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Visitor Survey Report October - December 2007

Total number of forms completed in this period was 49

 

Monthly breakdown:

October        33

November    10

December     6

 

What age group do you belong to?

 

Under 18           21%

18-29                12%

30-39                10%

40-49                16%

50-59                14%

Over 60             23%

 

The highest number of respondents were in two categories- under 16 & over 60 which contain the largest age span. There is a fairly even spread of recipients from the middle categories of age. 4% of respondents did not answer this question.

 

Which best describes you?

 

Local visitor      60%

Day trip             18%     

On holiday        18%

 

60% of respondents indicated that they visited the centre because they live locally. A healthy 36% of respondents also visited while on holiday or a day trip. 4% of respondents did not answer this question.

 

Where do you stay?

 

Scotland           82%

UK                    12%

Europe             0%

Other                2%      

 

82% of respondents live in Scotland. This is likely to be the 60% who lived locally and the 18% on a day trip) 12% of visitors also came from other parts of the UK. In this quarter no respondents stated that they came from Europe and only 2% from other parts of the world. From details specified by the respondent we know that this 2% came from Ethiopia. 4% of respondents did not answer this question

 

Have you previously visited the centre?

 

51% of respondents stated that they had visited the centre before and 49% that it was the first time.

 

How likely are you to visit the centre in the future?

 

41% of respondents said they were quite likely to visit again and 55% said it was very likely that they would visit again. Only 4% stated that they were not likely to visit again although 2% of respondents as we know had visited from Ethiopia.

 

 How did you find out about us?

 

Poster / leaflet               12%

Radio                              0%

Live locally                     41%

Newspaper                    4%

Word of mouth              12%

Website                         12%

Other                              19%

 

The highest number of respondents (41%) stated that they found out about us because they live locally. Of the other choices 12% each stated that they found out through posters/ leaflets, word of mouth or a website. Only 4% of recipients selected newspaper and 0% stated radio. Further research may be required to obtain more specific information about this.

 

19% of recipients selected "other" and were asked to specify. Below is a breakdown of the answers from that section. It is noticeable that most of these options would fall in to the categories above predominantly word of mouth or live locally.

 

From a friend-  2%

Advert at water sports centre (i.e. another NLC facility)-  2%

Found out from their children who had visited with their school – 7%

Just passing & saw the building-  8%

 

What was the purpose of your visit today?

 

General visit                              52%

Local History research             34%

Event                                          6%

Temporary exhibition               8%

 

As you may expect the majority of visitors (52%) came to the centre for a general visit. 34% came to use the local studies room. Only 6% of respondents came specifically for an event and 8% for a temporary exhibition.

 

How long did you spend visiting the centre?

 

57% of respondents spent over 1 hour visiting the centre and a further 30% between 30mins and 1 hour. The remaining 13% spent less than ½ hour.

 

Which areas of the centre did you visit?  

 

Technopolis                  50%

Tower                           50%

Temporary exhibition     49%

Local studies                30%

 

The % totals for this question are higher because respondents had the opportunity to select more then one category. 50% visited Technopolis and the tower (not necessity the same respondents) 49% visited the temporary exhibition and 30% visited Local Studies. 22 % of respondents indicated that they had visited all areas of the museum but a further 36% visited 3 of the 4 areas.

35% of respondents stated that they had visited local studies during their visit. 23% of these indicated that it was their first time, 10% visit periodically and 2% were regulars.

 

What was the main focus of your visit to the local studies room?

 

Family History   59%

Photos              24%

Newspapers     11%

Books              6%

Maps                0%

Internet             0%

 

While visiting local studies the majority of respondents (59%) said the main purpose of their visit was family history research the next most popular use was photographs. No respondents indicated visiting local studies to use the maps or internet facilities.

 

65% of respondents indicated that they did not visit local studies.

 

What was your reason for not visiting the local studies room?

