NHMU Trailhead to Utah Visitor Research Findings

An evaluation of the Natural History Museum of Utah'(NHMU) "Trailhead to Utah" digital guide carried out by Frankly Green & Webb in March of 2014. The "Trailhead" is a digital ecosystem at the Natural History Museum of Utah consisting of touchscreen kiosks, a mobile guide, and a web portal for post-visit exploration. Since launching, the Trailhead to Utah system has suffered from low usage. NHMU wanted to understand why the service (in particular its mobile/smartphone element) was underused, and how it could be changed to offer a better visitor experience. In scoping the project, one key research question emerged: Was the underuse of the Trailhead system a result of... Inappropriate marketing of the service? The Trailhead itself being an inappropriate service for visitors? Or, a combination of these two factors?