How to ensure that as many visitors as possible listen to fantastic storytelling?

The world in development

For years now, people around me have claimed that today’s world only consists of multimedia – and tomorrow’s world will be no different. These are the same people who then ask me whether I’ve gone crazy investing all my time and money into developing an audio player and an online platform to go with it. Facebook and LinkedIn adapt their algorithms so that video messages are assigned priority over text, and everyone has a smartphone. And if your company hasn’t joined the race, you’re doomed!

For our business (that’s audio tours), this has led to museums and attractions being flooded with offers from snazzy start-ups year in, year out. You can’t deny that everyone has a smartphone and uses it to access all kinds of photos and videos. So, an app must be an effective way to give visitors what they want, right? People said that the COVID-19 pandemic would only accelerate the adoption of apps, since people would probably rather use their own devices than one that’s ‘shared’ with others. But a few months into the pandemic, we know this not to be the case. That fear is unfounded, and the figures show a different picture.

Pick-up rate

So, what do the figures show? If you look at usage, most apps’ pick-up rate (the percentage of the total number of visitors using a museum app) is no more than 10%. There are exceptions, of course, but this generally means that 90% of visitors don’t use the apps on offer – that’s a huge waste of high-quality content! The pick-up rate of a physical device, in our case the Podcatcher, is exactly the opposite: it’s not exceptional for 90% of our visitors to use the Podcatcher, even during the pandemic.

Mobile Website

But I’m not crazy, of course. Well... not entirely. The ubiquitous smartphone is a powerful piece of technology. So why don’t we leverage it? I think it’s important to tell stories to as many people as possible, including to visitors who prefer to use their smartphone to listen to an audio tour. That’s why we launched a new product a few months ago: a mobile website. This provides an interface for visitors to listen to the same stories on their own smartphone as on the Podcatcher – all powered from our online content platform.

And of course, I wanted to experience that for myself! So I went to the World Press exhibition in Amsterdam’s De Nieuwe Kerk. I scanned the QR code and listened to several audio stops via the mobile website. Although the tech worked flawlessly, I wouldn’t say it was a wholly positive experience. I got distracted every time I looked at my phone, trying to find and start the audio stops along the trail. I don’t know about you, but I get a constant stream of notifications. Once you’ve seen them pop up on your screen, it’s hard to ignore them. So, instead of having a relaxed exhibition experience, I found myself flicking between the impressive photos in the exhibition and the messages on my phone. Having looked at the data from other users, I can say I’m definitely not the only one who uses the mobile website in this way. The data shows that the number of stops visitors listen to via the mobile website is a lot lower than the number of stops listened to via the Podcatcher. That’s because of the distraction factor.

MapMyVisit app

That was when I decided that we needed to adapt the app – already in development at the time – so that it offers the same experience as our Podcatcher. Instead of distractions, we’re only enriching the experience with some fantastic storytelling. This app also had to work according to the ‘point-and-listen’ principle. During your visit, you should be able to use your eyes to appreciate the building and the works of art – you shouldn’t need to look back at your phone every time.

The launch day was just a few weeks ago, when our entire in-house team got to trial the first beta test for the Map-My-Visit app. I know I’m not being entirely objective, but it’s a fantastic app! For years now, we’ve been bold enough to claim we have the ‘world’s easiest audio guide’, but now I’m quietly confident we have the ‘world’s easiest app’ as well.

Simply grab your smartphone, open the app, and it’ll immediately recognize which museum you’re in. After that, all you have to do is hover your smartphone over the Bluetooth IDentifier and listen to the audio – it’s really that easy. Feast your eyes and focus completely on your surroundings while you listen to the most fantastic storytelling. The app is now live and will soon be available at several museums. I’m sure more will follow shortly.

What's next?

In the near future, we’re going to look at the user data from the app and compare that with the data for the Podcatcher and mobile website. We’re not going to remove those last two options: the app will be a third option for our visitors. All data on our customers will be neatly gathered in our online portal, so that we can take a good look at the differences between the products. I’ll keep you posted on the results. If you’re interested in hearing about our findings, please send me a message!
My initial feeling is that the data will confirm our vision: the less people are distracted, the more they listen to the story. That’s ultimately what I care about.