EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

In 2005, the Arts Council of Indianapolis undertook a study to understand how to attract and engage next generation patrons, aged 20-40. The key findings of the research were presented in February 2006 and showed that next generation patrons attend arts and culture events for reasons beyond the art. Specifically, they are attracted and engaged by opportunities to Learn, Connect, and Sense.

Indianapolis arts organizations quickly began to implement Learning, Connecting and Sensing in their marketing and programming, and began to partner with young professionals organizations like the Indy Hub (www.indyhub.org) – often with immediate results in attracting 20-40 year old patrons.

In February 2007, the Arts Council of Indianapolis initiated a second phase of research. Building on the previous findings, Next Generation Consulting (NGC) designed a patron experience audit tool, and trained a team of local 20-40 year old “auditors” to evaluate Learning, Connecting and Sensing at each touch point along the continuum of the patron experience.

This report summarizes 29 patron experience audits conducted at 13 Indianapolis arts events and venues by 27 auditors aged 23-38 in February and March 2007.
Through Their Eyes includes key findings of the audits, checklists that arts organizations can use to implement immediate improvements, and recommendations for longer term strategies that – if implemented - will help the Indianapolis arts community further refine and differentiate its experiences to attract and retain a new generation of patrons.

Through Their Eyes examines 5 Phases of the Patron Experience through the lens of the next generation:

   

 

1. Gathering information
2. Committing
3. Arriving to the Venue/Building
4. The Venue and art experience – i.e. exhibit, performance, show
5. Post-event and Exit

When all five phases of the arts experience are evaluated in their totality, it becomes clear that the art experience itself may comprise as little as 20-30% of a patron’s entire investment of time and energy.

Yet, arts organization’s investment is largely centralized on what appears on the stage, screen or wall, and may neglect the other important phases along the experience spectrum. This is dangerous, and may be leading to a commoditization of the arts:

“Struggling firms typically try to survive by cutting costs rather than raising service levels, but those moves usually only result in lowering repeat business. On the other hand, successful firms,  particularly those with strong product-focused competencies tend to resist changing even in the face of a changing marketplace. Their greatest strengths – deep product knowledge or technical competency - are ironically becoming their greatest weakness and a threat to their survival.”
- Michael Applebaum, “One Tough Customer,” Brandweek, March 19, 2007

In other words, arts organizations are experts at their artistic craft, but if they focus all of their resources there, they miss the opportunity to provide an entire, delightful experience.

The results of this research are promising: if arts organizations focus greater attention on consistently delivering Learning, Connecting and Sensing during all phases of the patron experience, they can both successfully engage next generation patrons and champions and increase their financial performance.

GLOSSARY

In order to execute the changes required to attract and retain new audiences, arts organizations must have a shared language that is easily understood by multiple stakeholders. Here’s a Glossary of terms for this report:

Next Generation Patron
Any person between the ages of 20 and 40. This research included auditors ages 23-38.

Customer or Patron?
Throughout this report, we refer to Patrons rather than Customers. Customers are often defined in transactional terms, e.g. “one who buys goods or services.” Patrons are defined as regular, frequent guests who support and champion your work.

We believe that the definition of Patron - both “a regular customer,” and “one who supports or champions something” - is the relationship that arts organizations should aspire to with their guests.

Five Phases of the Patron Experience
During the experience audit process, we defined and explored five phases of a typical patron experience:

 

   

1. Gathering information: During this phase, patrons are learning about your event and/or venue. The goal of this phase is to move a patron along the spectrum of awareness, from unaware (at the least) through awareness and into interest and hopefully commitment (phase 2.)
2. Committing: In this phase, patrons are making a commitment to attend the event. This includes purchasing tickets and making a series of complementary commitments that are often unseen and/or unrecognized by the arts organization. These commitments include inviting and telling others about the event, arranging for childcare (when appropriate), making travel and other accommodations, and making plans for before and after the event.
3. Arriving: All patrons arrive to your venue from someplace else. This phase includes all the mediums (roads, sidewalks, parking areas, transport options) patrons experience from the time they leave their starting point and arrive at their assigned place or seat at your venue.
4. Art Experience and Venue Experience: This is the phase that traditionally receives most of arts organization’s attention and planning, yet it may comprise only 30-40% of the actual time a patron invests in the entire experience. In this phase, arts patrons are making their first impression by experiencing the venue, and are also experiencing the art exhibit or performance.
5. Post-event: This phase includes all the things that happen to a patron after the curtain drops or the event ends. This phase usually begins when a patron exits the venue or building.

Net Promoter Score
In this research, NGC introduced a time-tested concept to measure patron loyalty and engagement: the Net Promoter Score (NPS). The fundamental perspective of NPS is that every organization's patrons can be divided into three categories:

1. Promoters are loyal enthusiasts who keep patronizing an organization and urge their friends to do the same. Promoters give your organization a score of “9” or “10” when asked, “How likely are you to promote this organization or event to your friends and colleagues?”
2. Passives are satisfied, but unenthusiastic. They give you scores of 6-8.
3. Detractors are unhappy patrons who give you scores of 1-5. To calculate your Net Promoter Score, we take the percentage of Promoters and subtract the percentage of Detractors:

NPS = Percentage of Promoters – Percentage of Detractors

To learn more about the Net Promoter Score and how it's being used by a variety of industries see http://www.netpromoter.com/.

