Are you considering digitizing your institution? If so, then you've come to the right place!
There are 2 concerns that we encounter nearly every time we meet with an institution considering digitization (namely mobile apps, multimedia guides, and interactive games).
Today, we woud like to to share both of these concerns with you, as well as how we solve these problems and add good value to institutions like yours.
1. Need for a flexible, easy-to-use content system
Whether your institution deals with content rotation every few years, or every month, if you are seriously considering digitization then one of the most pressing questions you have when assessing providers is, ‘can they accommodate my institution's content needs?'
Delivery: Content can be texts and videos, all the way to visitor-device delivery -- it's very important to know if the platform you are assessing is really the best fit for your institution.
For example, if your institution has bad or spotty reception: a mobile app with an uncompressed, forced 300mb download is going to cause a lot of headache for your staff and visitors. However, a mobile application that compresses that 300mb of content down to 12mb and gives visitors the option of streaming or downloading it will make for a much better experience (shameless plug: CloudGuide does this).
Content Management System (CMS): The next thing to consider is that your provider's CMS needs to be easy-to-use and responsive, with the ability for advanced users to take greater creative control. Whether it be texts, images, audios, or videos (or a combination of all 4) that you want to share with visitors, your CMS must offer intuitive controls that allow staff to easily manage all of your content easily. This is important because, if your institution is like most others, your staff are already loaded down, and the last thing that they need is to spend several hours fumbling through a wonky CMS while trying to set up your mobile application.
With CloudGuide, an entire exhibition with texts, images, audios, videos, and games can be uploaded, configured and made public to your visitors in 1 hour.
2. Retention & Full Integration
Retention: The average retention rate for a culture & heritage mobile application is about 17% after 3 days. That’s 5% less than the average for all mobile applications.
You’re paying for a mobile application that visitors can use on-site, but your expectation is that visitors have a use for it off-site as well, after all, you’re not paying thousands of dollars for people to download your app and then delete it immediately after leaving...but, that’s what happens.
By and large, this retention rate is due to your institution's application being completely worthless outside of your institution. Completely. Worthless. There's nothing in it that would be useful outside of your institution, yet you are spending thousands of dollars a year to offer it.
Full Integration: Your mobile app should have all the information that a visitor would expect to find on your website (in addition to the added benefit of them being able to immediately thumb through your multimedia guides and games):
Hours, ticketing (with ability to purchase), agenda/events calendar, donation, location, Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, newsletter and website links, directions, and even accessibility information.
CloudGuide offers all of the above, in addition to your mobile app being listed alongside 400+ institutions spanning 13 countries.
Visitors don’t just download and then delete your mobile app, they always have it on their device. When they want to buy tickets: they open it, check your institution hours + agenda/events, and then tap ‘Buy Tickets’. All right from your app.
By the numbers: Our data shows that visitors spend 3x longer in our app than they do on your website -- if you give your visitors what they want it shows: you’ll have a mobile application with a retention rate that is 60%. That's 3.5x the industry average.