Lightning Talk Blog: Anna Lowe, Smartify
We were delighted to welcome Anna Lowe, Head of Partnerships, and Co-Founder of the world’s most downloaded museum app, Smartify, for our second Lightning Talk, on Wednesday 7 October 2020. Watch the event session again here.
The Company Journey
Smartify was founded in 2015 and grew out of four friends’ enjoyment of visiting museums and encountering art. With currently 1.2m users, the company’s mission is to help everyone discover and enjoy art and culture.
Anna shared her journey of moving from working in art education to being a (non-tech) entrepreneur and developing the smartphone app with her co-founders, after trying several museum and gallery digital device guides which she felt were too prescriptive. She was keen to see more creative engagement and user control for device users, pre, during and post gallery and museum visits, which led to the development of Smartify.
Some business take-aways from Anna:
· Don’t wait to start your business
· Stay true to your core values
· There are no mistakes
Personalising the user experience
We heard about the ways that users can interact with artworks via their smartphones and how the Smartify app technology is being developed to personalise the visitor experience, much like how Spotify or Netflix work, with further exciting, interactive developments in progress. We learned about what users can experience through geolocation, how the E-Shop works (a key area for business growth), how personalised recommendations for users can be developed via app analytics data, as well as providing venues with valuable audience insights.
Anna answered a diverse range of questions from our audience of visitor attractions, tour guides, start-ups, culture and leisure organisations, other entrepreneurs and academics.
Experience Smartify
As a way to support the industry, Smartify has kindly offered all of the Traveltech for Scotland network member institutions a complimentary version of this platform for a six-month period. On the app, museums can upload artworks and create simple audio & visual tours, enabling audiences across the globe to enjoy a virtual visit from the comfort of their own home. The aim is to create an experience that feels as close to normal as possible.
Whilst online guides can never replace in the real-life experience of visiting these evocative locations Smartify tours can offer a new way for visitors to enjoy both the unique collections and the remarkable visitor attractions that hold them. The National Gallery of Scotland and other local institutions have already produced a number of tours on the app which can be viewed here.
Smartify usually charges an annual fee to member museums but in light of the current circumstances, Travel Tech for Scotland community members have the opportunity to upload up to 100 artworks onto the platform and create tours for free until April 2021.
In addition, for any institutions that are already thinking about Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) audio guides for a hygienic tour experience when the museum re-opens, Smartify are offering a special 20% discount across membership tiers.
Anna Lowe, Co-Founder of Smartify, would be happy to discuss tour capabilities if you’re interested in joining the app at this time. Contact Anna Lowe at anna@smartify.org.uk to receive the offer quoting Traveltech for Scotland. Don’t hesitate to contact us with any further questions.
