THE LUME is the world’s largest digital art gallery. From da Vinci to van Gogh, it brings to life some of the biggest names in the art world through innovative digital exhibitions.
THE LUME switched from Ticketmaster to ROLLER in 2023, prompted by the need for greater flexibility over their product offering and a seamless guest experience. General Manager Josh Ogilvie explains the decision-making process. "We have a culture within THE LUME of wanting to be able to test and learn. Ticketmaster didn’t afford us the flexibility and it was really important for us to find a platform that allowed us to test different ticket prices, packages, and limited promotions in-house.”
“The visitor experience is critically important to us. We wanted to choose a platform that went as close to providing a frictionless experience as possible,” adds Josh.
Museum of Play and Art, another ROLLER customer, helped THE LUME ensure that ROLLER was the right choice for them. “Similar to us, MoPA has a really high standard of visitor experience and a high expectation around what a ticketing platform should do for both the customer and for them. So we engaged them through our review process and had a really close look at how they were utilizing ROLLER,” says Josh.
The visitor experience is really fantastic. It’s a really slick checkout, which is wonderful. We’ve been thrilled with being able to provide that frictionless experience.
Josh Ogilvie
General Manager, THE LUME
Data-driven pricing decisions
ROLLER’s online checkout has been a game-changer for the guest purchase experience and online sales. THE LUME’s checkout is overlaid on their website, helping guests quickly book their visit without navigating to another web page. “The visitor experience is really fantastic. It’s a really slick checkout, which is wonderful. We’ve been thrilled with being able to provide that frictionless experience,” Josh says.
THE LUME's online checkout
ROLLER’s flexible platform, in which operators can edit products and price points in just a few clicks, has opened up more opportunities for THE LUME to optimize revenue by testing different promotions online. A recent test helped them validate that they should focus on increasing value rather than decreasing price. “You always want reassurance that you’re in the sweet spot from a ticket price point of view. Over three weeks we very quietly dropped our price from $49 to $39 to see how it impacted conversion through the website. We found that conversion lifted by about 8%, but the downside was that we were discounting ticket prices by 20%. So the net result was negative,” says Josh. “This process gave us the confidence that our pricing strategy was right.”
As a result, THE LUME is now more focused on providing more value for money with inclusions like food and beverage rather than reducing pricing. “We're seeing really good success with those packages that are more based around what value we're bringing rather than discounting dollars,” says Josh.
ROLLER’s guest feedback tool, the Guest Experience Score, also helped them validate this decision. THE LUME uses the GX Score to send out post-visit surveys to visitors, enabling them to collect and action feedback on areas such as facilities, staff, and value for money. “We looked really closely at the GX scores and the value score over that period didn't move. So that was interesting feedback for us as well because if you’re going to discount the price to $39, you would expect some sort of uplift in that perceived value,” comments Josh.
7% online revenue uplift
The ability to offer contextual upsells in the online checkout flow has boosted the uptake of THE LUME’s add-on experiences. ROLLER recently released the ability to offer any product as an add-on, including time-based sessions, enabling operators to increase average spend by encouraging guests to add additional experiences to their online cart.
THE LUME's VR experience add-on
As part of THE LUME’s Leonardo da Vinci exhibit, customers can add on a VR experience where they can virtually fly over the Florence cityscape. "By building those timed add-ons into that main checkout journey, we've seen quite an extraordinary uplift in the conversion of those experiences. Almost one in ten people booking online are buying an upsell,” says Josh. They’re now selling 95% of available tickets to the VR experience. “We’ve achieved a 95% utilization rate of this experience, which would have otherwise been less than 50%,” adds Josh.
By building those timed add-ons into that main checkout journey, we've seen quite an extraordinary uplift in the conversion of those experiences. Almost one in ten people booking online are buying an upsell. We’ve achieved a 95% utilization rate of this experience, which would’ve otherwise been less than 50%.
Josh Ogilvie
General Manager, THE LUME
After just a month, THE LUME’s online revenue increased by 7%, just from add-ons!
Actioning guest feedback
Beyond validating pricing strategies, the GX Score has helped THE LUME improve operations, acknowledge high-performing team members, and benchmark their performance. GX Score customers can access industry benchmarks that compare performance against regional or global averages. “We use that as a benchmark for our operational team to ensure that they’re continuing to drive standards, and we’ve got a really measurable KPI,” comments Josh. “To see that with a value score of 4.3 you're sitting in the top 30% of the industry gives you peace of mind that you're where you should be.”
This doesn’t just help set KPIs; THE LUME receives actionable feedback on everything from seating options to noise levels. “We’re seeing an increase in volume complaints because we've deliberately dialed up the gallery to mirror a live concert experience. The feedback helps us find the right middle ground,” says Josh.
Measuring return on marketing investment
We have really rich data coming through, which is absolutely invaluable in assessing the impact of various campaigns that we put in the market. Let's just say we do a radio blitz for a month. We can see whether or not we're seeing an uplift in radio as a decision-making tool. It’s gone a long way to helping us finesse where we spend our advertising dollars.
Josh Ogilvie
General Manager, THE LUME
THE LUME’s data-driven approach also extends to their marketing strategy. They use ROLLER’s custom forms to quickly survey their audience so that even if guests don’t complete their post-visit survey, THE LUME still has the opportunity to understand how they heard about the venue. “We love the ability to build a custom form in the checkout. We rotate a whole series of questions through there on a weekly basis that give us a really strong snapshot of our audience,” says Josh.
This has been particularly effective for assessing the reach and impact of marketing campaigns. “We have really rich data coming through, which is absolutely invaluable in assessing the impact of various campaigns that we put in the market. Let's just say we do a radio blitz for a month. We can see whether or not we're seeing an uplift in radio as a decision-making tool. It’s gone a long way to helping us finesse where we spend our advertising dollars,” says Josh.
The advice and support that THE LUME has received throughout their journey with ROLLER has helped the venue succeed. ROLLER has team members on the ground around the globe, which was critical for THE LUME when choosing a platform. “The ROLLER team are fantastic. We’re in constant dialogue with our Customer Success Manager and the team, who are great at providing support. From a service point of view, having the team here in Melbourne is great. We had some of the ROLLER team come into the LUME last week and take us through what’s in the pipeline and what’s new in the platform,” says Josh.
There are exciting things on the horizon for THE LUME. Beyond their standard exhibitions, they’re looking at how they introduce new experiences after hours and diversify their offering. “We're looking at what interesting events and activations we can bring through the space. Being a digital art gallery, we've got infinite flexibility in how our experiences come to life,” says Josh.
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