 

Unaware of facility         25%

Room was closed         22%

Lack of Time                 19%

Not interested               19%

Other                                3%

 

12% of respondents in this category did not answer the question so we do not know why they did not visit local studies. The 3% who selected "other" also did not specify. 25% stated that they were unaware of the facility so this raises issues about marketing & signage. More positively 22% stated that the room was closed and so it is likely that many would visit on another occasion. Additionally only 19% of respondents said they were not interested so the other 81% are potential customers.

 

Only 4% of respondents stated that they had cause to complain during their visit and 2% of these stated that their complaint was dealt with fairly and sensitively. These figures reflect the generally low level of complaints received in the centre. Moreover, the majority of complaints which we do receive are verbal or written on a customer comment card.

 

How satisfied were you with the following aspects of our service?

 

%

Very satisfied

Fairly satisfied

Neither

Fairly dissatisfied

Very dissatisfied

Exhibitions

66

8

10

NA

6

Shop

50

14

6

2

2

Staffing

72

4

6

0

0

Local Studies

44

22

2

0

0

Location

58

14

4

0

0

Parking

56

8

4

0

0

Internal signage

58

8

6

0

0

External signage

42

18

2

0

0

Event/Activities (when available)

60

12

6

0

0

 

The responses to this question indicate that in general the respondents were very or fairly satisfied with each aspect of service. The fact that each category received at least 2% of responses in the neither category suggests they may be room for improvement in all cases. The only two categories to receive a fairly or very dissatisfied rating were the shop and exhibitions.

 

The overall satisfaction rating for the service is 92% (3 respondents did not answer this question)

 

Respondents were also given the opportunity to make comments or suggestions as to how we can improve our service and make the heritage centre better for them. The following are a section of the responses to these…

 

Fix the computers in technopolis (2)

Better signposting

Record Big House exhibition into a booklet for sale

Accept Credit & debit cards

A few sets

Bigger playground

More games for children (3)

Make it more interesting (3)

Coffee shop (4)

More local artefacts/photos etc

 

  

Very great stuff here

You are great (2)

Excellent work, but always room from improvement

Very helpful staff

Just keep doing what you are doing.

 

Comments & Observations from analysis

 

  • The overall number of surveys competed was quite low and does not therefore give a good representation on the centre's visitors. We must be more proactive in encouraging visitors to complete a form.
  • The findings support the consensus that we do receive repeat visitors both in general and to local studies. This is something which we should continue to encourage.
  • When asked "How did you find out about us?" 0% selected radio. This is a disappointing figure as we have been advertising on the local radio station's "what's on" section as well doing interviews at regular intervals to promote events & exhibitions.. Only 4% chose "newspaper" although we hear from other sources that many visitors frequently look for newspaper adverts for specific activities in particularly the school holidays. Also, 12% of recipients selected website, but have not specified which one. We currently are promoted on 3 websites which we regulate- primarily NLC, MHC & Visit Lanarkshire. In general then more detailed market research requires to be done with regards the marketing of the centre and where people are getting information from.
  • It is encouraging to know that visitors often visit more then one area within the centre, and spend more than 1 hour. Both practices which should again be encouraged.
  • It is surprising that a low number of respondents specified an event as their reason for coming to the centre although we know that event days are busier. This may be that fewer visitors choose to fill in a survey on event days and perhsps we should be targeting these when we know there will be a wider audience.
  • 25% of respondents have stated that they were unaware of the local studies facility. There many be numerous reasons for this i.e. poor signage, staff not informing visitors or poor marketing. We need to think of ways to improve awareness of the library and its facilities.  
  • Although not reflected in the figures, many respondents stated that the main purpose of their visit was local history research, however did not subsequently select "yes" when asked if the visited local studies. This may highlight a problem in the way the questions are being asked as it is clearly causing confusion.

The overall satisfaction rate for visitors is a positive 92%. Additionally when rating satisfaction for various sections of the service the majority of respondents chose very satisfied or fairly satisfied. The only 2 areas of service to receive a negative response where exhibition (6%) and the shop (4%) Although very small percentages they are two areas in which further research could be done to achieve more specific feedback and find out how we can improve this part of our service.

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