Holistic visitor journey model

White paper · 2024 · English · Future Museum, Phases I and II (2019–2024)

Intro

The visitor journey does not begin at the entrance and it does not end at the exit. Phase I of Future Museum mapped the physical journey across four stages — pre-visit, arrival, visit and post-visit. Phase II added two further layers: the digital touchpoints running alongside it, and the emotional register underneath it.

The model is grounded in an omnibus survey of 1,019 respondents in Germany and 1,027 in the Netherlands and Dutch-speaking Belgium, developed with Fraunhofer IMW and analysed by The Audience Agency. It is designed as a working framework rather than a finding: something a team can adapt to its own institution and use to locate where engagement is won and lost.

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What is inside

The Holistic Visitor Journey Model across its physical, digital and emotional layers
Survey findings on hybrid engagement, museum website use and appetite for virtual tours
The Hybrid Enthusiast, a segment making up 17 per cent of respondents
Preferences for museum aids, tools and apps, including for visitors bringing children
Cases in focus: ACMI, the Art Institute of Chicago, and KMSKA

Research partners

Developed with Dr Lauren Vargas of Your Digital Tattoo, John H. Falk of the Institute for Learning Innovation, Izabela Derda of Erasmus University Rotterdam, Fraunhofer IMW, and The Audience Agency.