How to attract visitors with strategic, value-based experience design: A review and analysis of customer experience and visitor segmentation research for cultural organizations

Experiential concepts, especially in terms of customer orientation, have become more and more important for cultural organisations to survive in the market. This paper reviews concepts of customer experience from different perspectives and brings them together in a framework of nine customer experience categories relevant for cultural organisations: convenience; new unexpected impressions; coherence; inner movement; active involvement of the visitor; learning & cognitive engagement; multi-dimensional appeal and personal and social interaction. As a next step we examine which of these nine customer experience categories meet the values and preferences of which visitor target group. The analysis shows that different visitor groups share lifestyle specific and key motivational experiential values. Based on this analysis we develop eight value categories: education, tranquillity, action, sociability, sensuality, personal development, convenience and emotion, which we strategically connect to the nine customer experience categories in our framework. The use of the framework can help cultural organisations to develop experiential strategies that meet the preferences of their various target audiences.