Should theatres be more like banks?
By Heather Walker, Project Director, Visitor Experience, Royal Opera House
I went into my local bank a few months ago — something I don’t do very often given that I’m a fully signed-up convert to online banking. Someone had given me a cheque and with no handy pay-in slot conveniently located on my laptop, I was forced to head in to a nearby branch of NatWest.
On arrival, it was clear that they’d had a makeover since my last visit. The two cashiers were standing at podium desks — no glass screens, no speaking through a microphone system, no passing cash under a two-way drawer. So, me being me, I asked the man who served me how this works from a security perspective. Their answer, not surprisingly, is that cash is rarely what people come into banks for nowadays — all the security needed years ago just isn’t relevant anymore. But did he prefer working like this?
‘It’s great’, he replied. ‘I actually feel I’m talking to people rather than serving them. I wasn’t convinced about the standing-up thing when it was proposed, but we move around more, we do shorter shifts and that keeps the day varied. I was a bit sceptical, I have to admit. But now I’m sold on the idea!’
And, of course, it was a much better experience for me as a customer too. As it turned out (it was only my nosiness that made me go to the desk at all) I could instead have used the pay-in machine, or even the tablets mounted around the branch that include scanners for cheques. I also could have sat on the sofa, had a coffee, read the newspaper, and if I’d had children they’d have been kept amused with a whole play centre.
So why are banks doing this? The perceived wisdom said that online banking and advance in technology would mean the end of bank branches, and yet this prediction has failed to materialize — indeed, many branches have seen their opening hours increase. Banks know that convenience for their customers is increasingly important, and that when you pop in to — say — pay in a cheque, you’re likely to do other things like start that conversation about your pension or life insurance. Ultimately, they hope that you’ll begin to think about ‘belonging’ to a bank, build a relationship with them and recommend them to friends and family. For someone who works in an arts organization, this ambition sounds awfully familiar.
Other industries are being transformed too, including hotels (self-check-in via mobile) and shops (Argos has revolutionized its offer from a catalogue-based experience to a digital, click-and-collect model). I’m interested in all this not just from the digital and technological advance they encompass but because of the wider holistic approach to visitor interaction — one that combines engagement, brand, service and technology.
A customer is as time-hungry once they are in a physical environment as they are in the virtual one; they’re rushing from work, eager to meet friends, want to know how to get to the venue, have a drink and something to eat, read the synopsis and find the facilities. Getting that experience to work on-site is not just good service, and not just a blended expression of the brand — it’s good sense. Less time transacting in several places, queuing at desks and finding the right member of staff equals more time engaging with the organisation and with others.
So this is a major objective in the Royal Opera House’s Open Up project — a £45m (privately funded) scheme intended to reimagine the visitor experience for the 21st century. Over the past decade, the organization has spent considerable effort revamping its digital offer with the result that online ticket sales now exceed 80% and its website and plethora of social media platforms are full of engaging content revealing life backstage and offering opera and ballet fans a chance to get closer to both performers and their performances.
Of course, many arts organizations have been developing their online offer — it’s not unusual now for cultural institutions of a certain size to be working on the third or fourth iteration of their website. And with the investment, focus and effort that this takes, it’s perhaps not surprising that there has been a disparity of focus between online and offline for many arts organizations. The customer that we’ve enabled to self-serve and shop in one basket may find that their experience at the venue doesn’t match the online one for smoothness; instead they may find they need to speak to a different member of staff for various needs — to pick up tickets, ask for directions to their seat and to buy a programme. For these customers, those carefully procured first impressions we worked hard to create online don’t quite deliver once they are over the threshold of our building. With limited resources it’s perhaps not surprising that arts organisations have not had resources to focus on developing the brick and the click experiences to the same degree. But in terms of expectations, our audiences are also customers of all the brands I referred to earlier, and getting used to an experience blended across all channels.
At the Royal Opera House, it is our aspiration to welcome a wider range of visitors (especially during the day) and to improve the experience of coming to one of the world’s preeminent opera houses. With no additional land-grab possible in what is a densely packed part of central London, a project to redevelop our three main public foyers is an exercise in reorganising how we use the space we have. But that exercise is not just about how we place those services, but how we curate a holistic visitor experience across a building which has two theatres, capacity for nearly 3,000 audience members, potential for a vibrant and engaging daytime programme sited on the edge of a piazza which attracts some 40 million visitors from around the globe each year.
And that’s where my role as Project Director for Visitor Experience comes in. I’m here to influence how these spaces are designed, furnished, operated, staffed, digitally enabled and managed to allow us to deliver an even better service to our audiences and to welcome newcomers to the building — perhaps not just to see a performance, but to engage with what we do, to share in our passion for opera and ballet.
To achieve this, I believe we must consider the experience from the outside in — just as we have in developing our website and online purchase path. Online projects invariably start with developing user profiles and then carefully planning user journeys, testing them to breaking point all with the aim of delivering a site that works simply and intuitively — an experience which balances effortless transacting with serendipitous discovery. It is this model which we’re drawing on in designing our future onsite experience. Just like the online development method, we will design journeys — pre-empt how our visitors will move through the building and provide the things they need when and where they need them. We also have to be able to flex the delivery of those services across a range of scenarios for casual visitors during the day, all the way through to the highly committed friends and patrons who regularly attend performances.
Of course, this kind of change is not just about layouts, processes and systems — it’s about people. And for me it’s about thinking how it all works from the customer’s perspective. I believe that building projects somehow put more than just a literal stake in the ground — they mark a moment of change, demand that you assess how you operate, that you take stock and consider what could be improved, that you think about how you’re going to make the new space work and iron out any current wrinkles in the process. Such projects provide an opportunity to test assumptions, update processes and systems and consider what might be improved whilst at the same time gain consensus on what’s sacrosanct, what you want to celebrate, what makes you the organisation you are.
Having been through this process with a few other organizations, I believe that what will make the project successful is not ultimately whether people love the new entrance, or the greater sense of space and light, or the refurbished bars or the lighting scheme. Success will be measured by how visitors feel in the space. To that end, I believe that a large part of reimagining visitor experiences today is about creating more time — reducing the time customers spend doing what they have to do so that they have more time to do the things that they want to do — hence the sofas, the coffee machines and play areas mentioned above. Our version of that experience is refurbished social spaces where you can meet friends and relax, windows through which you can see into our working world, screens with stunning digital content, exhibits from our collection, pop-up performances in the foyers and, of course, a warm welcome from every member of staff who in turn have the tools at hand to help with whatever you need.
That’s how we bring it to life.
