Getting people through your museum’s doors is important, but getting them to come back is essential for sustained growth. In this episode, Amy shares ideas to increase repeat visits through smart engagement, meaningful perks, and intentional communication. You’ll come away inspired and ready to make small changes that can lead to a big impact on your museum’s attendance and visitor loyalty.

Links from the Episode:

• https://www.lovemymuseum.com/worktogether

More Free Resources for Museums:

• Museum Planning Calendar
• Museum Metrics Template

About the host: 

Amy Kehs is a brand strategist and communications expert for museums. She has owned Kehs Communications since 2000 and has worked for the most renowned and well-loved museums in Washington, D.C. Her goal is to ensure that museums thrive into the next century and she hopes people will come to love museums as much as she does. Her proven process sets up proactive communication habits for museums, cultivating relationships with visitors who will want to return and bring a friend. Want to talk more? Click this link to book a call.

Ever wonder why some visitors only come once while others keep coming back?

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Today we're unlocking the

secret to repeat attendance.

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Let's get started.

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Hello and welcome to the

Love My Museum podcast.

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I'm your host, Amy Kehs

and I love museums.

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I'm also a brand strategist and

communications expert for museums.

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Today on the podcast, we're

talking about something.

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Every museum cares about

getting visitors in the door.

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Again, not just once.

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Not just when there's a special event,

but turning that one time guest into

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a loyal fan who brings their friends,

supports your programs, and shows up

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season after season, year after year.

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Repeat attendance isn't just a

nice to have, I think that it's

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really essential for long-term

sustainability for your museum.

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One of my favorite public

relations quotes is by Walt Disney.

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Do what you do so well that they will want

to see it again and bring their friends.

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You will have a segment of your visitors

that are those one time visitors.

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They may be visiting your town or

your city for the only time in their

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lives, so we want to be sure that

information is with your tourism

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bureau or listed on TripAdvisor.

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But as I always say, every museum

needs to be a community museum.

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We don't want your museum to just survive.

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We want it to thrive for the next

century, and the key to this is creating

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an experience where your visitors wanna

come back and bring their friends.

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We want your museum to be a central

part of your community and have

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that amazing community support.

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I was actually just talking to a

client yesterday about this during

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my museum digital assessment of

their museum on our second call of

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the museum Digital assessment.

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Once we've gone through all of my digital

presence recommendations, and we've talked

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about all the changes that they've made

while we've worked together, they get to

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ask me anything for the rest of the call.

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And so we were talking about how to make.

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Your museum, a part of your

community, and that when you build

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a base of returning visitors.

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You're also building consistent revenue,

deeper community relationships, and

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a museum that stays top of mind.

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So first, let's dig into why visitors

don't return, and then we're going to

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talk about what you can do about it.

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So the problem, so here is.

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The really hard truth, even your most

enthusiastic first time visitors might

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not come back, and it's not necessarily

because they didn't enjoy their visit.

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Let's first talk about a couple

of common misconceptions, that

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museum professionals have.

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The first is this idea that if

you build it, they will come.

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Yes, you should have great exhibits, but

that's only part of the puzzle for my

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project work, for my implementation work.

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I get so many calls.

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Kind of at the last minute where

a museum thinks, oh, we can

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handle the PR for this ourselves.

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And as it gets closer and closer and,

and, and they also have that mentality

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like, well, we'll just build it.

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And then they, people will just come.

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And as it gets closer and closer to the

project launch date, so whether it's an

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exhibit opening or a program or an event.

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They realize, oh, there's

more to this than we thought.

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Maybe they won't come even if we build it.

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The second common misconception is our

collection speaks for itself, and it

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might, but visitors are looking for

an experience, not just information.

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I know all of my communications

colleagues are probably nodding their

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heads when we get an exhibit script.

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We know right away if the curator

or the planning team, if they were

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creating this exhibit with the visitor

in mind, or quite honestly, is this.

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A dissertation on the wall.

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So that misconception that our

collection speaks for itself.

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That's not true.

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You still need to tell people why.

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Why should they care?

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Why is it important to them?

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Why is it relevant

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those are the two most

common misconceptions.

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that I see that the museum staff has,

which prohibits or impacts getting

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visitors to come back for a second visit.

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So to over overcome those, you

need to have your communications

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person at the table from the

beginning, from the planning stages.

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So that they can be involved and

so that the communications efforts

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also are starting from the beginning

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and bringing those questions.

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Why should people care?

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Why is it important to them?

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Why is it relevant now?

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Bringing those questions to the planning

table early in the process also helps

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to overcome these common misconceptions.

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Now, here are some real life

reasons why people don't return.

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The first is they forget life gets busy.

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They had a great time, but then it

kind of fades into the background.

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Another real life reason is they feel

like they've seen it all, especially if

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messaging doesn't highlight what's new

or what's changing, or why they should.

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Come back.

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Another real life reason people don't

return is that there is no follow up.

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There's no thank you email.

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There's no next step.

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And so they just kind of drift away.

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And another real life

reason is that it is just.

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Inconvenient.

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Maybe your hours are tough, maybe

parking is tricky, or they didn't feel

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fully welcomed during that first visit.

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So that's the challenge.

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Those are the the real life

reasons that people don't return.

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But the good news.

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You have so much power to

shape what happens next.

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You have the power to shape a

public relations gold mine when it

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comes to your visitor experience.

