The category was aimed at rewarding innovative approaches to ticketing that engaged new audiences and maximised commercial opportunity.
The Foundling Museum tells the story of the Foundling Hospital, Britain’s first home for children at risk of abandonment. It won the prize after transforming its ticketing operations to address a £75,000 ($96,700/€89,600) shortfall in admissions and Gift Aid income.
Due to a small team and a lack of digital expertise, the museum struggled with siloed systems which meant that it could not keep up with digital advancements.
As a result, it launched a targeted project in 2023 in partnership with Stuart Leech from digital creative company Studio T that encompassed finance, retail, CRM, and ticketing.
This included the implementation of a custom-built online ticketing app, the introduction of an annual pass model, and the unification of all customer data.
These changes are claimed to have helped the museum address its financial challenges as well as improving the visitor experience.
“Taking a data-led approach, we restructured our ticketing by benchmarking comparable smaller or special interest museums, revealing that Foundling Museum’s ticket prices were lower than the average of £14 including Gift Aid,” said director of commercial and operations at the Foundling Museum, Rosie Baker.
“This, alongside low Gift Aid capture at the point of sale and online, pointed to missed revenue opportunities of around £75,000 per annum.”
Increase in repeat visitors
The museum increased its prices from £10.50 to £12.75 as well as introducing an annual pass and integrating Gift Aid into ticket purchases.
Baker says that visitors welcomed the change, and they saw a significant rise in repeat visitors with 250 from the annual pass alone.
They also noticed that online users were more likely to add extras when the checkout process was more simplified so it redesigned it to
“These changes have been transformative,” she said.
“Ticket and Gift Aid revenue rose by 39 per cent, and we’re tracking right on budget after 10 months.
“For the first time in five years, we’re set to end the financial year on target.
“Our initiative has shown that thoughtful changes, driven by data and focused on our visitors, can make a real difference, both for them and for us.”
More to come
For Baker and the Foundling Museum, this is not the end of their data-led strategy.
“Over the next year, our plan is to engage more of our priority audiences through further ticketing innovation,” she told TheTicketingBusiness.
“Specifically, from April 1 we will be offering free entry not only to under 21s, but also to care leavers and those on government benefits along with a discount to local residents.
“Our ticketing revenue will be directly invested in reaching audiences who may have found cost a barrier previously.
“Outside of our learning programmes, we currently can’t track how many care leavers are engaged with the Museum. Offering free entry to people who have experienced care in childhood would be a great way of analysing the museum’s reach and impact beyond our fantastic learning programmes.”