A digital-enabled visitor strategy for The National Gallery

The National Gallery

The National Gallery in London is one of the most visited museums in the world and contains over 2,300 paintings by more than 750 artists. The gallery represents all major Western European painting traditions, from late medieval and Italian Renaissance artists to the French Impressionists.

The Goal

The National Gallery wanted to provide visitors with an accessible and contemporary guide while also generating income for the institution’s activities. Transitioning away from using traditional audio-guide hardware, The National Gallery asked Smartify to write, produce, and distribute exhibition guides to visitors' devices.

Smartify’s Solution

Smartify Studio writes, records, and produces the audio tours for the National Gallery’s temporary exhibition program. Working collaboratively with the curators at the National Gallery, we help visitors explore the special exhibitions with the needed context whether that is from experts, artists, or even celebrities.

Our technical and design team connected the download and activation of guides within the online ticketing user journey. This means that visitors purchasing a ticket to one of the special exhibitions can then easily buy an audio guide as well, sent via a link and QR code on the ticket.  If needed, guides can be purchased at the ticket desk with a few clicks.

Smartify connected our in-app analytics on visitor engagement directly to the National Gallery’s internal analytics monitoring platform to ensure they had a clear oversight on usage, pinch points, engagement, and demographics of those using the tool.

By working with Smartify, the audio guide has been upgraded to a full digital visitor guide experience, branded to their institution’s standards and available both on devices and BYOD.

The Results

Advertised to visitors at the start of their visit, the Smartify digital visitor guide has already become an integral part of the visitor experience. 

It has higher take-up rates and generates significantly more income for the museum than the previous device-based audio tour, thus supporting the museum’s activities and the visitor's experience.

The guides for temporary exhibitions have been so popular, that the National Gallery has now produced guides for the permanent collection as well. As a museum with free entry and few analytics for visitors off the street, the team appreciates being able to provide a premium experience with a device-based guide while also learning more about visitor interests.