satisfied.

•

The Students experience the lack of attention to the disabled: a museum floor is totally inaccessible.

•

The Elderly fulfil most of their MOT, while some Irritants are activated, such as informative caption readability and room personnel competence, making the visit less satisfactory.

•

The Manager chooses an alternative activity to the visit because he receives no answer to his email (essential MOT to set up the visit in the requested time). Even if he had booked through other channels and gone to the museum, he would have not been able to use the Audio-guide service because of his short time available. Therefore, there is no specific route for the masterpieces, the information is not always translated and the brochures are only available in two languages.

75%

Students

17% 83%

Elderly

30% 71%

Teacher

17% 38%

Manager

56% 0%

20%

40%

Average MOT satisfied 69% Average Irritants activated 27% Average Value Proposition 71%

the art of telling art

60%

80%

100%

45

3

chapter

Customer Experience Evaluation

Galleria degli Uffizi

Location Web

Galleria degli Uffizi

6.8

5.3

4.7

4.3

Call Center

4.7

3.6

Audio-guide

5.6

4.8

3.4

NOT AVAILABLE

E-mail 0.0

1.0

2.0

Customer

3.0

4.0

5.0

6.0

7.0

8.0

9.0

10.0

Weighted average 4.7

Location Information

6.1

•

The general Information is always available, detailed and clear, while the specific is vague and inaccurate.

•

Space is less satisfying, because of the lack of museum signage and room personnel.

•

Services turn out to be good. They range over an information desk, a panoramic-view bar, a well-stocked bookshop.

•

Offerings obtain a low value on the average because of little functionalities available. The museum provides no guided tours, so the visitor has to contact an external agency. These agencies are not easy to find because they are not promoted by the museum itself.

•

Performances are excellent only in the case of booking; otherwise a long waiting time is experienced.

•

The site Usability reveals some problems with content and design. The Home Page does not show what the site offers. The layout elements and texts are out of proportion and force the user to scroll the page.

•

The site, available in Italian and English, has no on-line services: it is not possible to book or buy anything. No personalization is possible, and the works description seems too essential. Moreover, the search engine, although present, does not work.

•

The web site address is adequate and easy to remember. Nevertheless, it has a low visibility because no result is shown by using general key words.

3.3

Space Services

7.3

Offerings

3.8

Performance

5.7 0.0

1.0

2.0

3.0

4.0

5.0

6.0

7.0

8.0

9.0

10.0

Average Location 5.3

Web www.uffizi.firenze.it Usability

4.8

Functionality

1.2

Visibility

4.7

Security

2.0 9.0

Performance 0.0

2.0

4.0

6.0

8.0

10.0

Average Web 4.3

46

IBM Business Consulting Services

3 • The multichannel analysis reveals that the Location has the highest values. Some of the services are particularly excellent: bookshop and refreshments.

• The Website is mainly informative (timetable, works, history, news). It offers neither significant functionalities nor a sufficient usability level.

• The Call Centre, to which all the Florence museums refer, is lacking in organization. Too much time before contacting an operator goes by. The information is also incomplete.

• The Audio-guide is under the average. Its functionalities are inefficient because there is no specific tour description (by theme, historical period, or artist).

• The E-mail has been tested by sending several requests to which no response occurred.

Mot/Irritants: Value Proposition 60%

Family

The Family faces problems both during the pre-visit (lack of information on the Internet) and the visit (lack of tours and activities for children).

•

The Students satisfy most of their MOT, as a matter of fact the museum turns out to be accessible to the disabled.

•

The Elderly fulfil all their MOT. Nevertheless the visit experience would have been better, if the room personnel (in terms of number of people and their recognizability) and the performances (waiting time to buy the tickets) had been improved.

•

The Teacher does not activate any Irritants. However, she has problems setting up the visit for her students, because the Call Centre does not convey specific information on guided tours for children.

•

The Manager chooses an alternative activity, because he receives no answer to his email. Even though he wanted to perform the visit anyhow, he would not get the information he needs in his own language, apart from very few works.

33% 75%

Students

17% 100%

Elderly

Teacher

•

30% 57% 0% 38%

Manager

50% 0%

20%

40%

Average MOT satisfied 66% Average Irritants activated 26% Average Value Proposition 69%

the art of telling art

60%

80%

100%

47

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chapter

Customer Experience Evaluation

Museo Archeologico Nazionale di Napoli

Location Web

Museo Archeologico Nazionale di Napoli

6.8

4.3

4.7

3.4

Call Center

4.7

4.9

Audio-guide

5.6

E-mail

1.0

2.0

5.8

3.4

NOT AVAILABLE 0.0

Customer

3.0

4.0

5.0

6.0

7.0

8.0

9.0

10.0

Weighted average 4.2

Location Information

3.2

Space

3.2

•

Information is not always available and the contents not satisfactory (for example, many work captions are missing).

•

Space receives a low value due to the lack of route signs. Moreover, room personnel are not available and cannot handle visitors' inquiries.

•

Services turn out to be suitable and accurate. The museum provides an information desk and a bookshop, nevertheless there is no library. All rooms are accessible to every kind of visitors (the disabled, the elderly and children).

•

Museum’s Offerings are positioned below the average. There is no rest space (with chairs or benches) along the route. The frequency of the guided tour service is not fully satisfactory. A positive aspect is the visit to the Secret Cabinet which is supported by an archaeologist.

•

Usability analysis shows some issues in content use. Navigation items do not always correspond to the name sections, so that the user does not know where he is positioned inside the web site. Texts are not immediately accessible to the user who has to scroll over the page. If a Collection area icon is clicked, several pop-ups come out and fully cover the screen.

•

The only site functionality is the online ticketing. Works are displayed in the "routes" section where there is some information on the available routes, the rooms and the works. However no search engine is present.

It is not possible to change the language (Italian or English) from the Home Page but it is necessary to go to another site.

•

The visibility is poor because of the address is too long and also hard to remember.

6.4

Services 5.0

Offerings 3.6

Performance 0.0

1.0

2.0

3.0

4.0

5.0

6.0

7.0

8.0

9.0

10.0

Average Location 4.3

Web www.archeona.arti.beniculturali.it/sanc it/mann/home.html 3.8

Usability Functionality

1.4

Visibility

1.7

Security

1.0 9.0

Performance 0.0

2.0

4.0

6.0

8.0

10.0

Average Web 3.4

48

IBM Business Consulting Services

3 • The Location is under the average. The analysis reveals some lacks of information (few and inefficient) and space (inaccurate rooms) categories.

• The Web offers mainly informative contents. Usability and functionality obtain very low values.

• The Call Centre reaches a higher value than the average of the 10 museums. Information is exhaustive and relevant according to the requests.

• The Audio-guide is a well managed channel. It describes to the visitors the archaeological excavations and all the pieces discovered and then exhibited. However, there is no option for different routes (by theme or historical period).

• The E-mail has been tested by sending several requests to which no response occurred.

Mot/Irritants: Value Proposition 50%

Family

•

The Family faces problems regarding poor information on the Internet and the lack of tours and activities for children.

•

The Students have no accessibility problems to sort out, but they are slightly disappointed by the information quality and completeness.

•

The Elderly have an agreeable visit thanks to the audio-guide support. But they experience poor contact with room personnel; also, they do not find readable and clear work captions. There are no proper rest spaces: benches are used to define routes and visitors rows.

•

The Teacher finds some of her MOT satisfied, even though she has to sort out some problems with performances. There is no desk for groups, no bar/cafeteria inside the museum where students can end up their visit.

•

The Manager chooses an alternative activity, because he receives no answer to his email. Even if he was able to perform the visit, he would not get the information he needs in his own language, except for very few works. The only positive thing is the audio-guide (available in 5 languages) as support to convey all contents concerning the archaeological museum.

33% 56%

Students

67% 80%

Elderly

40% 57%

Teacher

50% 25%

Manager

56% 0%

20%

40%

Average MOT satisfied 54% Average Irritants activated 49% Average Value Proposition 53%

the art of telling art

60%

80%

100%

49

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Customer Experience Evaluation

Museo Egizio di Torino

Location

5.4

Web

Museo Egizio di Torino

3.6

Call Center

4.7

4.7

Audio-guide

4.7

Customer 5.6

NOT AVAILABLE

E-mail

6.8

3.4 0.0

1.0

2.0

3.0

7.5

4.0

5.0

6.0

7.0

8.0

9.0

10.0

Weighted average 4.6

Location Information

•

Information is very satisfactory. It covers both general (timetable, fares, maps) and specific (captions, boards, cards) issues.

•

Space is very accurate both in rooms and route signage. The first floor of the museum is refurbished: it offers a new exhibition itinerary which enhances the collections in a modern way. Nevertheless, room personnel are not always present and cannot handle visitors' inquiries.

•

Services are sufficient but there is no cloakroom, cafeteria or library.

The visitor can not make use of the audio-guide service because no personnel are available to help.

•

Offerings turn out to be adequate: for example, there is a good guided tour service. However, not all the information is translated in more than one language and no one can convey it properly to visitors.

•

The site usability reveals some problems with content and design.

The Home Page catches the user's eye with suitable colours and images.

The different styles and interface changes make the navigation hard.

•

The site does not provide a lot of functionalities, because it is designed to inform the user about the museum and its contacts. Even though there is the online ticket booking and buying, the area dedicated to these services is under construction. Therefore, a Call centre number and email address are provided to resolve the problem.

•

The site address, though not immediate, is of course easy to find and remember. The site is not listed in the search engines because of its technical features. Hence, there is no result from any kind of search.