The role of “Customer Service” in the Patron Experience
Traditionally, “customer service” has been associated with real-time interactions between patrons and staff or volunteers. In this report, we expand the idea of customer service to encompasses all touch points of the patron experience, including those that occur online, and are therefore not staffed, and sensory experiences.

“Customer service is one of the few remaining opportunities for companies to differentiate themselves from rivals and forge brand loyalty in an increasingly competitive marketplace in which product and design innovations seem to get copied faster than the latest trend in fashion.”
- Michael Applebaum, “One Tough Customer, Brandweek, March 19, 2007

FINDINGS & RECOMMENDATIONS

The following findings and recommendations are generalized from all of the 29 audits completed in Indianapolis.

Participating organizations have the opportunity for individual, one-on-one session with NGC’s staff to penetrate their specific audit results and recommendations.

Key Findings

1.    Indianapolis arts organizations are doing a good job getting patrons in the door.

Audit results show that arts organizations are getting the fundamentals right:

• Box office personnel are perceived as friendly and helpful (100%);
• Websites provide the venue and event information patrons are looking for (63%); and
• The value for the money is perceived as good (17%), if not better (22%).

 2.    Learning, Sensing and Connecting are inconsistently infused in the patron experience.

Previous research showed that next generation patrons are engaged by opportunities to Learn, Connect and Sense throughout the patron experience.

Some arts organizations in Indianapolis are getting it right:

• Offering an online featurette of the performance before the event;
• Having a director or artist ‘set the stage’ and welcome the audience before the event begins;
• Having an opportunity to meet the artists and go backstage;
• Leaving the venue to the sound of music or someone holding the door and
  saying, “Thanks for coming!”

However, these drivers of engagement are not leveraged consistently or fully at most touch points, leaving a tremendous opportunity for arts organizations to delight and engage the next generation.

“The surest way to provide poor service is to walk every client through the same rote, impersonal routine, never varying, no matter who the individual client is or what he really needs.”
- Pine and Gilmore, The Experience Economy

3.    To develop next generation patrons and leverage their word of mouth marketing, arts organizations must increase their “promotability.”

In order to develop patrons, arts organizations must be promotable. Organizations that are promotable increase loyalty among patrons and thereby drive greater profit.

To determine ‘promotability,’ NGC offered a ten-point scale and asked all auditors:

“How likely is it that you would recommend this event/organization to a friend or colleague?”

Responses to this question are categorized and calculated to produce a Net Promoter Score (NPS). The lowest NPS was -75% (more detractors than promoters) and the highest was 100% (everyone is a promoter.) Indianapolis arts organizations’ average NPS score is comparable to how most American companies score.

For comparison, organizations with intensely loyal and engaged patrons have Net Promoter Scores ranging from 50-80%.

Indianapolis arts organizations may be getting the fundamentals right – bringing guests in the front door. But breeding next generation patrons – people who will be repeat customers, supporters and champions after they walk out the back door - requires further development.

4.    Eliminating confusion, and managing and meeting expectations throughout the entire experience is critical to a positive experience.

The next generation expects high quality customer experiences. They have been raised in a service economy, and many hold service and retail jobs in which they have been conditioned – and often well trained - in the art of customer service.

Yet, at many touch points along the 5 phases of a patron experience, next generation patrons were confused, frustrated or put-off – hallmarks of poor customer service.

It has been said that, “Unstated expectations are premeditated resentments.” In other words, it is unfair to hold arts organizations accountable to meet expectations that have not been clearly expressed.

The goal of this research is to shine the light on what 20-40 year old patrons expect from their arts experiences. Then, we identify common gaps in the experience, and make recommendations to minimize the gaps. The reader should note that this report identifies gaps reported by only 27 young professionals who visited 13 arts events and venues in Indianapolis. Therefore, these recommendations are not intended to offer systemic solutions. This first-time audit lays groundwork for what should be ongoing research by arts organizations to better understand and meet patrons’ expectations.

Building better patron experiences is an on-going process that is never “done” and crossed off the list. It changes as patrons’ needs and wants change. It changes as technology influences how patrons interact with your organization. It changes as the basket of entertainment options gets larger and more diverse. Arts organizations must always be asking, “Where else could my patrons be spending their time, and how can I differentiate my experience from all the other options?”

Providing excellent customer service can and will differentiate your event/venue from others. But customer service is not enough. In a 24/7 world, our patrons are interacting with us even while we sleep. Therefore, arts organizations must take a holistic approach to the patron experience, and see it in its entirety through their patron’s eyes.

 

 

Downloads

Through Their Eyes: The Next Generation Patron Experience in Indianapolis (PDF, 3 MB)

 

 

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