The Download Conundrum

A Tale of Two Apps

Kevin Bacon

Digital Development Officer

Why mobile?

• Website: 20% mobile

users; 14% tablets

• Ofcom: 51% adults

own smartphone

• Eyeball evidence

It’s not just about apps!

• Multimedia guide in Royal Pavilion

• Roll out of wifi in our museums

• Moving to mobile first web presence

• Experiments with QR codes in galleries

‘If an app is the answer, what’s

the question?’

BrightonMuseums

How do we put information about

our museums in people’s

pockets?

Story Drop

How do we put stories

about our collections out

in the city?

BrightonMuseums

• Launched Oct 2011

• Free download for iOS and Android

• Simple ‘brochure’ app that replicates content

that can be found on web…

• … but it’s not an alternative to a mobile website

• Uses map and camera functions of phone

• Downloads incentivised through minor

reduction in admission fee to the Royal Pavilion

Target audiences

• Regular visitors (handy means of keeping

up to date)

• Visitors coming to Brighton (bypass poor 3G

coverage, cross-promote other sites)

Success?

• 5228 downloads in 2012-13

• 30% conversion rate into paying entrance

to Royal Pavilion

• 8% of surveyed Pavilion visitors have seen

app

But…

• Unclear how many visitors have been

drawn to other sites

• Does it cannibalise admission fees?

• Trials of gallery specific content have only

shown low usage

Story Drop

• Soft launched Sep 2013

•Free download for iOS and Android

• Scavenger hunt

• Driven by flexible CMS to enable regular

content updates

• Playful approach

• Intended as platform for community generated

content

Target audiences

• Heritage tourists

• Exhibition visitors (augmenting experience)

• Urban explorers

• Communities of Place

Pick a tour

Getting there

Unlocking content

Playful / Gamish

• Cryptic clues

• Leisurely orienteering

• Reward systems

• Point systems

• Recontextualising collections

• Lightweight extension for exhibition programme

• Platform for partnership working

• Pervasive heritage

Why take it outside?

www.mapthemuseum.org.uk/

Museum Content

• Heritage at Hand

• Pavilion Estate

• Mystery Tour

• Brighton As Might Have Been (Jan 2014)

Partner Content

Turner in Brighton

(early December 2013)

Crime & Punishment

(late December 2014)

Success so far?

• Initial interest from families and non-users

• Keen external contributors

• Media interest

• Likely level of use still unknown

What we’ve learned

1. Go cross-platform

• 56% iOS vs 44% Android

• It’s not just about market

share…

• ... it’s about inclusion

What we’ve learned

2. Hook it into core business

• Apps are expensive and difficult to scale

• Maintain regular or evolving motivations

for visitors to download

• Flexible CMS keeps app fresh and allows

for more experimentation with content

Android ‘clicks’

iPhone ‘clicks’

What we’ve learned

3. Apps are a headache…

Expensive to develop

Platform specific

Costly to maintain

Only available to

smartphone users

Google Play and App

Store poor distribution

systems

User needs to commit

time to download

Often unstable

What we’ve learned

3... but people like them

What we’ve learned

3. Reaching non-users?

What would make you visit [venue] today?

Smartphone apps:

52% Brighton Museum

66% Brighton Dome

More than joint ticket offers, guided tours and

signage with historical informationSep 2013 internal survey

Thank you!

kevin.bacon@brighton-hove.gov.uk

@fauxtoegrafik

http://bit.ly/1cLAmU1

http://bit.ly/1i9oO4g