Enhancing the experience: creating service opportunities using mobile phone technology in museums

Abstract

With increased use of mobile phone technology as a marketing tool, service innovation and service delivery research has focused on the ways that technology affects customers and enhances the experience. Use of mobile phones and other forms of wireless technology is common practice in some commercial environments and is part of an emerging e-service paradigm. The marketing perspective on technological service delivery is focused less on reducing costs and more on enhancing the customer interface. The growth of mobile phone usage has allowed marketers to use SMS messaging and mobile communications as an advertising and information channel to disseminate messages to current or potential consumers. This research explores the role of mobile technology in museum marketing. This work aims to advance knowledge concerning creation and enhancement of service relationships and social bonds using mobile phone technology in museums. The research adopts a qualitative approach, examining the role of mobile phones in visitor interaction and museum experience. A set of 22 consultant customers were selected from technologically efficacious generation-Y segment. Museum visitors offered definitions of a typical museum offering, their mobile phone ownership and usage and attitude toward the use of interactive mobile technology in a museum experience. Implications for management and future research are discussed.