Tessitura, a nonprofit technology company dedicated to helping arts and cultural organisations thrive, has an ongoing relationship with Georgia Aquarium, where its solutions help create a visitor-focused experience.
The attraction uses the unified Tessitura CRM platform for its ticketing, fundraising, and membership transactions, as well as its customer data. The aquarium also uses Tessitura’s access control service to scan tickets and membership cards. This means that all of its transactions (whether in person, online, or via kiosk) are powered by Tessitura, and it also uses the company’s hosting services.
Streamlined ticketing and access
The kiosks help to keep the entry process contactless, as well as making it easy for the visitor and allowing the aquarium to present upselling opportunities. In the wake of the COVID crisis, the attraction was well placed to adapt, as it already had the option to buy timed tickets online, alongside the kiosks on site.
“I think that’s what helped us navigate successfully through the pandemic,” says Anthony Rivera, Vice President of Operations and Hospitality at Georgia Aquarium. “We didn’t have to re-think our whole ticketing process. “While everyone was figuring out, ‘How do we do timed ticketing?’, we were ready. And we were able to invest our time and energies into more safety protocols.”
The Aquarium partnered with Tessitura and KIS to implement its kiosks. “We’ve been lucky to partner with Tessitura and KIS to make our kiosks user-friendly and fit our aesthetic,” adds Rivera. Georgia Aquarium now sees a higher per-capita spend at the kiosks than at in-person ticketing windows.
“Our kiosks have been successful in the fact that people want to use them. People would prefer to go to our kiosk lines. And we find that our lines are shorter at the kiosk than at the general window. It cuts down how many staff members we need out there, but also decreases the wait time for people.”
Another benefit is that the kiosks allow the Aquarium to open fewer ticket windows. “That allows me to deploy staff to assist guests, answer questions, help them navigate the building,” Anthony says. In other words, it allows a stronger focus on visitor services.
An enhanced guest experience
As the number of people visiting Georgia Aquarium continues to grow year on year, a contactless customer journey helps it to be more efficient and provide an enhanced guest experience. Both the kiosks and turnstiles free up staff to serve visitors in other areas, as Rivera explains:
“Turnstiles are something that Tessitura and our turnstile provider, Alvarado, worked with us to connect seamlessly. [They] have allowed us to deploy staff to other locations to be able to enhance the guest experience. At the end of the day, what we’re trying to do is create a natural flow into the building itself, as seamless as it possibly can be.”
Karyn Elliott, Chief Member Officer at Tessitura says: “Tessitura is not your typical software company: we are owned by our member organisations and take seriously our responsibility to serve them. So we are honoured by the trust that Georgia Aquarium has instilled in us to support their entire visitor experience.
“What I love about working with them is that they are true industry pioneers, always thinking about how they can continue to improve the experience they provide.”
“It’s our culture to consistently test the boundaries and find out how do we do it better,” adds Rivera. “Having partners that can help support that is critically important.”
Last month, Tessitura supported the Science Museum Group with key functionality such as timed ticketing and contactless scanning when its five museums reopened to the public.
Images kind courtesy of Georgia Aquarium
