It’s the time of year where everyone tries to predict the next big thing, and while I take most of these with a pinch of salt, the Trendwatching briefing is always worth spending a little time reading.
One trend that they have predicted for 2010 is ‘the rise of real time reviews’, this is described as:
In short, with even more people sharing, in real time, everything they do, buy, listen to, watch, attend, wear and so on, and with even more search engines and tracking services making it easy to find and group these ‘live dispatches’ by theme, topic or brand, 2010 will see ready-to-buy consumers tapping into a live stream of (first-hand) experiences from fellow consumers.
This piece on Trendwatching reminded me of some statistics that I’d seen from Deloittes about online reviews. This said that 62% of consumers read consumer-generated reviews on the internet, and of that group 82% subsequently made a purchase.
Of course online reviews aren’t anything new, for example they have been a major element of online stores like Amazon for many years, but the rise in social media means that people are now reviewing their experience of your museum, even if you don’t ask them to.
The Trendwatching briefing made me wonder, are any museums using online reviews on their websites?
I asked the question on Twitter and I was pointed in the direction of a small number of museums who do encourage visitors to share feedback. The Milestones Museum in England asks visitors to leave reviews on their website (shown below).
The museum has received sixty reviews and have an average rating of three out of five, that isn’t an overwhelming advert for a visit. I guess that this is the reason that more museums don’t ask what people think. They are frightened that they might not like what they hear.
Trendwatching say that organisations who are brave enough to ask for reviews need to adopt a ‘Beta-mindset’ and embrace any feedback as a positive thing that allows you to involve your visitors in the development process, co-producing a better museum experience.
That is a major factor in asking for reviews from the public, it’s not enough to just ask for people’s opinion’s, you really need to have a plan in place for what you do with that feedback and how you will communicate progress to your visitors.
Although there is the possibility of negative feedback and the work that it would take to manage this are factors to consider, the statistics from other sectors suggest that adding reviews to your website could be a great marketing tool.
I am really interested in learning more about the experiences that museums have had, positive and negative with trying to implement reviews on their websites, have you tried this?
We encourage feedback from our visitors and we aren’t afraid to publish the results as we want to engage with everyone who comes through our gates and make improvements where necessary.
Sometimes it can be good to spark a debate from our visitors if a negative comment is raised – we have noticed this from our local newspaper where online comments or reader letters are posted referring to our site, other visitors seem to jump to our defence for us!
We have a feedback section on our website where all comments are published whether positive or negative and we encourage people to use whatever site they prefer to do this if not our own:
http://www.historicdockyard.co.uk/interactive/
http://www.historicdockyard.co.uk/interactive/yourvisit.php
Our experience is that people are only leaving positive feedback. Any negative comments are usually emailed or posted directly to us as they are wanting a response/ explanation etc
If we want to interact/ speak to our visitors then we don’t want to regulate the conversation – trust is very important to us as a public attraction
Social comments and analytics for this post…
This post was mentioned on Twitter by MuseumMarketing: Thoughts on Museums including visitor reviews on their websites – http://bit.ly/7JX4rL…
On the Queens Museum site, we allow comments on almost every single page. We try to encourage museum visitors and online visitors to comment. We publish most comments, even those that aren’t positive. The comments really range. Sometimes people just have a general question- such as this one asking if something is currently on view- http://www.queensmuseum.org/a-watershed-moment#comment-1571 o Other times it’s a visitor who didn’t have a pleasant experience- http://www.queensmuseum.org/about/general-information/visitinfodirections#comment-1567 We respond either via the site or directly to their email, it depends on the context and if our response would be helpful to the public. For example if it’s a very specific question or someone wanting to schedule a trip, the comment is forwarded to the appropriate staff person, who then responds via email http://www.queensmuseum.org/events/school At times it’s just people asking if an event is free, which is great to post a web response for, in an effort to to assist others who might be wondering the same. I have to say though, the page we get the most comments on is our “For Artists” page http://www.queensmuseum.org/visi/for-artists We have language at the top of the page stating we are not currently accepting any unsolicited submissions and should there be any opportunities to do so, they will then be posted, however I suppose people think it can’t hurt to ask, which is fine.
The ability to comment on our site was a relatively recent addition, when we relaunched an interim site. We are currently undergoing a large expansion and when the new building opens, we will have an entirely new site. In the meantime, we wanted to create an interim one that was more interactive and easy to navigate than our old site. The site operates on a blog-like platform, which hopefully makes it a bit friendlier.
Hartlepool’s Maritime Experience website has a guestbook where visitors can post comments about their experiences at the venue. Some of these are then used as a flicker roll on the front page.
http://www.hartlepoolsmaritimeexperience.com/
Or direct link to our guestbook: http://www.hartlepoolsmaritimeexperience.com/?p=guestbook
And Milly, the character who looks after the guestbook, personally answers every comment. The few negative comments received are used as constructive criticism, and answered in the same personal way as the other comments.
I think it is important to allow people to comment on their visit on your website. Not everyone has the time to write a card, or add to your visitors book, so it’s a good way to get comments. Also, people are more likely to write more at home then standing in your venue. A lot of commercial sites have reviews to help people choose what to get (I’m thinking of Amazon here particularly). It would be a good thing for museums to start doing. Most of us have comments boxes/books that don’t really get read. Adding them to your site allows others to see how much people enjoyed their visit or the problems they encountered. Both of which help your visitors plan thier visit to your museum.
At Hampshire County Council, customer feedback has long been one of the ways we rate our performance, hence the development of our online reviews facility.
Every time someone uses our services they will make an unconscious evaluation of the service that they have been provided.
General satisfaction is unlikely to generate much response, however knowing about a service which falls either side of that line will help us to understand, and if necessary respond to customer needs or shortfalls in service provision.
It will also offer a mechanism to receive praise for good service.
There have been limited opportunities to really know what is going on without detailed surveys, or unless a customer rants at the front desk or pats a member of staff on the back for being helpful.
The new online review function allows our users to express their views on what we do and how we do it. They can seee what others have said.
It encourages trust,openness and transparency, and ensures that our users feel they’re being heard.
All evidence from the private sector where this technology has been used indicates that performance improves as a result.
How does it our system work?
Reviewers can record their experience of a visit to one of our sites using the online form
Their review will be published online for all to see
All comments are moderated by the webteam before being published on the website
Vexatious, unreasonable or abusive comments are not posted however justified negative comments will be allowed and will be posted on the website
We would expect our managers to correct negative issues.
Box ticking
In addition this system would contribute to further improvement against the Charter Mark Standard for Customer Service Excellence, particularly in relation to an area identified at assessment for continuous improvement for our services relating to making information available to our customers (service users and non-users) about how well we are performing.
The feedback would also inform an area of partial compliance against the Charter Mark criteria by allowing customers/service users the opportunity to express their views about the quality of the service and facilities to help set our standards in future.
Excellent examples and responses, keep them coming!
[...] 9. Why don’t more museums have reviews on their websites? [...]
[...] month I wrote an article which asked why more museums don’t feature reviews from visitors on their websites, but in discussing this with collegues it became clear that this is only one way [...]