This document discusses visitor engagement both online and onsite at museums. It summarizes research on visitor motivations for engaging with museum websites and differences between online and in-person museum experiences. The key findings are that motivations for visiting physical museums, like experiences and identity-building, differ from motivations for visiting museum websites, like information seeking, and that level of investment also differs between online and in-person visits. Surveys were used to better understand user motivations for engaging with an art museum website and found the most common motivations were to plan an upcoming visit or find specific content for personal reasons.

1. Visitor engagement Online and
Onsite
Rob Stein
Deputy Director
Dallas Museum of Art

2. THE MUSEUM VISIT
CAN HAVE MANY
FACETS
Flickr Credit ~phineasx

3. FREE-CHOICE
LEARNING

4. ENTRANCE
NARRATIVE
Flickr Credit ~aunto

5. JOHN FALK
Founder of Institute for Learning Innovation
Professor Learning and Science Education at
Oregon State University
Research conducted primarily at
zoos, aquaria, and science centers.
But also with art museums including the
Art Gallery of Ontario and the Denver
Art Museum

6. WHY FALK?
• It is simple and easy to understand.
• It is fairly well documented in the literature.
• It has been tested and used in many museums.
• It can be used by more than one department in
the museum.
• Falk has developed and tested a simple method
to identify visitors motivations.
Flickr Credit ~aunto

7. BASELINE
MOTIVATION SURVEY

14. Results (371 participants)
25% 22.4% 21.8%
20% 17.0%
15% 13.5%
10%
5% 2.7%
0%

15. How Can We Make…
CONNECTIONS BETWEEN ONSITE
AND ONLINE VISITORS?

17. 2011 Web Stats
1M Visits (3.6M Hits) +7%
56% (566K) not in Visit 6%
58% (580K) not in IN +5%
2011 Museum Attendance
381,026 (-11%)
Mobile 8.8% (2x 2010)

18. DMA Web Stats
• Oct 2011 – Oct 2012
• 1M Visits (2.9M Hits)
• Time on Site 2:02
• Only 18% NOT in Texas
• 75% in the DFW Metro
• Mobile 23%!
• Museum Attendance 485,000

19. WHAT’S THE ONLINE
ENTRANCE NARRATIVE?
Flickr Credit ~aunto

20. WHAT’S THE RIGHT MODEL?
Planning/thinking about a trip to the
museum
Searching about specific information
Teacher told me to do this website
Looking for teachers resources or
activities
Thought it might be interesting site to
explore
Haley-Goldman &
Schaller, 2004
Flickr Credit ~measter2

21. WHAT’S THE RIGHT MODEL?
Gathering information for an upcoming
visit to the physical site
Engaging in casual browsing
Self-motivated research for specific
content information
Assigned research for specific content
information
Ellenbogen, Haley-Goldman & Falk, 2008
Flickr Credit ~measter2

22. WHAT’S THE RIGHT MODEL?
Using the site to plan or follow up a visit
to the physical site
Using the website to locate subject-
based information
Accessing the website as part of
browsing activities on the Web
Using the website to interact or transact
with the museum
Peacock & Brownbill, 2007
Flickr Credit ~measter2

23. WHAT’S THE RIGHT MODEL?
It seems (at least on the surface) that
motivations for visits to physical
museums are different than for museum
websites:
Experiences, identity-building vs.
communication/information seeking
Investment in visiting the physical
and virtual museum is not the same
Ellenbogen, Haley-Goldman &
Falk, 2008
Flickr Credit ~measter2

24. Google Analytics
Is Not Enough

25. Initial Open-Ended Survey

26. Coded Results from Open Ended Online Motivations
n=113
40%
35%
30%
25%
20%
15%
10%
5%
0%
Plan a Visit Find Specific Find Specific Casual Make a
Content for Content for Browsing Transaction
Professional Personal
Reasons Reasons

27. Follow Up Categorical Survey

28. A Much Better Response

29. Online Motivation by Type and Time n=4076
60.00%
12:00
50.00%
40.00%
7:09
30.00% 6:19 5:56
5:40
20.00%
10.00%
0.00%
Plan a Visit Find Specific Find Specific Casually Browse Make a Transaction
Information for Information for
Professional Personal Reasons
Reasons
Percent Visits Average time

30. Average Time per Page by Motivation Type
60
50
40
30
20
10
0
Plan a Visit Find Specific Find Specific Casual Browsing Make a Transaction
Information for Information for
Professional Reasons Personal Reasons
time/page (sec)

31. Visitor Flow

32. Visitor Flow

33. Read More
Filippini-Fantoni, Stein, Bowman
Exploring the Relationship between Visitor
Motivation and Engagement in Online Museum
Audiences, mw2012

34. @rjstein
THANK YOU!