The Art of Managing a Museum by Studying the Visitor

BETWEEN MANAGERS AND CURATORS THERE SHOULDN'T BE TENSION, BUT SYNERGY. AT THE HEART OF SUCCESS ARE KNOWLEDGE AND CUSTOMER RELATIONSHIP MANAGEMENT

by Andrea Rurale, Dept. of Marketing, Bocconi
Translated by Alex Foti

The issue of adequate managerial training for museum directors has been debated for some time. There are simplistic positions that see an irreconcilable dualism between business education and the humanities. To promote, say, a Mark Rothko exhibit in a professional, structured way doesn’t mean treating works of art as if they were washing detergents to be marketed, just like raising funds to restore monuments among private donors doesn’t mean diminishing their value: even if donating companies have controversial business practices, they can give more money than others and certainly more than the public administration.

A related issue about the role of private actors in the management of cultural heritage is: should they be involved or not? Again, a spat has ensued between those who consider the marketing and merchandising of museums unacceptable, and those who see market actors as the panacea for the valorization of Italy’s artistic heritage. This is often an ideological debate that does not pause to consider the problem from the perspective of the public. Those who visit museums or take part in art events are inevitably customers, and their opinion is important, because customer satisfaction creates the word-of-mouth effect and generates buzz, thereby attracting additional visitors.  

What’s a museum for?

Museums and art exhibits do not have as their objective to balance accounts as independent cultural firms: there exists no museum which relies on ticket sales alone for its funding. All, even the most virtuous, must resort to sponsorships and other forms of contribution. In this case, the private sector is called to sustain a cultural institution from the point of view of the quality of the experience being offered, and the satisfaction engendered in visitors. To say that also in cultural contexts the consumer perspective is important doesn’t mean discrediting the standards followed in assembling the collection and the artistic choices made by museum curators, it just means placing the emphasis on the fact that any exhibit or museum needs to be communicated and promoted to the public, in order to be valorized.

At the basis of good CRM, there’s awareness that consumers are typically motivated by a range of heterogeneous factors when they purchase a product or service. This is true for the consumption of aesthetic and hedonistic goods (arts, culture and entertainment), where the emotional component plays an important role. Only by getting to know its users, will a cultural institution improve its relations with customers. So a robust database needs to be built by gathering information on duration of visit, degree of satisfaction, and the amount of money spent on accessory services (bookshop, bar, cafeteria etc.), in order to design and deliver a successful museum experience. And this independently from the fact whether the museum fulfills an educational function towards the public or intends to develop the viewer’s critical capabilities in experiencing contemporary art. These two distinct function need to be governed by looking at their complementarity, not their antagonism.