6.4 5.8

Space 4.5

Services Offerings

5.6 4.6

Performance 0.0

1.0

2.0

3.0

4.0

5.0

6.0

7.0

8.0

9.0

10.0

Average Location 5.4

Web www.museitorino.it/museoegizio Usability

5.0

Functionality

1.0

Visibility

1.2 2.3

Security

8.0

Performance 0.0

2.0

4.0

6.0

8.0

10.0

Average Web 3.6

50

IBM Business Consulting Services

3 • The Location is positioned slightly under the average: information and services values are good. It must be noted that the analysis was conducted while the building was being restored, so that it concerns only the new available rooms.

• The official Website (www.museoegizio.org) is at present unreachable because it is being re-designed. So an alternative site has been considered: it has been suggested by the Call Centre (www.museitorino.it/index.html). Contents and functionalities of this site are insufficient.

• The Call Centre obtains average values, because information is relevant to user's requests. It is also possible to get all the data given by the operator via email.

• Audio-guide has not been tested because the office was always closed whenever a visit occurred.

• The E-mail is an adequate channel. It supports quickly and completely every visitor's request (general questions about the museum as well as news about services, events and exhibitions).

Mot/Irritants: Value Proposition

•

The Family finds some problems in setting up the visit, because of little and poor information on the website. Nevertheless, they can get what is necessary to plan a good visit.

•

The Students find the museum accessible and experience a satisfactory visit. All contents is complete and updated.

•

The Elderly have the majority of their MOT fulfilled. However, they notice the lack of rest spaces along the route, and that they cannot use the audio-guide service.

•

The Teacher has most of her MOT satisfied, even though there is no bar/cafeteria inside the museum where students can end their visit.

•

The Manager has fulfilled many of his MOT: by the email he receives complete information within his deadline. During the visit, he cannot always find descriptions in his own language and cannot use the audioguide service.

70%

Family

33% 88%

Students

33% 83%

Elderly

70% 86%

Teacher

17% 88%

Manager 56% 0%

20%

40%

Average Mot satisfied 83% Average Irritants activated 42% Average Value Proposition 74%

the art of telling art

60%

80%

100%

51

3

chapter

Customer Experience Evaluation

Pinacoteca di Brera

Location

5.7

Web

Pinacoteca di Brera

6.8

4.7

4.2

Call Center

4.7

5.0

Audio-guide

Customer 5.6

E-mail

3.4 0.0

1.0

2.0

3.0

7.3

5.0

4.0

5.0

6.0

7.0

8.0

9.0

10.0

Weighted average 5.4

Location Information

•

Information is always available and easy to find. But cards and captions contents are not always updated, and sometimes there is no correspondence between the room, the work of art and the exhibit cards.

•

Space turns out to be unsatisfactory. It lacks route signs and room personnel are insufficient and incompetent.

•

Services reach an excellent point: a well-stocked bookshop, an information desk, special terms and didactic activities.

•

Museum’s Offerings consist of: guided tours, not directly managed by the Pinacoteca, but by subsidiary agencies; didactic activities provided by the association Amici di Brera. To be noted the disposition, along the visit route, of a restoration laboratory visible to public.

•

The analysis reveals that contents is exhaustive, while navigation is rather hard to perform. The Home Page is well structured and always updated.

•

The user sometimes gets lost while surfing the site due to the lack of positioning signs, and the poor legibility of link and search engine font size.

•

The site offers as functionalities a search engine by work, artist and catalogue number. In the work cards, every image can be displayed at full screen, even though descriptions are lacking content. There are no subscription or personalisation systems.

•

As for the visibility, the address is not very clear and it is also hard to find using search engines by different key words.

5.8 4.6

Space

8.5

Services 4.9

Offerings

4.5

Performance 0.0

1.0

2.0

3.0

4.0

5.0

6.0

7.0

8.0

9.0

10.0

Average Location 5.7

Web www.brera.beniculturali.it/pinacoteca/ Usability

6.0

Functionality

2.0

Visibility

1.1

Security

2.1 10.0

Performance 0.0

2.0

4.0

6.0

8.0

10.0

Average Web 4.2

52

IBM Business Consulting Services

3 • The Location has a good placement. The Pinacoteca offers a wide range of basic services (group visits, didactic activities for children, restoration laboratories, etc.).

• The site belongs to the general network of the Ministero Italiano dei Beni Culturali. The Web is exploited partially: well structured contents (search by works, detailed information on the museum, collection and artists), but inefficient usability and few functionalities.

• The Call Centre, supported by the IRV (Interactive Voice Response), reaches a medium value as for the average. The user is generally satisfied by the interaction with this channel: all responses given are exhaustive and pertinent.

• The Audio-guide is clear and complete. It informs the visitors about the main works, but there is no theme-route option (by subjects, historical period) only the room description.

• The E-mail is used clearly and on time to answer user’s requests.

Mot/Irritants: Value Proposition 70%

Family

The analysis reveals that the visit on the whole is satisfying for all the 5 scenarios.

•

The Family gets all the information necessary during the pre-visit both through the Web and the Call Centre channels. They notice the lack of activities for children and rest spaces.

•

The Students have all their accessibility problems sorted out. They are not satisfied with the general and extra information on the works of art.

•

The Elderly have all their MOT fulfilled: rest spaces along the route and ease of use of the Audio-guide. They notice that room personnel are sometimes missing and unrecognisable.

•

The Teacher has most of her MOT satisfied. Even though there is no cafeteria or special terms for groups, she can enjoy a guided tour and appreciate the restoration laboratory in one of the rooms.

•

The Manager satisfies most of his MOT. He receives an answer to his E-mail on time; he can use either the guided tour service or the Audioguide, both in his own language.

33% 78%

Students

50% 83%

Elderly

30% 86%

Teacher

33% 88%

Manager 56% 0%

20%

40%

Average MOT satisfied 81% Average Irritants activated 41% Average Value Proposition 73%

the art of telling art

60%

80%

100%

53

3

chapter

Customer Experience Evaluation

The British Museum

6.8

Location

The British Museum

Web

4.7

Call Center

4.7

7.0

4.9

Audio-guide

Customer 5.6

E-mail

6.9

3.4 0.0

1.0

2.0

3.0

8.1

6.1

4.0

5.0

6.0

7.0

8.0

9.0

10.0

Weighted average 7.3

Location Information

•

Information (both general on opening times and specific on single work or collections) is easy to find. Nevertheless, cards and captions contents are not always updated as well as the displayed materials.

•

Space is very accurate both in the rooms and in the route signage. Room personnel are almost always available and recognizable, and they are capable to support visitors' inquiries.

•

The analysis reveals that Services are excellent. These range over information desks, ticket offices, membership promotion for every kind of visitors (children, students and the elderly), didactic activities and bookshops. The most significant datum is the free admission to the permanent collection.

•

The Offering value rises over the average. The museum provides guided tours with a wide range of options: multi-language visits, tours for children or for the deaf. However, new multimedia technologies are not employed to enhance the visit experience.

•

The British Museum website is available in 5 languages, though the English version, our sample, is more accurate and complete. Usability has a high value. Navigation is always clear and simple. Design is neat and plain. Users notice the richness of contents and they can perform their tasks easily.

•

The site offers valuable contents such as: a whole section for children, and an easy and complete search function. It is possible to access directly by Web the museum's ticketing service and bookshop.

•

Visibility reveals a good placement of the site address in the search engine, though work and collection key words are not indexed. The address turns out to be vague due to the lack of alternative addresses.

8.0 8.7

Space Services

9.4 7.4

Offerings 6.9

Performance 0.0

1.0

2.0

3.0

4.0

5.0

6.0

7.0

8.0

9.0

10.0

Average Location 8.1

Web www.thebritishmuseum.ac.uk Usability

8.8

Functionality

6.4

Visibility

6.8

Security

2.8 10.0

Performance 0.0

2.0

4.0

6.0

8.0

10.0

Average Web 7.0

54

IBM Business Consulting Services

3 • The Location reaches high values. The quality of Information, Space and Services are particularly noted.

• The Web channel is much important and it gets a high grade of usability and functionality. Contents offered is very accurate and detailed. The section dedicated to children is carefully managed. Here it is possible to play by interacting with the works of art.

• The Call Centre, yet supported by the IVR (Interactive Voice Response), is a neglected channel. The operators are not always capable of fulfilling user's requests. To note the difficulty of interaction in languages different from English.

• The Audio-guide has several functions of use. It is possible to explore the museum according to different navigation modalities (by theme, history and geography). Contents is rich and coherent to the works the collection exhibits.

• The museum replies to visitor's requests by using the E-mail service. Content as well as form and tone of answers are more than satisfactory.

Mot/Irritants: Value Proposition

Elderly

Teacher

In all the Scenarios, the MOT are always satisfied, and the Irritants are not activated.

100%

Family

Students

The analysis carried out through the 5 scenarios reveals that the visit is always positive and often over any kind of user's expectations.

8% 100%

•

The Family sets up the visit in a very detailed way through the support of both the Web and the Call Centre. They can also involve children from this stage on, by suggesting surfing the site sections dedicated to them..

•

The Students have all their MOT fulfilled. Their visit is totally satisfactory thanks to accurate information and adequate instruments, provided by both the Internet and the location.

•

The Elderly interact with room personnel, always available, recognizable and competent. The Audio-guide is complete and offers the option of choosing what description route to listen to.

•

The Teacher can easily set up her school trip. At the museum, she can make use of a complete and efficient educational service, which puts the students in contact with the works of art.

