What do I want to know?
The first step in conducting any type of visitor research is to
work out a clear set of aims and objectives for the study. It
is all too easy to fall into the trap of wanting to know absolutely
everything about your visitor all at once. Less is more in most
cases - if you ask too many questions, the visitor may begin to
tune out and not give 'considered' responses. The information
you gather will then not be meaningful.
In setting your aims and objectives, think
about how you might utilise the information once the data is collected.
What information will be of most benefit to you? These are the
questions you want to ask. There may be things that would be nice
to know but perhaps cannot realistically be implemented due to
resource constraints and you may be able to get similar information
from existing research conducted elsewhere. Keep referring to
your objectives throughout the design of the study - if the questions
you are asking your visitors do not directly relate to your objectives,
then don't ask them... this time!
Who is my audience?
This is the million-dollar question. In order to effectively market
your product to your visitors and provide them with a positive
experience that meets their needs, it is critical that you know
who they are and what they are looking for. So a good place to
start is with what we call a Visitor Profile Survey.
What questions do I ask?
In a Visitor Profile Survey, you want to find out:
1. About your visitors:
- age
- gender
- educational qualifications
- employment status
- family circumstances
- origin
2. What motivated them:
- how did they hear about you?
- why did they visit?
- with whom did they visit?
- had they visited before?
-
3. About their visit: -
- how long was their visit?
- what did they do during their visit?
- what did they think of their visit?
- will they visit again?
-
How do I ask the questions?
A survey is comprised of a structured questionnaire - a set of
questions, worded in exactly the same way and asked in exactly
the same order on each questionnaire, be it self-completed or
interview-guided. The latter requires greater resources both in
terms of time and cost; however it yields a far greater response
rate and the data collected is generally much more reliable.
There are two types of questions typically
found on questionnaires - the closed question and the open-ended
question. Closed questions pre-empt visitors' possible responses
and the visitor is asked to choose between a number of pre-determined
options. Open-ended questions enable the visitor to express themselves
in far greater detail and in their own words.
Again, the latter requires far greater resources
when it comes to analysing the data, both in terms of time and
therefore cost. However, it is not always possible to anticipate
visitors' responses to a question, especially when little or no
research has previously been undertaken in a particular area.
What will I find out?
Once you have a draft of your questionnaire, it is well worthwhile
conducting what is called a pilot test - a trial run of the survey
on a small scale. The purpose of this is to make sure the questionnaire
flows, and most importantly that the wording you have used makes
sense to your visitor and that the responses they are providing
are in fact yielding the type of information you are looking for.
Some things to watch out for:
- avoid open-ended/more difficult questions
at the beginning of your questionnaire
- ensure questions have a logical order
- avoid leading questions
- avoid double-barrelled questions
- keep your questions clear /concise
- keep the visitor profile/demographic questions
until the end
- be aware of the sensitive nature of some
of your questions
- ensure the data you collect is compliant
with the new privacy legislation
What do I do now?
After the data has been collected, it must be collated. This can
be done either in-house simply using Excel or a statistical analysis
package such as SPSS, if one is available, or externally using
a data entry company.
And now for the fun part - analysing your
data! The most straightforward form of analysis is a frequency
count. This will tell you what percentage of your visitors said
what in response to each of your questions.
But even with a simple frequency count, you
now know who your visitors are. You know who to target, you know
what message to use and importantly, you know where to focus your
resources. So what are you waiting for? Go and get started!
Cindy Ferguson Research Officer, Market
Research & Evaluation, Museum Victoria. Cindy is responsible for
quantitative visitor research at Museum Victoria. She has a strong
interest and background in arts & cultural and tourism research.