Digital Strategy Post Pandemic
How to Keep Digital-Savvy Visitors Engaged
Short answer: the right app does.
First up in our Museum App Mythbusters series: do apps actually increase visitor satisfaction? Let's face it: the reason most institutions get an app is to keep their visitors engaged and excited.
But like most technology, it's wrong until it's right. Remember when phone touch screens came out? Samsung and a few others made touch screens that did not perform well. Then the Apple iPhone came along. Along those lines: perhaps apps themselves are not the problem; it's HOW you create an app that makes the difference.
Satisfaction is hard to measure directly. Behaviour is not, and the behaviour is unusually persistent. Across 31 measured institution-years, visitors using a Guru app spent an average of 55.6 minutes with it inside the venue — a median of 54.6, with no measured institution falling below 37 minutes. And 57.7% opened it again a week or more after they had gone home.
People do not give the better part of an hour to something they are not enjoying, and they certainly do not come back to it a week later.
Why does that hold up? We don't believe in expensive, empty apps. We believe in long-term partnerships with museums that keep all the important aspects of an app current and compelling.
So how do you keep visitors' faces looking like this?
Multimedia content that masterfully tells stories, connects your guests to learning in an entertaining way, and is constantly updated to reflect your exhibits. Our storytellers handle that for you.
Bring historical figures to life with augmented reality. Beyond the wow-factor, interactive experiences allow visitors to experience art, history, or science firsthand—cultivating deeper empathy and understanding.
People love using their phones to gather information. Instead of guests going to Google and Wikipedia, encourage visitors to connect to concise, entertaining, museum-approved info and go as deep as they would like at the pace of their choosing.
So no, apps that come as an empty platform—glorified calendars with copy-and-pasted wall labels—those apps don't increase visitor satisfaction. Those apps are Museum App 1.0. Make way for the future.
Is this a question your team has been sitting with? Take a look at how we approach visitor apps, or read more insights from the Guru team.
Behind the scenes of how we turn museum stories into interactive, accessible experiences - plus what we’re learning along the way