•

The Manager gets an exhaustive and punctual answer to his E-mail (also in languages different from English). He can make use of either a personal guide or an audio-guide to complete his visit in the expected time.

0% 100% 0% 100% 0% 100%

Manager 19% 0%

20%

40%

Average MOT satisfied 100% Average Irritants activated 5% Average Value Proposition 98%

the art of telling art

60%

80%

100%

55

3

chapter

Customer Experience Evaluation

The Metropolitan Museum of Art

6.8

Location

The Metropolitan Museum of Art

Web

4.7

Call Center

4.7

8.1

7.8

5.6

Audio-guide

Customer

5.6

E-mail

3.3

0.0

1.0

2.0

9.0

3.4

3.0

4.0

5.0

6.0

7.0

8.0

9.0

10.0

Weighted average 7.6

Location Information

•

Information takes up an excellent position, due to the fact that it is always available and easy to find. Board and caption contents are also satisfactory.

•

Space reaches a good value too thanks to the high accuracy of rooms and route signage. Room personnel are always available and recognizable, and they prove to be competent.

•

All Services are well arranged. They consist of an information desk, a ticket office, several boutiques and bookshops, restaurants and bars within the museum. To note the excellent exploitation of post-sale services.

•

Offerings are on average values. The museum provides guided tours for groups and children. There are multimedia locations (kiosks) but none of them supports the visit with multimedia guide (PDA).

•

The usability data shows a clear, rich and well structured site. From the Home Page, the user immediately detects all the page contents. Design is appropriate: the use of colours is agreeable and sober, and helps accomplish the tasks.

•

The site is available in English, but the general information is translated into 6 languages. Several criteria are employed to afford the navigation and searching. There is an area dedicated to personalization; another one specific for children and a last for online shopping. To note the section devoted to the disabled and their specific routes.

•

As for visibility, the museum address is always placed at the very first positions of the search engines, by inserting both general and specific key words. The address is also clear, immediate and easy to remember.

8.1 8.7

Space Services

10.0

Offerings

6.2

Performance 0.0

7.9 1.0

2.0

3.0

4.0

5.0

6.0

7.0

8.0

9.0

10.0

Average Location 8.1

Web www.metmuseum.org Usability

9.6

Functionality

6.2

Visibility

8.3

Security

4.8 10

Performance 0.0

2.0

4.0

6.0

8.0

10.0

Average Web 7.8

56

IBM Business Consulting Services

3 • The Location obtains high values, because the user is always satisfied with their visit. Space and Services are the most relevant categories.

• The Web channel is very important and gets a high rate. As for the British Museum, contents, personalization features and advanced services (eg childrens area) are top level.

• The Audio-guide is the strong point of the museum: it is characterized by a high grade of usability and several functionalities. The navigation is well structured and it provides several different route descriptions tours to select (e.g. by theme, historical period, etc.) by work or room.

• The Call Centre, supported by IVR (Interactive Voice Response), turns out to be over the average. The operators reveal capabilities to fulfil user’s requests.

• The responses given by the E-mail channel are poor in information, and the tone seems inadequate to the institution represented.

Mot/Irritants: Value Proposition Family

Students

Elderly

Teacher

•

The Family sets up their visit in a very detailed way through the support of either the Call Centre or the effective website. The latter allows personalization of the visit route according to the family’s needs. At the museum, every member of the family easily find the information required and they all are supported by a guide.

•

The Students have all the accessibility problems sorted out. Their visit appears satisfying thanks to the accuracy of the information. At last, they end their experience by subscribing to the museum association.

•

The Elderly experience a satisfying visit because of the support of room personnel and Audio-guide service.

•

The Teacher can easily set up her school trip. At the museum, she can use a complete and efficient educational service.

•

The Manager fulfills all of his MOT. He receives a clear and exhaustive answer on time, to his e-mail. But during his visit, he notices some difficulty finding information in languages different from English.

100% 0% 100% 0% 100% 0% 100% 0% 88%

Manager 25% 0%

20%

40%

Average MOT satisfied 94% Average Irritant activated 5% Average Value Proposition 94%

the art of telling art

60%

80%

100%

57

chapter

3

Customer Experience Evaluation

Musée du Louvre

6.8

Location

Musée du louvre

Web

4.7

Call Center

4.7

9.0

6.2

5.4

Audio-guide

Customer

5.6

E-mail

3.4 0.0

1.0

2.0

3.0

8.7

4.7

4.0

5.0

6.0

7.0

8.0

9.0

10.0

Weighted average 7.8

Location Information

•

Space reveals the high accuracy of rooms and route signage. Also, room personnel are always available and recognizable, and they prove to be competent.

•

Services, all well arranged, consist of an information desk, a ticket office, several boutiques and bookshops, restaurants and bars within the museum.

•

The Offerings along with the Performances categories reach a more than satisfactory level. The museum provides guided tours in different languages and multimedia devices to support the visit.

•

In spite of the large volume of visitors to the museum, Performances are very high. To facilitate admission to the museum, in addition to the standard cash desks, there are a great number of automatic ticketing machines.

•

From the usability point of view, there are some problems with the navigation bar. The users enjoy surfing the site because they find, for example, a personal album section in which they can collect their favourite works, or create in advance their own visit route.

•

The strong point of the site lies in the management of a huge amount of contents (97% of works), whose functions are enhanced by an efficient search engine: Atlas. It is possible to shop online and book tickets from subsidiary sites. The works of art are well described and available at full screen image mode.

•

The site address is clear and it can be reached from different aliases. The search engine placement shows a positive outcome if specific or geographic key words are inserted, but not through general ones.

8.8 9.5

Space Services

9.1

Offerings

8.3 9.3

Performance 0.0

1.0

2.0

3.0

4.0

5.0

6.0

7.0

8.0

9.0

10.0

Avarage Location 9.0

Web www.louvre.fr Usability

7.6 4.8

Functionality

5.9

Visibility Security

3.2 9.5

Performance 0.0

2.0

4.0

6.0

8.0

10.0

Average Web 6.2

58

IBM Business Consulting Services

3 • The museum has got an excellent Location, especially in regards to Information, Space and Services.

• The Web channel gets a high grade of usability. Contents offered is very accurate and detailed. Thanks to the site search engine, the user can consult all the works in the catalogue and select them, in order to set up a personalized visit.

• The Call Centre operators satisfy user’s requests, and the feedback timing has always been in accordance with user’s expectations.

• The Audio-guide has a high level of usability and very rich functionalities. It is possible to select different routes (e.g. by theme or historical period) and choose the description by room or work. Moreover, contents is rich and coherent to the works exhibit.

• The E-mail channel seems to be the least used by the museum. In fact, contents is poor in information and the tone is not adequate to the institution represented.

Mot/Irritants: Value Proposition Family

Students

Elderly

Teacher

•

The Family, in spite of museum’s size, can easily set up their visit through the effective website. It is possible to view the favourite works by using the search engine in order to arrange a personal visit route. There is also an educational service for children

•

The Students have all their MOT fulfilled. Their visit is totally satisfactory thanks to accurate information and adequate instruments to support their knowledge.

•

The Elderly can rely on the room personnel, always available, recognizable and competent. The Audio-guide is clear and complete.

•

The Teacher can easily set up her school trip, by using a complete and efficient educational service. She will find all the information she searches for simply through the call centre.

•

The Manager is the only scenario that does not have all the MOT satisfied. However overall the visit is satisfactory and, in spite of the great number of collections, he can see all the masterpieces by using the multi-language guide service.

100% 0% 100% 0% 100% 0% 100% 0% 88%

Manager 19% 0%

20%

40%

Average MOT satisfied 98% Average Irritant activated 4% Average Value Proposition 97%

the art of telling art

60%

80%

100%

59

3

chapter

Customer Experience Evaluation

Museo Nacional del Prado

6.8

Location Web

Museo Nacional del Prado

7.5

4.7

2.5

Call Center

4.7

4.1

Customer

Audio-guide

5.6

E-mail

6.1

3.4 0.0

1.0

2.0

3.0

6.9

4.0

5.0

6.0

7.0

8.0

9.0

10.0

Weighted average 5.9

Location Information

•

The museum excels in Information, always available and easy to find. It covers both general (timetable, fares, maps) and specific (captions, boards, cards) issues to visitors’ disposal.

•

Space is also important: both the rooms and the route signs are very accurate. Room personnel, though not always available, is are proactive and competent.

•

The analysis reveals that the museum’s Services are excellent. They range over an information desk, a ticket office, a bookshop, and an indoor restaurant.

•

The Offerings provide guided tours for groups and classes, and free lectures about artists and/or works of art. The museum offers multimedia devices (kiosks or PDA) as support to the visit.

•

The analysis reveals two different kinds of layout, due to the redesign of the site. As for usability, it is hard to navigate the site, especially in the Visitas section. Navigation bar is almost unrecognisable, and there are no supports, such as a search engine, a map site or a help function.

•

The site contents (available in Spanish and English) are predominantly informative. On the whole, there is neither interaction nor functionality, such as e-commerce or personalization.

•

The assessment of the site address is good. Although the visibility is affected by the poor outcome of search engines, both with general and geographical or specific key words.

8.1 7.3

Space Services

9.1

Offerings

5.8 7.1

Performance 0.0

1.0

2.0

3.0

4.0

5.0

6.0

7.0

8.0

9.0

10.0

Average Location 7.5

Web www.museoprado.es 4.8

Usability 1.2

Functionality Visibility

5.1

Security

1.5

Performance

0.0

0.0

2.0

4.0

6.0

8.0

10.0

Average Web 2.5

60

IBM Business Consulting Services

3 • The Location shows values over the average. In particular, the quality of Information and Services is high.

