Forum

Transforming the Visitor Experience at the National Trust

The Situation

The National Trust protects and opens to the public over 350 historic buildings and gardens as well as thousands of acres of countryside across England, Wales, and Northern Ireland. As a charity the Trust is completely dependent on membership fees, donations, and legacies and income from its shops and restaurants. The Trust has 3.5 million members and is reliant on its 52,000 volunteers to enable more than 12 million people to visit its pay properties and more than 50 million to enjoy the countryside.

Because of the necessity to generate increased income growth, the Trust asked Forum to improve customer loyalty because loyal visitors:

“It kicked off a real culture change process—we are thinking much more about behavior and how we make not only our visitors but each other feel.” —Property Manager, National Trust

• Take out memberships and make donations
• Recommend the Trust to their friends and family
• Make repeat visits to properties
• Spend more money per visit in the shops and restaurants

To measure performance against this target, a 2011 goal was set that required all properties to achieve at least 75 percent of visitors describing their visit as “very enjoyable” in the Visitor Satisfaction Survey. To achieve this goal, Forum needed to create a stronger visitor-focused culture across the Trust: away from the perception of a “staid, bossy, museum-like” to an “enlightening, surprising, authentic” experience. Forum planned to do this by developing a solution that would enable properties to build not only a consistent (brand-led) approach but also create their own tailored visitor experience linked to the unique characteristics of each property.

The Solution

• Full audit of the current visitor experience and based on our recommendations gained commitment from the Management Board to a fast track action plan
• Across 26 pilot properties implemented a tool called TouchPoint Mapping that enabled the property to create its own visitor experience
• At each property our consultants worked with a cross section of staff to map the key points of visitor interaction and define the actions and behaviors that would deliver an exceptional experience
• Worked with a partner to measure the agreed behaviors using Mystery Visitor assessments that link directly with the “very enjoyable” key performance measure
• Transferred the tools and techniques to an internal team at the Trust to enable all properties to participate in 2010

The Impact

Early indicators suggest this program is already delivering significant value to the organization:

• The “very enjoyable” key performance indicator has already risen from an average of 59 percent to 69 percent during 2009 and continues to climb toward the goal of 75 percent and beyond.
• Membership sales improved by an average of 14 percent in 2009 at the pilot properties, increasing the Trust’s income.

For more information contact Forum.