Defining customers

The fundamental customer service the Museum provides, is access for everyone to its historical buildings and unique collections. As a result, we have a very wide range of customer needs and types.

The National Maritime Museum provides products and services to a wide range of customers. On any day, Museum staff may deal with:

• People wishing to research their family history in our archives
• Ship model-makers wanting advice on details of a ship
• Film companies wanting to use our buildings as a location for an advert or television drama
• Domestic tourists wanting a fun day out
• Foreign tourists wanting to experience British history
• School and college groups wanting to investigate the Museum to help with their studies.

Although everyone has their own special needs and interests, the Museum identifies customers in the following categories for operational purposes:

• Individuals
• Families
• Groups
• People from different cultures with different languages
• People with special needs
• Virtual users who access the Museum via our website
• Internal customers: e.g. members of staff.

Below are some examples of the different customers:

Individuals

• Casual visitors
• Special interest visitors
• Researchers

Families

• Parents with young children

Groups

• Mixed-age groups
• Special interest and education

People from different cultures with different languages

• Foreign and domestic tourists
• People from diverse ethnic and religious communities

People with special needs

• Blind or visually-impaired
• Deaf or hearing-impaired
• Learning difficulties
• Physical, emotional or mental health needs

Virtual users

• People who access the Museum via our websites

Internal customers

• Members of staff who support the work of others (see more below)

Of course, many people will fall into more than one category.

In order to provide for our different types of customer, the Museum has to know key pieces of information about them. The Museum uses a range a visitor research and information. For example:

• Data from our computerised admission tills
• Customer comments
• Focus group feedback
• Exit surveys

See the 'Visitor research' page in the Marketing unit to explore some different types of visitor statistics collected by the Museum.