• The museum’s site belongs to the Spanish Cultural Ministry’s network. The Web is mainly an informative channel.

Moreover, there are some problems with usability (poor contents), design and performance.

• In the Call Centre channel, operators do not seem to be very efficient in supporting the user. The information conveyed has not always been complete.

• The Audio-guide offers good contents and is easy to use, but it lacks of functionalities (it is possible to access descriptions only by single works of art).

• The museum makes good use of the E-mail channel to comply with the users’ request. Content as well as form and tone of answers are more than satisfactory.

Mot/Irritants: Value Proposition 60%

Family

25%

•

The Family experiences some difficulty both during the pre-visit (poor information website) and the visit (lack of routes and activities for children).

•

The Students have all the accessibility problems solved. Their visit is fully satisfying thanks to the accurate information.

•

The Elderly have all their MOT fulfilled. Room personnel, though not always available, are recognizable and competent. The Audio-guide is clear and complete.

•

The Teacher can easily set up her school trip, by using a complete and efficient educational service. She will find all the information she searches for simply through the call centre.

•

The Manager satisfies many of his MOT: by E-mail he receives complete information. During the visit, he can choose between the good audioguide or the guided tour. Descriptions of the works are not available in his own language. Furthermore, he has to pay only by cash.

88%

Students

17% 100%

Elderly

40% 100%

Teacher

33% 88%

Manager 31% 0%

20%

40%

Average MOT satisfied 87% Average Irritants activated 29% Average Value Proposition 81%

the art of telling art

60%

80%

100%

61

chapter

3

Customer Experience Evaluation

Museum of Cycladic Art

6.8

Location Web

Museum of Cycladic Art

4.7

4.3

Call Center

4.6

4.7

NOT AVAILABLE

Audio-guide

NOT AVAILABLE

E-mail 0.0

1.0

2.0

7.2

Customer 5.6

3.4 3.0

4.0

5.0

6.0

7.0

8.0

9.0

10.0

Weighted average 5.5

Location Usability

•

Information is available and complete so that visitors know what they need. They cover both general (timetable, fares, maps) and specific (captions, boards, cards) issues.

•

Space appears very accurate regarding both rooms and route signage.

Nonetheless, the room personnel are not always available and sometimes they can not handle visitors’ inquiries.

•

Services are the second most exploited museum's category. These range over an information desk, special terms for the elderly, didactic activities, a bookshop, and a cafeteria within the museum.

•

Offerings’ results are more than satisfactory. The museum provides guided tours only in Greek; for other languages it has to contact private agencies. Furthermore, the visitor can consult the multimedia locations placed in the museum.

•

Usability analysis reveals a good design and a clear page structure.

Contents are well arranged, and the navigation is simple and efficient, even if there are no support elements such as a map or a search. The animation of the introduction seems to be too long.

•

The site, available in Greek and English, provides little functionality: there are no personalization choices and work descriptions. The bookshop section does not actually allow online buying, but provides only a downloadable cash order in PDF format, to be filled in and faxed.

•

Though not reachable by other aliases, the address site is intuitive, easy to remember and recognizable. Nonetheless, the site is not yet indexed in any search engines, neither by general, geographical or specific key words.

7.8

Functionality

7.2

Visibility

7.3

Security

7.1 6.8

Performance 0.0

1.0

2.0

3.0

4.0

5.0

6.0

7.0

8.0

9.0

10.0

Average Location 7.2

Web www.cycladic.gr Usabilità

6.2 1.2

Funzionalità

3.6

Visibilità Sicurezza

1.3 9.0

Performance 0.0

2.0

4.0

6.0

8.0

10.0

Average Web 4.3

62

IBM Business Consulting Services

3 • The Location has average values. Services and Offerings are the most relevant categories.

• The museum uses the Web channel to inform rather than to communicate and interact with the users. There are no particular functionality available, even though site usability is sufficient and has an accurate design.

• The Call Centre appears a channel less structured. Nonetheless, if the users contact the right operator, they can receive satisfactory support.

• There is no Audio-guide service for the permanent collection. It is only available for the temporary exhibitions.

• The E-mail has been tested by sending several requests to which no responses occurred.

Mot/Irritants: Value Proposition

•

The Family deals with several problems with the visit arrangement.

Their difficulties concern the lack of routes and activities for children, and the impossibility of booking the visit.

•

The Students note that the museum is accessible for the disabled, and all the information is clear and complete.

•

The Elderly have all their MOT fulfilled (information on works, rest spaces), but they notice the lack of an audio-guide service in order to better appreciate the visit.

•

The Teacher experiences a satisfying visit both for herself and her students. Nevertheless, she can not make use of any educational services, but she receives an information kit which she can prepare to conduct personally during the visit

•

The Manager chooses an alternative activity to the visit because he receives no answer to his e-mail. Even though he wanted to pay the visit, he would not be able to make use of a guided tour in his language or an audio-guide service, because these are not offered by the museum.

30%

Family

17% 75%

Students

0% 100%

Elderly

60% 71%

Teacher

33% 25%

Manager

50% 0%

20%

40%

Average MOT satisfied 60% Average Irritant activated 32% Average Value Proposition 63%

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80%

100%

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Customer Experience Evaluation

Analysis Summary All the data collected is now summarized in an overall vision.

As discussed at the beginning of this chapter, Customer Experience Evaluation can be determined by the combination of Value Perception and Value Proposition data: both values assess the way the museum has built its relationship with the user and how the user perceives it.

Relation Value Proposition

Company Value Realization

Customer Experience

Value Perception

User Value Expectation

The results are displayed in the Customer Experience Matrix (Chart 3-b): • in the x-axis, the average value, weighted on all channels, scored by each museum (the measure of the user’s perception of the museum’s services through different channels - Value Perception).

• in the y-axis, the weighted average value (in %) of the MOT and the Irritants for each museum (the measure of how the museum’s Value Proposition sets to fulfil users' needs and expectations).

In the chart three different areas can be revealed: • Leader: museums that are examples of excellence for both user perception and offering quality - producing a very rich and rewarding Customer Experience; • Follower: museums that offer a satisfying Customer Experience, while areas need to be properly developed, both on the offering side, with some enhancements, and on the user perception side, with aimed improvements; • Laggard: museums that could improve, both their offering quality and the way they distribute it.

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3 Chart 3-b Customer Experience Matrix

100%

Value Proposition (%)

Leader 80%

Follower 60%

Laggard

40%

20%

0%

10%

30%

50%

70%

90%

Value Perception (%)

The study does not aim to create a ranking list: all the institutions selected have a great reputation world-wide, dependent on their highest value.

Nevertheless, it is interesting to put together all the data to provide a summary of the analysis.

According to the factors discussed so far and the subjects we will introduce in Chapter 4, the museum institutions can exploit this matrix to improve in some critical areas, working on their potentialities.

100.0% British Museum

Louvre

Chart 3-c Museumsâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; placement in the Customer Experience Matrix

Metropolitan Museum 90.0%

Prado

Value Proposition (%)

80.0% Museo Egizio

Pinacoteca di Brera Galleria Borghese

70.0% Galleria degli Uffizi

Cycladic Museum 60.0%

Museo Archeologico 50.0%

40.0% 30%

40%

50%

60%

70%

80%

90%

100%

Value Perception (%)

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Museum and brand Offering evolution

Innovative tecnologies and channels

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Trend e Best Practices

The most successful museums offer a variety of experiences concerning different segments of public, and reflecting different visitorsâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; needs Neil e Philip Kotler

This chapter outlines, without aiming to be a complete and exhaustive study, the new trends concerning museum sector development and significant experiences.

Addressing Custumer Experience to improve results

The overall view of international trends and best practices interweaves with the methodological framework of Customer Experience: â&#x20AC;˘ overall improvement of visitor experience (which can be gained by a Value Proposition enhancement and a refinement of all interaction channels); â&#x20AC;˘ increase all main indexes of museum sector performance, both for a single institution and for an aggregate level: -

how free time is spent (as a sector pointer, in competition with other entertainment/recreation activities);

-

number of visitors;

-

income from subsidiary services;

-

Customer Lifetime Value (referring to two main variables: visitor expense and lifetime relationship with customer).

Relation Value Proposition

Company Value Realization

Customer Experience

Value Perception

User Value Expectation

There are three main areas of interest, that cohere with our discussions in Chapter 1: 1. 1. Communications: museum and brand Brand appeal to visitors, development strategies, partnership and cooperation.

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4 2. Innovative Services: offering evolution Value chain enlargement, improvement of extra services for user needs.

3. Technology: innovative technologies and channels By adopting innovative technologies to activate new interaction channels, the user experience improves and the Value Proposition differentiated.

4.1

Museum and brand

Brand concept is often strongly connected with commercial products and services. It has little to do with culture, or, in most cases, social values of consumers being improved by culture. So the question has to be asked: “is it possible to have a brand concept for museums?”. The cultural field is beco-

Scenario: “could a brand concept exist in the museum sector?”

ming more and more competitive globally. Museums always look for new works, new artists and new temporary or touring exhibitions. They also need the best architects to design new spaces to exhibit works, new sponsors for events, the increase of visitors to encourage additional sponsorship, new exhibitions and so on. The brand becomes part of this endless cycle. As with all kinds of entities in relation to society, museums do not follow different rules from those of commercial brands. To attract, visit after visit, as many visitors and sponsors as possible, museums respect brand rules. So uniqueness, differentiation and values are to be unconditionally declared. Brand and communication policies are the principles of identity, clearness, promise, message, and - of course - design.

