How Museum Ticketing Software Can Provide An Amazing Visitor Experience
Modern museum leaders know they have to invest in the visitor experience.
Holographic displays, touchscreen exhibits, and immersive stage design are typical of today's museums and galleries. Having to roam around looking at static objects, reading tiny signs on the wall, won't do it anymore – visitor expectations have changed.
And those expectations are in place before they even arrive.
The process of selling tickets isn't just a key opportunity for museums to secure revenue. It's an area where they can easily lose money if buyers aren't satisfied. Here's how great museum ticketing software can fix this by making every purchase a delight.
What visitors expect when they buy a ticket
With so many options out there, potential visitors don't have the patience to wade through bloated sign-up screens and unresponsive pages to secure their ticket. They don't want to enter tons of data through their phone keyboard, and they don't want to be confused over which ticket type they need.
Minor annoyances like these can easily make someone close their browser window and give up. In fact, nearly 1 in 5 shoppers have abandoned a purchase because the checkout process was too long or complex.
Ticket buyers usually want their purchase process to include:
Fast performance
Minimal manual data entry
Flexible options
Ease of use
Usability on mobile devices
Outdated booking systems make these features nearly impossible. But by putting the right platform in place, museums can make things much easier for themselves and their visitors.
How to make each purchase a delight with museum ticketing software
Remember: first impressions matter, and your ticketing software is often a visitor's first interaction with your museum. It's important to get this right, so here's what needs to go into making it happen.
1) Choose a platform that offers speed and usability.
No one wants to wait for pages to load or struggle with a clunky interface. Look for software that offers speedy performance and easy navigation, so visitors can quickly purchase their tickets without any frustration.
If you're dealing with high-volume sales, especially with in-demand events or exhibitions, an easy and fast checkout experience is a must. Make sure your museum ticketing platform is mobile-friendly and easily accessible from any device. Cloud-based software is usually faster and more reliable than software hosted on local servers.
2) Offer flexible options for museum visitors.
Great museum ticketing software should allow visitors to easily select the kind of ticket they want. This could include options for museum memberships, group tickets, or special events.
The software should clearly display all the necessary information and pricing options, so there's no confusion for visitors about what they're buying. This can also help prevent any potential refunds or customer complaints.
3) Build with accessibility in mind.
Including accessibility features in museum ticketing software can make a big difference for visitors with disabilities. This doesn't just mean the booking system itself needs to be accessible (in terms of readability and interactivity). It also means including options for requesting assisted listening devices, wheelchair seating, or closed captioning – anything that allows them to fully enjoy their museum experience when they arrive.
4) Integrate with your museum's wider objectives.
Make sure your museum ticketing software integrates with your other museum software for a seamless experience. This could include membership management systems or visitor surveys for collecting feedback.
A well-equipped platform should also enable you to upsell visitors on memberships, events, gift shop purchases, charitable donations, and other museum offerings. That might be through additional checkout options, or through integration with your marketing or CRM (Customer Relationship Management) platform. You can offer these at the point of checkout, or capture customer data to reach them later on.
This is a crucial part of driving revenue per visitor and making them want to return again and again.
5) Seamlessly integrate between online and POS
Museums sell a significant amount of tickets through online booking. Visitors find their website through search, use the online ticketing system, and show their tickets when they check-in.
But other visitors will want to make their purchase onsite, using either interactive kiosks or via the front desk.
So your ticket sales system needs the functionality for both options. Any ticketing solution that doesn’t combine the two is going to cause headaches, especially when it comes to busy attractions with timed entry.
6) Manage timeslots
Without timeslot management, you’re going to stress out your customer support team when they try to figure out who’s booked for which time. So software that organises timed booking properly is essential.
You can even sell tickets at different prices for different times of day. This is perfect for encouraging visits in the quieter times with more affordable prices, and calming some of the peaks during high-demand times.
Setting a hard capacity limit on some of these timeslots is also possible, for when you reach an upper limit of visitors, for safety and management reasons.
7) Control local access
The right software can allow you to scan visitor tickets when they enter and validate their purchase automatically. This kind of smart access control is ideal for high capacity venues with busier entryways.
And it's not just for controlling front door entry – you can use it to manage access to specific areas of the museum. So you can sell upgraded tickets to access a premium exhibition room or members' area. With this set up, you can then track your area capacity in real-time, and report on footfall through each zone.
8) Have the flexibility for additional features
As important cultural hubs, museums are always evolving.
So if you’re in charge of museum ticketing, your needs are going to change over time. The platform you use needs to be flexible enough to add features over time, like:
API access – for integration with third-party software (like analytics or real-time queue management).
Vouchers – offer discount coupons as part of your marketing campaigns or customer service efforts.
Fundraising – take donations online and at the point of sale for important new campaigns. This could potentially include Gift Aid options.
Stock and capacity management – linking ticket purchases with physical inventory.
A good museum booking system will be able to add pretty much anything else you can think of.
What does an amazing museum experience mean to you and your visitors?
Think about your museum's overall mission and values, and how a great ticket purchase experience aligns with that. Are you simply interested in a practical sales solution – or is this your chance to build something better?
For over 10 years now, Nutickets has worked with museums, heritage sites and cultural centres around the globe.
We’ve found museums have unique requirements that just can’t be met by off-the-shelf platforms.
It’s not just features like ticketing, fundraising, & memberships that make the difference; it’s your offering as an experience in itself.
In practical terms, this means enjoying a platform that helps increase attendance and boost revenue – crucial for the long-term success of your museum.
Find out how Nutikcets has helped venues like World Heritage Museums & Exhibitions to meet their unique ticket booking needs. Contact us to book a demo.