Providing for customers

A family enjoying a Museum exhibit. Repro ID: F1261-3 ©National Maritime Museum, Greenwich, LondonThe best way to start investigating our provision for different types of customers is to think about what information you as a visitor would need when planning a visit.

Look at the Visit the Museum, What's on and Venue hire sections to see what we do for different customers and how we structure information so they can find it easily.

For operational purposes, the Museum identifies customers in the following categories:

• Individuals
• Families
• Groups
• People from different cultures with different languages
• People with special needs
• Virtual users
• Internal customers

The following notes summarize the products and services we provide for three of these categories of customers – families, groups and disabled visitors. Please note that many people will fall into more than one category.

Families – a family-friendly Museum

Children at Halloween party, the Queen's House. Repro ID: L3417-008 ©National Maritime Museum, Greenwich, London Families are an important target audience for the NMM. This is reflected in marketing campaigns which highlight the Museum as a free, family-friendly place to visit.

In the year March 2009–10, the NMM had a combined total of over 2.3m visits. Of these 444,261 were children in family or school groups.

The marketing materials focus on the key needs and expectations of family audiences:

• It's free – the price of tickets can be a barrier for many families, especially with the costs of travel and lunches
• It's fun and educational with lots to see and touch, like the All Hands interactive children's gallery
• There's lots to do such as special activity workshops, storytelling and treasure trails
• It's easy to get to with good transport links.

Detailed information about these services is marketed in our What's on? Events and activities for families booklet, which is sent to tourist information centres, libraries, shopping centres and other attractions.

• Download a past copy of a What's on? leaflet (PDF, 335KB)
• Download a past copy of a Free family fun leaflet (PDF, 1.3 MB).

Family-friendly facilities include areas for changing and feeding babies, clean and accessible toilets, cafe and picnic areas and online activities in our E-Library and on the website.

Groups

As individuals, everyone benefits from our core customer services – cafes, gift shops, cloakroom, lifts, signage and clean and accessible toilets, etc. However, the Museum has also built up experience in providing for different types of group:

• Foreign-language tourists
• Large groups
• Special-interest groups
• Corporate and private hirers
• Educational groups

Each group has a particular set of needs:

Education

• Curriculum resources and talks
• Visit planning and booking support
• Lunch and cloakroom

Large groups

• Coach parking
• Discounts to charging exhibitions
• Visit planning
• Pre-booked tickets
• Guided tours and talks

Special interest

• Enquiry and research facilities via the Library
• Archive and online resources
• Special curator talks and tours

Foreign-language tourists

• Translated information about the Museum for visit planning
• Souvenir guides

Corporate and private hire

• Event planning and support
• Venue hire
• Catering

Defining customers in terms of their needs – an example

Leisure and travel students visit the Museum to meet the curriculum needs of their course. ©National Maritime Museum, Greenwich, LondonLeisure and travel students visit the Museum to meet the curriculum needs of their course. We help plan and support each visit and seek feedback to evaluate the service we provide.

• Download booking confirmation materials for a past GCSE travel and tourism group visit (Word, 333KB). These include a timetable and detailed travel information, including maps.
• Download an evaluation sheet for a past leisure and tourism curriculum support event (Word, 35KB).

Disabled visitors – access for all

All of us experience some form of disability during our lives – e.g. spraining an ankle, being allergic to some foods, suffering from stress or depression, or needing glasses as we get older. Good, inclusive customer service is about understanding that we all have special needs.

The Museum is committed to developing access for all our visitors and users and complies with the legal requirements set down in the Disability Discrimination Act (1996, revised 2004) and, where possible, tries to exceed them. We also seek advice and feedback from a range of disability groups such as the Royal National Institute for Deaf People (RNID), Royal National Institute of the Blind (RNIB) and the Centre for Accessible Environments.

For visitors with disabilities, the Museum has a range of access facilities as part of its customer service. Examples include: 

• Lifts and ramps
• Providing detailed information for disabled visitors
• Providing alternative ways to access the Museum
• Maintaining a policy of welcoming assistance dogs

Museum visitors in Neptune Court. Repro ID: F6024-018 ©National Maritime Museum, Greenwich, LondonThe lifts and ramps provide flat or wheelchair access to most levels and galleries. Visitors may also borrow manual wheelchairs from admission areas.

We provide detailed customer information for disabled visitors on our website. Visitors can also call the Bookings Unit to make any special arrangements. The Acess information available online includes travel and visit-planning details such as the availability of disabled car-parking and the access facilities on all our sites (galleries, shops, library, cafe, adapted toilets etc). It is important that customer information also describes areas that are not accessible – such as parts of the historic buildings of the Royal Observatory. This avoids frustration and disappointment on the day.

We have a number of alternative methods to accessing the Museum and its collections.

Blind and visually-impaired visitors

For blind and visually impaired visitors we provide a programme of pre-booked talks and events. The Museum also provides an Audio Orientation Guide with an overview of the Royal Observatory, Greenwich, and the Queen's House. Visitors can listen to the guides online or download them. We also have a free audio guide specially designed for blind and partially-sighted people available at the Queen’s House.

Deaf and hearing-impaired visitors

For deaf and hearing-impaired visitors, perimeter loops are installed in the galleries, admission areas, Planetarium, and Lecture Theatre, and at information desks and key audio installations. A mobile loop is also available for tours. A programme of pre-booked British Sign Language (BSL) sign-interpreted talks and events is run for deaf and hearing-impaired visitors.

Note that physical disability is not the only barrier to people accessing and benefiting from the Museum and its collections. There are intellectual, cultural and economic barriers to accessing the Museum and its collections.

Intellectual barriers

Intellectual barriers can include lengthy gallery text using complicated language. To address this, object labels in the Museum are written in plain English. We also have some large-print guides with clear introductions to the galleries and the key objects within them.

Audio guides with commentaries in different languages is a key customer service for people who dislike reading lots of text, those who have learning difficulties or have English as a second language. These are available at the Royal Observatory and the Queen's House.

Cultural barriers

Assuming that all visitors can read and understand English is a cultural barrier. The Museum provides souvenir guides and essential visitor information on our website in different languages. This service targets both foreign tourists and domestic visitors with English as a second language. The Tintin exhibition (2004) and the Nelson and Napoleon exhibition (2005) had French label text in the galleries.

We also have non-Eurocentric displays and events which inform customers of the history of people and cultures from all over the world.

Financial barriers

Not everyone can afford the price of admission and this can be a barrier, excluding people from benefiting from visiting museums and galleries. Many museums and galleries address this issue by having free admission. The National Maritime Museum has free admission to its main sites. For its charging exhibitions, the Museum operates a system of concessions (discounts).

Concessions often apply to people aged 60 or over, full-time students, people registered as having a disability, and unemployed people.

Find out more about some of the barriers (Word, 31KB) preventing people accessing the Museum as a tourist attraction and leisure facility, and how these can be overcome.