The creation of a brand policy does not only involve showing a logo on a brochure. Instead, it means creating an emotional experience based on social values. Visitors do not go (or at least did no longer) to a museum only to see a work or an exhibition, but they participate in a social event. The whole museum is involved in this event: the works exhibited, the people working there and their helpfulness (or rudeness), the architecture splendour (or its inaccessibility), the clearness of signs (or their illegibility), merchandise available (or not requested), a cup of coffee to enjoy during the visit (or not even an automatic machine to quench your thirst). Brand is found in every contact channel: a voice on the phone, the tone of an invitation, a brochure, the tickets’ paper quality, the response’s timeliness and completeness.

Therefore, the museum brand is the reference, the evidence and the sign which helps - in this case the visitor - to recognize it world-wide. The Museum of Modern Art in New York (MoMA) is an example. In 1966, the acronym was coined showing that doubtful small “o” which grew in importance during the 1980s and up to 1990s. Today, after eight months of work and testing, the new logo takes shape: an ultra conservative and minimal restyle, almost undetectable, reveals a return to the original font (the Franklin). A typical manoeuvring that, usually, concerns important food or car companies. And we are still talking about museums. Furthermore, there was a similar example when the Tate Gallery in London had to be re-launched: the revamp turned the sober exhibitions into an art

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Table 4.1 The BrandDynamicstm pyramid

Trend and Best Practices

experience, not only a gallery but a social space, where visitors see the works as well as meeting each other, have something to drink, and thinking. Attendance increased in a year from 2.5 million to over 5 million people, beating the British Museum and the National Gallery. Most of all, it moved the Tate into a ‘must visit’ experience becoming a leading tourist destination in London.

high

The Guggenheim is another successful example, as discussed in the following case study. According

Fidelity attitude low

to Solomon R. Guggenheim’s principles of authority and the mission called “temple of the spirit”, the Bonding Advantage

Guggenheim brand has turned into a project of art marketing. This element embeds the wider

Performance

Foundation's strategy of internationalisation. The Guggenheim in Bilbao represents, behind the

Relevance

museum, the pride of the whole region: ambition, uniqueness, difference and desire merged together,

Presence

Presence: It implies that the consumer has an understanding of what the brand promises, to the extent of accepting it or not.

Relevance: To be acceptable the consumer has to feel that the brand could meet their needs (prices, values, perceived image, etc.).

If not, that brand remains at the Presence level.

Performance: To get to the next level, the brand has to be "used", "led", "eaten", "visited", and to respect the promises made.

Advantage: To be lasting the brand has to find a competitive advantage not necessarily tied to the product, but to the emotional appeal.

Bonding: The more a consumer is attached to the brand, the more other brands are excluded from consumers’ scenario.

Consumers tied to a brand are inclined to buy that brand 10 times more than brands at the bottom of the pyramid.

and attempted this experience overseas. Unfortunately a brand, however influential, is not enough. In less than a year since launching, the Guggenheim in Las Vegas it is temporarily shut down until “some future time” (for at least as long as this report will be published). Why? Because such a brand experience, in a context of one attraction among many attractions, has not awakened anyone’s interest.

The opposite situation is taking place in Bilbao where a partnership development has realized cobranding policies, in capturing the attention of the wider public, developing brand awareness and increasing visibility in the mass media.

There are different partnership formulas affecting the brand: agreements with public corporations, museum networks for collection exchanges, alliances with the economic world, ranging over financial support, non money contributions (equipments, services, management expertise), and long running partnerships.

4.1.1

The brand principles

In order to explore the museum brand “behaviour”, the study is based on the Brand Dynamicstm Pyramid (table 4.1) which defines brand establishing aptitudes in regards to customers.

The museum brand analysis process seems hard to complete because there are no brands to comment on or compare. In other words, there exists no brand policy - excluding the MET and the British Museum examples. All that is done regards strictly the names, the relationship with the host city as the only source of differentiation. From this point of view, their uniqueness is to be “that museum, in that town “or” housing that work”.

The lack of brand policy evidently affects the brand awareness research for the museums involved in our study during March 2004. The survey has been conducted by administering a questionnaire via e-mail to a sample of 125 men and women, aged from 30 to 55, high education, and living in Italy.

One of the questions listed was: “which are the first 3 museums that come into your mind? and it was associated with 10 cities.

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4 • New York: MoMA and MET are quoted as “top of mind” from 50% of interviewees. Next is the Guggenheim with 24%. The rest are indistinctly fragmented.

Study outcomes: foreign museums

• Paris reveals the Louvre’s monopoly with almost 90% of interviewees.

• Madrid: the Prado is spontaneously mentioned by 64% of participants.

• Athens: the National Museum (of archaeology) is quoted from 20% of interviewees. Next the Acropolis (whose full name is not cited) and the Parthenos (actually an archaeological site) with a score ranging from 16% to 12%.

• London: the British Museum (36%) and the National Gallery (28%) emerge from several attractions hardly achieving 4%. The Tate Gallery comes fourth .

• Milan: the Pinacoteca di Brera is the most spontaneously quoted museum (36% of the sample) The Castello Sforzesco (with no other reference) appears from 20% of quotations, the Poldi

Study outcomes: italian museums

Pezzoli Museum is 8%. Other quotations are not over 4%.

• Rome: the Vatican Museums are the most mentioned with 56%. The Galleria Borghese is quoted by 16% of interviewees. Other quotations (MACRO, Arte Moderna, etc.) are not over 4%.

• Florence: the city is synonymous with the Uffizi: 76% of the sample spontaneously mentioned it.

The other relevant answer is Pitti Palace.

• Naples: Capodimonte is mentioned from over 35% of interviewees, while the National Museum is quoted by 12%.

• Turin: is strongly associated with the Egyptian Museum, cited by over 60% of the sample.

The study reveals that Paris, Madrid, and Florence have a univocal bond between museums and cities. A museum’s city and name are brought together to form a brand tag-line (Paris, the city of the

Data explanation

Louvre and the Eiffel Tower - Florence and the Uffizi). Of course, the importance and the content (as well as the excellent work promoting the grandeur of the Louvre) are the mere elements that make the museum become an attraction among the other tourist symbols of the city, and so a reason for visiting, as well as the international perception and fame. But what if the Louvre should move to Fontaibleu? Who suffers most: the city or the museum? This is where the “museum brand” value gets mixed up. Few interviewees can mention a work housed in the Prado, an experience, or even a verbal or graphic sign strictly referring to the museum. This is the same for most of the museums in our study. The association is simply based on a name implication. Madrid and the Prado are an inseparable group, as a quotation shown in a book. Madrid, for example, is not mentioned by other spontaneous quotations. As well as Milan, Rome, Naples, and Athens, where archaeological sites or single exhibitions of unknown museums get mixed up. This could critically show how less has been done to build a brand image in regards to the host city’s effect of attraction.

Turin is different: the museum, apart from the others, is characterized by the adjective “Egyptian”; but the exception is limited only to the name. As discussed before, the brand-driven approach differs in the MoMA and the MET and partly in the British Museum. They are integrated in the city’s structure, but they are mentioned precisely as specific entities - brand-museum-place-uniqueness - whose mission, name, and design are clear. They are primarily the brand and the name, before being the host city. Of course, the adjective “British” helps build a brand policy: “it is English, it is valuable”.

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However it should not be confused with the great work done on the brand. The British Museum has a well defined placement shown in its tag-line: â&#x20AC;&#x153;illuminating world culturesâ&#x20AC;?. This is a mission evidently promised to the visitors through the brand presentation. It can establish - as seen with the MoMA and the MET - a one-to-one relation based on the museum quality, its reliability towards markets, its commitment towards culture and every single visitor. A brand that is easy to become fond of, in which it is easy to believe, and for which it is spontaneous to pay a visit again.

The pyramid of brands Among the ten museums of our study, the MET and the British Museum are the only ones reaching the Bonding level of the Brand Dynamicstm Pyramid. This level means the brand attachment (the reason why they have a brand, sic). These museums stimulate the return, the faithfulness, the word of mouth, the spreading of the brand name; even though they do not exclude any other brand from their scenario (the competitive purpose of a museum is to create a clear experience with the brand). To us, the Louvre approaches the Advantage level, while the other seven museums remain at the Performance level - only if the visit has been really required and successful - or at the Relevance level. These museums could hardly establish a more lasting relationship with their public, if they made no use of brand policy and museum exploitment logic.

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Case Study [1] The Internationalisation strategy of the Foundation Solomon R. Guggenheim. The Guggenheim in Bilbao Inaugurated in Bilbao in 1997, the Guggenheim Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art (designed by the famous architect Frank Gehry) caught global interest because the attendance rose to 1.36 million visitors in the opening year and 850.000 in 2002. The extensive exhibition spaces (24,000 square meters of plant area, the double of the Parisian Beaubourg) houses in rotation the prestigious collections of the Foundation Guggenheim and a stable group of Spanish and Basque works.

The creation of this museum was part of a large plan of land development. In 1990s, the local authorities allocated enormous resources for art and technology in order to retrain and renew the city.

Today, the Guggenheim, with its greatness, defines the traits of the Basque region and its capital Bilbao. In fact, it has become a world-class destination for cultural tourism, as well as the pride of the local inhabitants. Considered as the engine of economic development (occupations, revenue, tax receipts), the museum provides fame and credibility to the city authorities, and attracts local and foreign visitors thanks to its strong co-branding policy. The partnership with the Basque government for museum management is part of the strategic plan of the Guggenheim Foundation’s international development. The aim is to enlarge the range of visitors and to provide financial resources, during a period of decline in public financing and private donations.

