About the project

The Cutty Sark Trust wanted baseline data to better understand who their visitors were, their motivations, behaviour and satisfaction, and to understand the barriers which stopped other visitors in Greenwich from visiting.

The consultancy's role

Alix Slater Consultancy & Training worked with the Director and Fundraiser to develop surveys which were rolled out for three years, and at the end of each year's research the consultancy wrote a summary report which provided a robust set of data. This was then used to support a Heritage Lottery Fund application for the restoration of the Cutty Sark.

In the 2003 survey, the consultancy tested a new scale for measuring motivations and satisfaction, drawing on the extant literature, piloting the items with marketing experts and then rolling out the scale as part of the visitor survey.

It was extremely effective, so the consultancy then tested it at the National Gallery to see if it was transferable to a gallery context, which it was. In 2007, the development of the scale and findings from that survey were published in an academic journal, which has been widely cited since.