As part of the AGO’s Strategic Plan, becoming the destination of choice and growing our audience are key objectives for the institution.  Using visitor research will help us meet our objectives and better serve our visitors.

Why do we capture visitor research? 

• We have been collecting visitor data for 4 years now so that we can be relevant and responsive, make fact- based decisions and be a leader in visitor engagement. This research helps us to understand visitor needs, motivations and create experiences that are meaningful. This information informs everything from exhibition display and design, to exhibition interpretative strategies, to marketing campaigns.

How do we conduct the research?

• On site research is conducted by a part time audience researcher and by interpretive planners under the direction of the Manager of Interpretation and Visitor Research. We conduct 200 exit surveys a month and projects ongoing throughout the year. Market research is conducted by outside firms such as Strategic Council and Harris Decima depending on the nature of the study under the direction of the Director of Marketing, Design and Communications.

What have we learned so far?

Since November 2008 we have interviewed 7,200 visitors in monthly exit surveys. This sample size is large enough to confidently conclude that our data is representative of all of our visitors.

• Consistently over the past three years 67% of our visitors were women and 33% were men. An interesting statistic that can inform decisions on everything from menu choices in the café to the size of bags we allow in the galleries.
• In 2009, 30% of our patrons had visited the “new” AGO more than once that year, while 70% were visiting for the first time. In 2011, 27% were visiting for the first time and 73% had visited before. Knowing that our audience visits us regularly impacts programming decisions, membership sales and even food and beverage offerings in Frank. This finding also indicates that we have the capacity to grow new audiences – one of the key objectives of the strategic plan. Our gallery guides have consistent offered tours of our permanent collection since re-opening but when we learned that our audience is mostly made of visitors who are regular visitors we began offering tours of Evan Penny and Josef Sudek as a way to highlight new exhibitions.
• Over the last three years, our age breakdowns have remained generally consistent and breakdown into the percentages in the graph here; however we have seen small shifts in age depending on the exhibition on view.  For example, younger people (20s and 30s) visited more often for Shary Boyle: Flesh and Blood, Julian Schnabel and Picasso while Abstract Expressionist New York and Chagall were more popular with older visitors (60s and 70s). Understanding these patterns help us to identify target audiences for future exhibitions and a better understanding of the target helps with marketing decisions and how we plan exhibition experiences.

Where can I find the research?

• Findings from the research projects and reports can be accessed on the Intranet, under “About the AGO/Visitor Research” (check this area of the intranet on the volunteer lounge computers, the next time you’re in –  you cannot access the intranet from an outside computer). This quantitative and qualitative data is measured regularly and is available for reference.

What is the Visitor Research Forum’s mandate and who is on it?

• The team coordinates ALL of the visitor and market research efforts and resources across the AGO.  The mandate is to measure and communicate quantitative and qualitative research that tells us about our current and potential visitors, their motivations, satisfaction and expectations.  The team also advises on visitor experience, employee engagement, membership satisfaction and motivation, external messaging and brand health.
  • The team includes Keri Ryan (Chair), Kelly McKinley, Heather Conway (Leadership sponsors), Matt Moreland, Andrea Seaborn, Steve Rayment, Saundra Dobroski, Jessica Bright, Alicia Vandermeer and Rocco Saverino.
  • We also try to make sure that different groups inside the AGO aren’t surveying our visitors or others at the same time or in too short a space of time so we avoid confusion or reluctance to participate in the survey; and so we use our research dollars effectively – sometime a few questions added to an already commissioned survey is better than doing a whole separate survey!

Can we share this information?

• You can share this information with your colleagues, but the data collected is only relevant to the AGO and is confidential.  It is not to be shared externally.