The presence on an international scale of the Foundation is essentially due to four points: • ownership of high quality collections, • promotion of prestigious and modern architectures, • strong brand, • expert personnel.

The director Thomas Krens proposed a marked entrepreneurship management which enabled the Guggenheim to be innovative in its image. The internationalisation policy revolutionized all the competitive rules in the museum sector. Moreover, an accurate brand policy and offering differentiation towards works belonging to architecture, design and new media, was added to this type of management.

Today, the Foundation is the centre of a constellation of satellite-museums, located in New York (1959 and 1992), Venice (1979), Bilbao (1997), Berlin (1997), Las Vegas (2001), which: • reach a wider and more varied public audience; • develop brand reputation and recognition;

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• increase the museum’s visibility and mass media attention.

The agreements drawn up to today ensure the Foundation controls the core activities: • planning of the touring exhibitions between the branches; • preservation and development activities for the collections; • communication and global branding activities (every exhibition is conceived in terms of global impact rather than local); • planning products and subsidiary services (e.g. merchandising).

While the decentralized activities are: • local communication activities (e.g. the press, RP); • Guggenheim brand product marketing; • installation of works.

The temporary closure of the Guggenheim in Las Vegas has not compromised the Foundation’s innovative strategy of internationalisation, which now is more careful with social factors. In 2003 the Foundation signed an agreement with the Brazilian authorities to build a Guggenheim museum in Rio de Janeiro, designed by the famous French architect Jean Nouvel.

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Case Study [2] Beyond the Sponsorship. The partnership between the Metropolitan Art Museum in New York and Alamo Rent a Car Inc.23 In 1994 the MET inaugurated the American Impressionism and Realism: The Painting of Modern Life 1855-1915, a selection of 80 works by artists born or resident in the United States, depicting national places and landscapes. After the first stop in New York, the tour exhibition moved in 1995 to Forth Worth, Texas, then Denver and Los Angeles.

It was realized by an innovative cultural sponsorship agreement signed by the MET in association with Alamo Rent a Car Inc.24 With a vast range of cultural and commercial offerings, the MET and Alamo motivated visitors to

23

Quoted in Selbach G., Les musées d’art américains: une industrie culturelle, L’Harmattan, Paris, 2000.

continue and enrich the experience of their visit far beyond the museum’s walls. In fact, people are invited to leave the museum location and start a journey to discover the real landmark represented in the exhibits. Every work was associated with a real place (square, bar, village, etc.) or

24

Alamo is the third largest discount car rental company in the United States, after Hertz and Avis, with 1,5 millions travellers a year, 102 locations in the US and Canada, and more 400 in Europe and Southern America. The company mission is to offer experiences of travel with high values and low costs for free time.

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something that symbolized it.

In particular: • all visitors received an informative brochure about the exhibition and a discount car-ren-

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4 tal coupon for themselves and their family; and if they bought something in the MET stores, they would obtain a further discount; • with the admission ticket all visitors received the guide My Impressions, A Travel Guide, that describes works as well as places and explains how to get there including maps; • thanks to the guide and coupon, all visitors could benefit from additional information and promotions of hotels, restaurants, services in agreement with Alamo.

The innovative marketing activities carried out by Alamo Rent a Car Inc. considerably changed the relationship and balance between cultural institutions and private sponsor in art sponsorships.

The formula agreed with Alamo let the Metropolitan Art Museum in New York: • run the exhibition by getting a 3 million dollar donation; • increase revenue, receiving 5% of the total income of cars rented with the coupon promotion (the same benefit for museums partners for the exhibition); • growth in awareness among the public in the four cities hosting the exhibition, and among a segment of privileged public fond of travelling.

Alamo in partnership with the MET wanted to: • improve its image by associating with an esteemed museum; • grow in brand awareness; • enhance the Americanism of its image; • integrate the collaboration of its marketing and communication activities; • reach the museum public segment and promote travelling by car to discover the Country.

A similar agreement was signed by Alamo with the Association for African American Heritage Preservation (NAAAHP), to provide voyage routes towards Afro-American historical sites: a segment growing heavily in the National Tourism Market.

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4.2 Offering

evolution

In recent years, the museum offering has been developed and broadened, by introducing many subsidiary and extra services. The classical role of preservation and exhibition of works of art has evolved.

Today museums’ Value Proposition derives from: The current composition of Value Proposition

• a constant updating and enhancement of the existing offering quality (rooms restoration, temporary exhibitions planning, collaboration with other museums, opening time extension, transport services, multiple pricing); • a constant monitoring and improvement of structures and extra services offered (information, audio-guides, guided tours, visit orientation, rest spaces, refreshments, etc.); • a constant development of various and innovative programmes and subsidiary services (courses and laboratories, research services, social events, meetings, shows, etc.); and its purpose is to: • increase the availability and level of hospitality towards users in order to enrich their Customer Experience; • create loyal visitors and repeat revenue; • attract new segments of non-frequent museum visiting public.

Segmentation and development activities set structures, programmes and specific services for different segments of the public (children, young people, the elderly, families, tourists, members, local community, etc.).25 Many of the innovative services reveal the same purpose: to customize visitor experience.

Most innovative extra services

By referring to the framework of services shown in paragraph 1.3, the most innovative extra services are: • Visit orientation: mailing service, by post or e-mail, of informative support material and didactic kits in order to help the potential visitors plan their visit in advance.

• Information service: brochures, leaflets or booklets available by type of visit and activity,

25

The main museum user segmentation techniques are: sociodemographic analysis (gender, age, education, social class), geographical analysis (residence, distance from the museum, work place, etc.), psychographic analysis (perceptions, behaviours, competences, etc.), life style analysis. Visitors can also be segmented by visit experience features (length, tour, purpose, group composition, etc.).

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and in paper or multimedia format (visits for group, family, the deaf, recreational activities, didactic programmes, library guide, etc.). They help the visitor to both have an understanding of museum offerings and select their own visit tour and programme.

• Guided tours: wide range of visits by type of visitors (classes, children, groups, experts, company employees, the deaf, the blind), by theme tours (museum’s masterpiecies, temporary

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4 exhibitions, historical periods or artistic currents), by length, in order to meet audience’s several needs.

• Rest spaces: resting space planning and design in a modern or specific style, full of books and multimedia works, in order to give visitors somewhere to relax.

• Refreshment services: bars, cafeterias, self-service and exclusive restaurants designed for different types of user (fast vs. silver service).

• Merchandising services: -

Increase in types of outlet (bookshop, souvenirs & guides shop, children’s shop, exhibit shop, etc.).

-

Wide range of products (books, videos, stationery, scarves, T-shirts, jewellery, art objects and designs, etc.);

-

Geographical presence with more outlets (museums, city centres, airports, stations, etc.);

-

Post-sale activities with a self customer-care service in order to let consumers submit complaints or requests;

-

Communications activities (newsletters, e-mails) for news updates, monthly products, temporary exhibition merchandising, etc.;

-

Membership activities: client card with discounts, privileged offerings, partner’s offering, higher purchasing speed.

The more innovative subsidiary services are: • Conferences, courses and laboratories: - description of courses / laboratories / demonstrations / series of conferences / discussions for different segments of the public (e.g. the elderly during the week, families and children

Most innovative services

during the week-ends, young couples during the evening, summer courses for students and foreign tourists); -

company lunchtime programmes: specific range of offerings for companies choosing didactic or recreational activities as benefits for their personnel;

-

courses for collectors, laboratories for experts, scholars and researchers;

-

didactic activities strictly related to schools: courses for teachers, museum staff participating in classes, common definition of learning objectives, publication of guides for teachers, students as assistants, trainees and volunteers.

-

training courses for museum staff to offer information and development (lectures of art and history, public speaking, foreign languages, speaking techniques, etc.).

• Social events: planning of events, meetings, clubs to increase chances of interaction between different segments of the public: dinners/concerts/readings for members, for charity, or for

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companies; birthday parties for children; soirées dedicated to artists, etc.

• Shows: - plays, films, music along with additional programmes to enlarge the offering and attract more local visitors. In doing so, the museum role turns from a mere exhibition space into a cultural centre, dynamic and lively; -

planning and promotion of temporary exhibitions where art, music, theatre, cinema, and gastronomy are intermixed.

The study of innovative services has provided evidence that membership cards for museums can be very useful to build and manage different kinds of members: frequent visitors (e.g. families, students), “friends of the museum” (e.g. donors, supporters) who actively contribute to the museum accounts.

Cards, as retention instruments, offer different benefit packages (free entrance, discounts on catalogue products, special events, previews, shows) according to every kind of membership. They create a lasting relationship and an active participation to museum’s proposals, maximizing profits.

Recently, new membership cards have been introduced, such as smart or bar code cards. They allow the creation of a customers’ database that can be used for personal marketing management policy.

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Case Study [3] Didactic programmes for the British Museum’s schools.

Explorer Packs.

The British Museum Education Department offers a wide range of learning experiences at different levels (courses, practical laboratories, workshops, lectures, on-line resources, meetings, publications, certifications), for different segments of the public (adults, families, teachers, students of various subjects: civilization, peoples, geographical areas, disciplines). The didactic service helps the teacher set up the visit in the most efficient way, turning the students' experience into a real exploration.