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Okay, so what is the secret?

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The secret is connection.

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Visitors come back to places where

they feel something, where they

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feel known, where they feel part of

something bigger than themselves.

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It's not about throwing more facts at

them, it's about building emotional ties.

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Research indicates that

emotion significantly influence

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purchasing decisions and.

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A significant portion of buying

behaviors are driven by feelings

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rather than logic or rational analysis.

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Your visitors are looking

to spend their most precious

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commodity with you their time.

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So let's talk about four

strategies that really work.

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Now.

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All of these are assuming that your

visitor experience, your visitor

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journey from beginning to end is

also well thought out, we can

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talk about that on another episode.

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But these are the four things

that you can do at the end of

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that amazing visitor experience.

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The first strategy is to

create a next visit hook.

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Don't let them leave

without a reason to return.

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Maybe it's a teaser for

an upcoming exhibit.

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Maybe it's members only night,

next month, and we'll talk

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about membership in a minute.

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What is their reason for coming back

and how are you going to communicate

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that to them before they leave?

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It could be an upcoming program that

maybe your volunteer staff mentions.

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As they're walking out the door, or

maybe it's giving out a postcard or

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giving out a discount for an upcoming

event that they need to buy a ticket to,

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but what is that hook and how are you

going to tell them before they leave?

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your museum?

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The second strategy is to

engage beyond the visit.

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This is one of the easiest and most

effective things that you can do, and

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one of the things that I see missed all

the time collect their email address.

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Ethically and warmly, and then follow up

with a short, friendly thank you message.

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If you're a children's museum,

maybe you can send a what's next

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at our museum email that includes

a printable coloring sheet and a

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discount for their next family visit.

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It is simple, it's effective, and

there are a lot of parents who will

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give their email address for that.

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The third strategy that really works

is to make membership more appealing.

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and more accessible.

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You could offer a first visit discount

to the annual membership, or maybe

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you can offer different payment plans

for a membership and make sure that

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you have different tiers and levels of

membership, and that one of those levels

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or tiers is really, really affordable.

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And make sure that each level has perks,

even the smallest level has perks.

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that are real.

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and

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valuable.

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These things can be easy.

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You could do early entry,

for members once a week.

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Maybe you have members only.

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pre screenings or exhibit previews.

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Maybe you offer early access to tickets

for a special program or special event.

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There are so many things that you can

do with memberships to make it more

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appealing, try to think outside the box.

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And all of these things are not things

that need to cost the museum money

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or be extra work for museum staff.

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The fourth strategy is to create

traditions and habits for the

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different segments of your audience.

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And I want you to think long-term, think

seasonally, think annually, even monthly.

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Here are a few examples.

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You could invite families

to come every year for a.

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continuing program or an annual event, or

to come every season and reward them when

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you do.

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One way to encourage this would

be to launch a challenge where if

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they visit four times a year, they

get a free tote bag at the end, and

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then those families are actively

planning those visits in advance.

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You're not just building ways to

get people in your door, but you're

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building rituals and traditions

and habits, and then it's.

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Pretty much just going

to be put on repeat.

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Another example that you can do for

families is to have a monthly story

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time, and you don't need to be a

children's museum to make this work.

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If you can shift your mindset so that

you, in addition to thinking of your

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mission and your vision for your museum,

you are also thinking of your museum as

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something that's serving the community,

as a pillar of your community, as

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helping your community, even if things

are going above and beyond your mission.

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And again, I want you to

think outside the box.

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These things do not need

to be huge investments.

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of money or time for your staff.

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Okay, so let's recap some of

these big ideas and come up

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with some actionable takeaways.

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Number one, give visitors a reason

to come back before they leave.

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What can you offer them at the door in

exchange for their email address so that

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then big idea number two, you can follow

up with something personal and welcoming.

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Actionable takeaway number three,

make membership easy to say yes to.

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We talked about some of those ideas.

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Think outside the box.

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And number four, building small

traditions that can turn into lasting

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habits that can help sustain your

visitor numbers for decades to come.

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So here's your challenge for the week.

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What is one small tweak you can make

this month to encourage repeat visits?

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Maybe it's coming up with that freebie.

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As they're leaving so that you can collect

their email address or adding a sign that

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is hinting at an upcoming new exhibit.

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Just one thing, just try to think of one

thing that that is how change starts.

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That's how you.

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Start getting that momentum and start

changing your mindset so that you are

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thinking about being a community museum.

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And hey, let me know what you tried.

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I'd love to hear.

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If you found today's episode helpful,

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I'd love it if you'd share it

with a fellow museum professional.

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You never know who might need that

extra spark to help turn a one-time

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visitor into a lifelong fan.

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And if you're thinking.

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We need this kind of

strategy at my museum.

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Good news.

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That's exactly what I help museums do.

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Whether you are looking to implement

a visitor experience plan or look at

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your digital presence, improve your

messaging, or just finally build a.

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Customized robust communication strategy

that works for your team and your budget.

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I'd love to help.

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I work with museums across the country,

big and small to create these clear,

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doable strategies that get results.

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You can head to my website@www.love

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my museum.com,

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or just click the link in the show notes.

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to learn more about how

we can work together.

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There's no one size

fits all in this field.

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Every museum is unique and different,

and that's what makes my job exciting.

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So let's build something

that fits your museum.

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and the community that you serve.

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Thanks so much for listening,

and I'll see you next time.