Getting to know your digital users

Getting to know your digital users

Kevin Bacon, Digital Development Officer@fauxtoegrafik

Digital: Ideas to Audience, March 2016

Royal Pavilion & Museums

Royal Pavilion

• Over 400,000 visitors per year across five sites

• Three collections Designated of national importance

• One of 21 Major Partner Museums funded by Arts Council England

Museums

Brighton Museum & Art GalleryHove Museum & Art Gallery

Preston ManorBooth Museum of Natural History

Collections

Decorative Art

Local History

Fine Art

Natural History

Film & Media

Costume

Archaeology

World Art

Before we begin...

Discuss a digital idea with the person sitting next to you.

This could be something you want to do, something you’re currently working on, or a recent project that you’re evaluating

‘What sort of people download

apps?’

Story Drop

[the one that didn’t work as well as we hoped]

{Pick a tour}

{Unlock}

Did it work?

Dominic Alves, Flickr CC BY

Where’s my GPS?

I have to walk there?

Yes, I’ll have to look at it one day...

My battery is running low!

How do I unlock it?

Sod that, it’s raining.

1. Think about the context of use

2. Why would they want to use it?

Lessons Learned

brightonmuseums.org.uk

[the one that worked much better]

Old website

Problem

1. Sharepoint

2. Combined with library service

3. Not built for audiences

Three problems

Solution

1. Wordpress

2. Museum only

3. How do we build it for our audiences?

Audiences are hard

• Shift from demographics (eg. Brighton residents; young people; teachers; tourists)…

• To.. behaviours: motivations, needs, actions

Three research questions

1. What are our users doing?

2. What do our users want to do?

3. Who are our users?

1. What are our users doing?(Google Analytics data)

1. What are our users doing?(Google Analytics data)

Key finding:

Over 50% of pageviews took place on just 11 pages of website

But…

What users are doing also reflects constraints of website

2. What do our users want to do?(survey data)

Adapted from Culture 24’s Let’s Get Real 2 project methodology

2. What do our users want to do?(survey data)

Key finding:

Visitors wanted building specific info – less interested in RPM as a service

But…

What about those who don’t want to respond to the survey? Or those who are not so goal driven?

3. Who are our users?(behaviour model)

Behaviours = motivations + actions

But... motivations are not always straightforward.

Question

A man walks into a pub.

Why?

3. Who are our users?(behaviour model)

• Drew on Prof. John Falk’s work on identity related motivational profiles

• Rejects traditional demographic profile in favour of needs based behavioural model

• Explorers, Experience Seekers, Facilitators, Professionals / Hobbyists, Rechargers

EXPLORERS FACILITATORS

EXPERIENCE SEEKERS RECHARGERS

PROFESSIONALS / HOBBYISTS

John H. FalkIdentity and the Museum Visitor Experience (2009)

Surface Impression

User testing

• Access advisory group advised on design

• All user testing conducted through group

Results

• Greater engagement: 23% increase in page views

• 10 x increase in admission ticket sales

• 230% increase in Facebook and Twitter traffic

But....

Over to you...

Digital Engagement

Assets• Objects• Buildings• Stories• Knowledge• Staff / volunteers

Digital Content• Blog• Website• Data• Image• App• Game

Audiences• Gallery visitors• Online viewers• Teachers• Researchers• Young people

Golden Rule

Assets• Objects• Buildings• Stories• Knowledge• Staff / volunteers

Digital Content• Blog• Website• Data• Image• App• Game

Audiences• Gallery visitors• Online viewers• Teachers• Researchers• Young people

Developing a digital idea should never start with the technology…

Post-digital idea map

Your assets Your audiences

?

[email protected]

@fauxtoegrafik

brightonmuseums.org.uk

Thank you!