In particular, the Explorer Pack programme provides an exploratory kit to classes. The packs include activity cards, objects and samples of materials, photographs to evoke the habits, customs, and traditions of ancient civilizations present in the museum gallery. Currently, four Explorer Packs are available: Eating and drinking in Roman Britain, Celebrating Athena's birthday, Materials of ancient Egypt, Anglo-Saxons.

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4 Every exploration programme is composed of three stages: 1. Pre-visit activity: the service provides a training session before beginning the visit supported by the website Children’s COMPASS,26 suitable for users aged from 7 to 11.

2. Visit: students interact personally with the sessions proposed so that they can play a primary role in the visit experience. After a general discussion, children are introduced by the museum staff to a group or game activity, in which they can learn names, recognize and use objects, materials, clothes, and instruments. The visit ends up with a final class talk about their activities. The session lasts 45 minutes for 35 students.

3. Post-visit activity: the museum staff end the visit in classrooms, by showing notice boards with photographs and drawings, role games or performances, additional research, etc. to allow them to deepen knowledge in the classroom after the visit experience.

The Explorer Pack also provides a training session for teachers after the visit. They have to attend a one hour course to learn how to use the packs and self-direct other sessions with classes.

4.3 Innovative

technologies and channels

Nowadays museums make a major use of technological and multichannel approaches to manage the interaction with different segments of their visitors, in order to improve the visit experience and evaluation.

Museums employ technological resources by combining three main factors: Main factors

• increase in performances and restrained costs for technological products; • ease of connection to the Internet and increase of access due to innovative and competitive market pushes; • user acceptance of new media and approaches to technological product functionalities (computers, digital cameras, interactive TVs, home Internet appliances, web radios, mp3 players, laptops, consoles).

Museums, adopting innovative interaction technologies and channels, increase the experience value perceived by the visitor because: • they provide new ways of showing works of art, complementary to the visit itself, also availa26

ble for diagnostic and restoration purposes (image manipulation and points of view impossible in reality); • they create interaction programmes enabling the visitor to discover their primary role in the visit experience;

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COMPASS COMPASS is an on-line database featuring around 5,000 objects and works of art. Each object featured is illustrated with high quality images, specific texts, links and maps. In the special children’s section, Children’s COMPASS offers an educational interactive and multimedia service especially for 711 year old.

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Advantages for the user: experience improvement

Trend and Best Practices

• they embody animations, texts and images in only one learning experience with multi-language options; • they create adaptable narrations, personalized and easily assimilated by the user; • they offer multimedia assets contextual to the user experience and employment of the space.

User’s movements are monitored to develop a range of services and information; • it is possible to design personal web pages protected by password, accessible from every computer station, where the visitor-user files their own information and selection of works; • they can arrange information according to the employment channel; • they provide different levels of use according to user's knowledge of technology.

Advantages for the museum : Value Proposition differentiation

By adopting different channels and technologies, the museum’s Value Proposition leads its offerings towards innovative and differentiated views. From the traditional function of housing and exhibiting, the museum role turns to the creation and development of innovative contents, in order to enhance its artistic heritage value.

The museum’s main offerings areas and the available technologies/channels are listed below: • Offering products extension: multimedia publications such as CD-ROMs, videos, software, interactive devices to explore the museum’s artistic heritage.

• New services creation: informative multimedia locations; digital guides to enrich and personalize the user’s real visit by virtual tours and contextual information on the works.

• Offering Diversification: multimedia centres for teaching and entertainment, workshops, elearning sessions, in order to change the museum into a research laboratory of interdisciplinary teaching for the different segments of public (children, teenagers, the elderly, teachers, researchers, experts).

• Global reach: websites to convey up-to-date information on the museum, its collections and activities. An example of the most innovative websites are online museums complementary to the “real” ones: -

development of online exhibitions consisting of digital image displays of non-exhibited works, or environment reconstruction inaccessible to public;

-

promotion of multimedia works of art developed ad hoc for the web;

-

transformation of the museum in a place awakening creativity and imagination: the user can explore virtually - the museum rooms, online collections and exhibitions, through high quality images and interactive and multimedia applications;

-

webcasting live events in the museum about restoration activities or events (e.g. inaugurations, conferences, etc.).

The additional services increase the contact points with the visitor-user: online booking, online shopping, personal web pages for members, online donations, communities, and so on.

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4 • Understanding of public segments: data management systems to manage information belonging to different channels, in order to profile and segment groups of virtual and real visitors.

• Relationship extension: Customer Relationship Management models to dynamically adapt the offerings to the Value Expectations of different segments of the public, by customizing interfaces, information and channels. The main communication forms are: e-mails, newsletters, sms, characterized by a high level of feedback and personalization.

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Case Study [4] The Eternal Egypt Project “www.eternalegypt.org” The Eternal Egypt project is a three-year partnership between IBM and the Egyptian Ministries of Culture. It represents the only case of innovative technology application to the cultural heritage. The project embodies the most important sites, findings and historical periods of 5000 years of Egyptian culture in a multimedia and interactive experience. A huge and rich database is used for filing animations, 360° views, 3D scans and high resolution images.

A complex content management system allows the creation of personal narrations, by setting the information stored in the database according to the channel (digital guide, cell phone, web). So the visitor can have textual, visual or audio information on works and history.

The project consists of three components: • The museum inside the walls: to enrich and personalize the visit experience inside the Cairo museum, handheld Digital Guides were produced. They go beyond traditional audio-only devices to offer in-depth texts, images and animations to increase understanding of the artefacts found in the museum. Digital Guides enable visitors to take themed tours of the museum or to explore it by room, artefact or picture. At the end of the tour, the visitor receives a sort of personal catalogue - print summary - of the visit, covering the main works and rooms. Audio narration for the Digital Guide is available in three languages: English, French and Arabic and is based on synthetically-generated text-to-speech technology.

• The museum outside the walls: the second component of the project is the mobile access guided tours of the Temple of Luxor and the Pyramids of Giza, enabling visitors to access the information available through their cell phones while touring various locations. The technology allows visitors to take established tours or to download information while they are visiting the location.

• The museum without walls: the centrepiece of the project is the Eternal Egypt Web Site -

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http://www.eternalegypt.org/ - which includes high-resolution images and three-dimensional reconstructions of the Egyptian antiquities, as well as virtually-reconstructed environments, 360 degree images, and panoramic views of present-day Egypt captured by web cameras at such locations as Karnak Temple in Luxor and Qait Bey in Alexandria. The web site functions permit visitors to explore the complex relationships between the objects, places and characters of Egypt’s past. It is available in English, French and Arabic, with audio narration on demand.

This joint employment of digital guides, cell phones and the website enables the museum to collect information on visitors’ profiles and their preferences for virtual or real tours (movements, duration, visit purposes, etc.). Moreover, the museum can extend its relationship life cycle through the follow-up generation with a single visitor.

Museum personnel make a first follow-up by e-mailing the personal electronic catalogue of the visit experience, and by inviting the user to consult the post-visit section of the Eternal Egypt website, to get in-depth information about the previous visit as well as to be updated with all the museum news.

*

Case Study [5] Hermitage Museum Project “www.hermitagemuseum.org” This ambitious project, a partnership between IBM and the State Hermitage Museum in St. Petersburg created a digital archive of the museum’s extensive collections. It consisted of more than 3 million works, from prehistoric to Oriental and European Art. In particular, the projects provided the Image Creation Studio (ICS), which permitted Hermitage staff, featured by the IBM Centre in Yorktown Heights (USA), to scan its holdings and produce the digital images in 2D and 3D with high-resolution.

Applications enabling visitor-users to explore the Hermitage cultural heritage are: • Education and Technology Center, created to provide an educational, interactive and multimedia service to the visitors - especially children - through images supported by narrations, quizzes and games.

• Visitor Information Kiosks, allows visitors to have an understanding of the museum through two types of tours: the pre-selected tours, special exhibition, and the option for visitors to map out customized tours to particular art objects, collections, or halls and to receive a printout to guide them.

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4 • Website http://www.hermitagemuseum.org, created to allow global users to view high-resolution images of the works, and to perform a cultural and aesthetic learning experience. The website is divided into two parts: -

the static part, “Collection Highlights”, consisting of 1500 pages with collection descriptions, as a sort of art catalogue which reflects the museum structure;

-

the dynamic part, “Digital Collection”, representing a true digital library of paintings, sculpture, pottery, china, jewellery, cloth, coins and archaeological finds. The site features a searchable database for different categories of works of art. The search can be performed by the “artist’s name” or “work title”; by visual layout (shape and colour), so as to view the works sharing the same chromatic palette; by artist, style, country, or artistic technique.

The outcome provides a high-resolution image, zooming feature and in-depth information about the work.

All the pieces stored in the web site are protected against virtual theft with the IBM Watermarking System, which is the invisible digital signature to avoid image forging. The site is available in Russian and English. More than 100 people - professionals, web designers, experts participated in the planning and realization of the site. “www.hermitagemuseum.org” won many awards. For example, it received Advanced Imaging magazine’s “Solution of the Year Award” for digital photography; it was voted “Best Site Overall”, by the Museums and the Web 2000 conference; it also received the “Russian Internet Academy’s Grand Prix award” for best over-all website in Russia.

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Conclusion

Conclusion

Experience is not what happens to a man; it is what a man does with what happens to him Aldous Huxley Customer Experience issues have been discussed for museums. This sector has not been selected by chance: its characteristics, extreme dynamics and potential make it very interesting for who deals with different realities.

