10 Website Lessons from Museums’ 2020 Reopening

Above: Stadel Museum in Frankfurt, one of the European museums that has reopened 

Historical context: This article was written in July 2020 as museums reopened after the first COVID-19 closures. The restrictions and guidance described below belong to that period. The enduring website lesson is to explain clearly what visitors can expect, what they need to book and whom to contact if their plans change. This is a record of reopening communications, not current health guidance.

The broader principles of what makes a good museum website apply whenever practical visitor information changes.

A month after the rest of Europe, the first museums in the UK reopened. Others have already written about the different, sometimes clinical, but also meditative effects of a Covid-secure visit. But how to prepare the visitor for this? 10 tips on how museums and other attractions communicate this to visitors, before they book a ticket, during, and afterwards.

Communicate what has changed

The best way  to “communicate a commitment to supporting the Government Guidelines on Covid-19 in public messaging.” (guidance by UK/Irish Zoos and Aquariums) is to be specific about what has changed for people visiting a specific attraction. Start high level, then address more detailed questions people might have. Some of the issues I see mentioned frequently:

• how visitors can keep distance, also upon entering and exiting.
• if there is a one way system in place, and what this means. 
• what visitors can bring and what not
• what parts of an attraction might be closed, including shops, cafes and restaurants and toilets. 
• why visitors need to buy a ticket in advance, and how they can.
• what extra cleaning regime there is in place.

The Kroller Muller museum conveniently divides its guidance in ‘before your visit’ and ‘during your visit’. If you look for completeness, the Corona protocol page of the Dutch amusement park Efteling wins. It even has a separate section on the toilets!

Looking at other sectors: the reopening page of retailer John Lewis strikes a great balance. Clear, well laid out, and visuals with safe but smiling people.

Be flexible where you can

During lockdown cultural institutions and visitor attractions have gotten a lot of sympathy from the audience, it would be foolish to squander that by being stricter than necessary. 

I appreciate how the Design Museum in Den Bosch is clear about when not to visit, but is flexible about changing a pre bought ticket: “Please don’t come to the museum if you are suffering from health problems. Previously booked tickets can be rescheduled for a later date without difficulty.”

Make it visual

Guideline 39 of the safe reopening protocol of Dutch Museum Association protocol says “Use text in combination with imagery (icons) where relevant and possible”. 

Above: Royal Museums Greenwich uses icons and a very clear 3 step communication.

Although icons are most powerful if people have seen them before, especially social distancing illustrations lend themselves perfectly for on brand variations. Just compare these two examples below:

Above: Part of the social distancing poster of The Lost Gardens of Heligan, a botanical garden in Cornwall. Thanks to Bernard Donahue from ALVA for sharing.

Above: This Safe and Sound page features the sort of creative illustrations you expect from The Design Museum.
Making museum websites more accessible also means presenting essential instructions in forms visitors can read and use.

Show a preview video

“Consider ways of communicating what a visitor may expect from your zoo when you reopen using images or video. This can provide reassurance but also help them visualise what they need to do when they visit.” (British Irish Association of Zoos and Aquariums in its reopening guidelines). 

It is interesting to see what museums and attractions do in videos besides just communicating how to visit safely:

• Ask visitors for their support
• Make a movie aimed at children
• Turn it into a spy movie (ok, this only works for Disney 😉

Make booking information clear

Where previously some attractions sold tickets valid for an entire day, or (in case of zoos) whole seasons, now they need to sell tickets for specific time slots in order to manage the number of visitors. 

Due to social distancing the maximum number of visitors is also lower. In July 2020, for example, Kew Gardens was admitting only a third of their normal maximum number. At ZSL’s London Zoo we realised there might thus be a bigger demand and we put in place a virtual queuing system for their online ticketing. The first four days they sold 50.000 tickets – with some people being in the queue for 3 hours.

Make member and pass-holder information clear

Many people become a member or get a year pass for an attraction to be able to just walk in whenever they want. This is not possible under most countries’ guidance. So attractions have to make sure they communicate this clearly, for example via email. 

Anthony Rawlins came with an interesting suggestion: ask members booking a ticket to already pay for next year’s membership, as a way to support an attraction in these times.

Update your terms and conditions

A boring but important detail: make sure you review your terms and conditions, update them where necessary, and make sure visitors agree to them when buying a ticket. This at least includes giving consent with the hygiene measures and health issues policies. 

Changes to booking terms should be reviewed with the museum’s legal advisers and explained clearly before visitors purchase a ticket.

Send a pre visit reminder

People are forgetful. So reminding them of the changes close to their visit can be very useful – and it might be worth looking for different channels like SMS to make sure you really reach your visitors.

Above: Airline KLM does a good job by sending an SMS reminder 2 days before a flight. 

Inform on site

In July 2020, the Rijksmuseum offered 3 one way routes, and points visitors to use their multimedia tour app on them. More museums are encouraging visitors to use their phones on-site. Think about what more a visitor could do with this – maybe finding out what services are open/closed, to virtually queue for a specific exhibit, or to pre-order food?

You don’t necessarily need to have an app for this! A few (mobile optimised) pages on your website could also do the trick. If you offer free wifi at your museum, you could even set these pages as the start pages once a visitor logs in.

Show why people should visit

Above: The homepage of Blenheim Palace makes clear what visitors need to do, uses icons, addresses members, and still show the beauty of the attraction.

Finally, with all this thinking and talking about Covid-securing a visit, one may easily forget what people are coming for! The fun of an attraction, beauty of a garden, splendour of a historical venue, art and reflection at a museum. The shared experience of being away with their family. 

So in all communication, let us not forget to show what makes a place worth visiting. Mention what’s on view, show pictures with people in them, include the luscious views in a video.