The provision of tailor-made experiences for museum visitors is a process designed with the likelihood of financial growth in mind. As such, it requires solid and careful planning. On one hand, the final product must align with visitor expectations. On the other hand, it should foster connections with museum partners and create opportunities for further development.
Still, an aspect that needs at least be considered (and ideally verified) is data accuracy.
Moreover, resources are very important – whether financial, technological, logistical or human. Well-trained staff are as important as the modern software and hardware infrastructure. Interaction with visitors needs to be facilitated through devices that match their current digital skills. Therefore, the hardware component should constantly be taken into consideration.
One way for museums and cultural organization to avoid the burden of continuously renewing visitor interaction terminals is to integrate in the museum circuit the BYOD principle. BYOD stands for Bring Your Own Device. Visitors are invited to install on their smartphones/tablets/or other personal equipment the museum app.
One of the first implementations of this concept was Smartify, designed for the Smithsonian Museum of Modern Arts and launched in 2017.
The content delivery to the visitor takes place after asking three main questions:
- What language should be used for the digital mediation?
- What is the visitor interested in?
- What is the time availability for the museum experience?
The interaction with the visitor is expected to continuously improve thanks to AI.
Useful resources:
Personalisation in Tourism: Elevating Experiences and Maximising ROI – Business Traveller