Relation Value Proposition

Company

Customer Experience

Value Realization

Value Perception

User Value Expectation

Our analysis framework has been successfully applied to other contexts - companies and public administrations - in which customer importance and quality of the relationship - from acquisition to postsale service - are the major success factors.

Customer Experience is certainly one of the main priorities for company management priorities. In fact, the customers’ relationship is functional to profitable growth (market share and wallet share).

To successfully challenge customer centricity, it is necessary to follow a path of three main points: 1. To understand customers: Customers

• What are the different segments of users?

• What are their needs (known or unknown)?

• What are the macro-features leading their purchasing behaviours?

• What are the typical scenarios through which users interact with the company?

• What services and/or information do they think there is in the various channels used to interact with the company?

2. To develop an offering suitable to the reference market:

Offering

• What products and services fulfil the needs of each segment of users?

• How to customize them in order to satisfy users’ needs, or at least segments’?

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5 • Through what channels they can be provided? All channels indefinitely or a mixture of channels/products/services?

• How to convey the customer value?

3. To drive as best as possible the offering on all channels used: • facilitating access and use of all interaction channels; • define a coherently with the strategy what products, services and information in every channel; • efficiently replying to all customers’ requests;

Channels

• making channel-to-channel passage transparent and “painless”; • communicate the values in unique way through a brand strategy well defined on all different channels.

These three points are strictly related to companies' success, which can be measured in terms of: Wallet Share: • Average expenditure per customer • Reduction of price sensitivity • Average revenue increase per transaction • New purchases numbers per customer • Repeated purchases numbers per customer

Outcomes

• Customer lifetime Market Share: • Increase of new customers • Reduction of prospect customers lost in the selection phase for purchase alternatives Profitability: • Decrease of new customer acquisition costs • Decrease of retention costs • Decrease of complaint management costs The artistic museum sector, through users’ segmentation, detailed Customer Experience analysis and studies of cases of excellence, can be considered as a concrete example that the IBM approach to the customer relationship management can bring value.

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appendix Methodology The objective of our analysis has been to highlight the museum sectorâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s situation regarding Customer Experience issues. In order to set up the study, a sample of museums has been selected. The considerations that drove this choice are: 1.

focus on the Italian sector but international, far-reaching work

2.

institutions importance in terms of visitor numbers

3.

geographical localization and representativeness

The analysis has involved 5 Italian museums, 4 in Europe and 1 in the USA. The choice is somewhat subjective and partial; due to the restricted scope of our analysis.

The sector analysis has determined the reference context, as well as the information on actors, dynamics and trends. In particular, the demand analysis has outlined five possible profiles concerning the museumsâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; public (marked by different needs and requests in approaching a visit). It should be underlined that the profiles defined do not represent the entire visitor typologies. For example: experts, who dedicate their work to museum research and management. Of course, it is clear that many others are missing. However, we believe that the profiles examined constitute a significant sample, considering the time constraint for our analysis.

For each profile, an interaction scenario has been defined through five main services channels (Web, Call Centre, E-mail, Location, Audio-guide). Different Moments of Truth and Irritants affecting the user experience have also been outlined. We have identified for each channel a different weighting, compared to the others and the relative value drivers, along with their parameters to assess the multichannel museum experience.

Each channel has been evaluated by specific value drivers: â&#x20AC;˘ Location has been assessed on: -

Information: general (timetable, fares, maps) and specific (captions, informative boards, tours) information availability, coherence, updates, consistency, state of maintenance.

-

Space: quality of museum spaces in terms of cleanliness, accessibility, internal signs, rest spaces, room personnel's presence and expertise.

-

Services: extra services such as refreshments, cloakroom, bookshop, library; specific services for particular visitors (e.g. children, the elderly, etc.).

-

Offerings: guided tours, multimedia devices/locations, material availability in foreign languages.

-

Performances: assessment of queue time for buying tickets or other issues, number of total cash desks, desks specific for particular visitors (groups, the disabled, etc.).

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appendix • Web has been assessed on: -

Usability: content quality and disclosure offered by models, ease and immediacy of use, user support.

-

Functionality: navigation, personalization, e-commerce services (online ticketing, bookshop, etc.), simple and advanced search tools.

-

Visibility: website address (URL) analysis, site placement in search engines, position outcome by general (country, city, museum) or specific (museum name, collections) key words.

-

Security: communication efficiency as for security level provided, assessment of legal requirements for personal data treatment, appeal to hackers , access control modalities.

-

Performance: objects numbers and dimension analysis, response time and page download throughout the day.

-

Accessibility: site accessibility assessment according to W3C directions, that is the possibility to reach and use information whatever the obstacles are (physical, mental, cultural, social).

• Call Center has been assessed on: -

Usability: analysis of operator response in terms of competence, helpfulness and proactive behaviour, assessment of IVR navigation path.

-

Functionality: presence of an alternative channel to get information or call-back service, choice, through IVR, of the language.

-

Performance: response/waiting time assessment, number of passages to reach the correct operator.

• E-mail has been assessed on: -

Usability: analysis of response completeness, clearness, readability, format assessment, consistency as for request.

-

Functionality: response personalization assessment, references (links) to other channels as requested.

-

Performance: response time assessment, e-mail size.

• Audio-guide has been assessed on: -

Usability: audio quality and content comprehensiveness and clarity analysis.

-

Functionality: route options available, descriptions by work or room, multi-language options to listen to information.

-

Performance: type of audio-guide available (earphone or headphone), waiting time listening assessment.

The Value drivers’ parameters, Moments of Truth satisfaction and Irritants activation have been assessed through the Expert Analysis Method. Our expert consultants in Italy and around the world have personally experienced the scenarios and gathered the assessments of all parameters.

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appendix The parameters analysis has revealed how each museum has structured its offering, while the Moments of Truth and Irritants analysis has shown the offering level perceived by users. The collection of these results has allowed us to create a global picture of museums positions from a Customer Experience point of view.

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5 Bibliography

AAVV, Innovative Arts Marketing, Ruth Rentschler, Melbourne, 2002.

Bollo A., Solima L., I Musei e le imprese. Indagine sui servizi di accoglienza nei musei statali italiani, Electa, Napoli, 2002.

ISTAT, Annuario Statistico Italiano, 2003.

Kotler N., Kotler P., Marketing dei musei. Obiettivi, traguardi, risorse, Edizioni di Comunità, Torino, 2001.

Mori (a cura di), Visitors to museums and galleries in the UK, The Council for Museums, Archives and Libraries, London, 2001.

Poli F., Il Sistema dell’arte contemporanea. Produzione artistica, mercato, musei, Editori Laterza, Roma, 2003.

Runyard Sue, The Museum Marketing Handbook, Museum and Gallery Commission, London, 1994.

Selbach G., Les musées d’art américains: une industrie culturelle, L’Harmattan, Paris, 2000.

Solima L., Il pubblico dei musei. Indagine sulla comunicazione nei musei statali italiani, Gangemi Editore, Roma, 2000.

Solima L., La gestione imprenditoriale dei musei, CEDAM, Padova, 1998.

Touring Club Italiano, L'annuario della Cultura 2004, TCI, 2004.

Touring Club Italiano, Indagine annuale sull'affluenza dei visitatori nei musei italiani di maggior interesse turistico, TCI, Milano, 2001.

Zan L., Conservazione e innovazione nei musei italiani. Management e processi di cambiamento, ETAS Libri, Milano, 1999.

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experience

5 * 10 museums analyzed in 6 countries: Italy, France, Greece, Spain, Great Britain, USA

* 14 key indicators analyzed for each museum * 5 user profiles and scenarios developed, 17 Moments of Truth and 34 Irritants defined

* 20 value drivers on 5 interaction channels, a total of 87 parameters: • Location: 5 value drivers, 28 parameters • Web: 6 value drivers, 22 parameters • Call Center: 3 value drivers, 13 parameters • Audioguida: 3 value drivers, 13 parameters • E-mail: 3 value drivers, 11 parameters

4 max 8 expert analysis developed for each museum, a total of

*

min

*

museum brand awareness analysis completed for 10 worldwide cities, on

53 expert analysis 125 Italian participants

* 5 case studies analyzed to define examples of excellence all over the world *

more than

20

March 2004

consultants worldwide involved during February and

This study has been conducted by the consultants of the Centre for IBM e-business Innovation, part of Business Consulting Services, with the support of Fondazione IBM Italia.

Business Consulting Services is the IBM department which designs and provides innovative solutions to customers, using the best industry competencies and technologies.

Centres for IBM e-business Innovation are a global network planning in-depth solutions on demand, and supporting customers to set strategies, to design and implement solutions. They aim at:

â&#x20AC;˘ improving Customer Experience and maximizing digital channel initiatives value; â&#x20AC;˘ facilitating access to important information, competencies and applications in relation to specific profiles and ultimate user needs; â&#x20AC;˘ aligning business strategies with channels used in the interaction between customer and company, in order to maximize market share, wallet share and customer profitability.

Customer Experience, as intended by our consultants, is a point of excellence for all companies competing in services quality and customer relations.

ÂŽ

Centre for IBM e-business Innovation IBM Business Consulting Services IBM Global Services Via Tolmezzo, 15 - 20132 Milano ibm.com/services/it/innovation Produced in Italy 10-04 All Rights Reserved IBM and the IBM logo are registred trademarks or trademarks of International Business Machines Corporation in the United States, other countries, or both.

All other registred trademarks, trademarks and service marks are the property of their respective owners.

References in this publication to IBM products and services do not imply that IBM intends to make them available in all countries in which IBM operates.

Š Copyright IBM Corporation 2004