Norton Museum of Art

The Norton Museum of Art is the largest art museum in Florida and a cultural cornerstone in West Palm Beach. Its world-class collection spans European, American, Asian, contemporary art, and photography, making it a vital destination for diverse audiences, lifelong learners, and community members alike.

 

As the museum continues to grow and evolve, for their marketing and operational team, understanding how visitors experience exhibitions, spaces, and services has become increasingly important.

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Museum feature:

8,900 artworks

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Favourite feature:

Tablet Survey with Email Sign-up

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Visitors annually:

Over 100,000 on average

“If we’re not getting it right for the audience, we’re not getting it right at all.”

 

 

The marketing challenge: knowing what your audience actually feels

 

Like many museum marketing teams, the Norton faced several common challenges:

 

  • Visitor preferences vary widely across demographics, interests, and expectations
  • Traditional feedback tools (comment cards, long surveys) were time-consuming and inefficient
  • Lower uptake, with many visitors choosing not to participate
  • Data collection and manual input slowed down insight delivery
  • Insights were difficult to package clearly for leadership and board discussions

The marketing team needed a way to:

 

  • Capture honest visitor sentiment while the experience is happening
  • Increase participation without interrupting the visit
  • Turn feedback into data that supports marketing strategy and leadership decisions

What marketers need from visitor feedback today:

 

For modern marketers — especially in museums and experience-led
venues — feedback isn’t just about satisfaction scores. It needs to:

     

  • Be easy for visitors to give, even when they’re short on time
  • Capture emotional response, not just long-form opinions
  • Be timely, so teams can act while the moment still matters
  • Be clear and credible, so insights can influence leadership decisions
  • Support strategy planning, not just reporting

What Avius delivered for Norton Museum of Art:

 

 

Avius helped the Norton Museum of Art turn in-the-moment visitor feedback into a powerful audience growth and engagement tool.

 

By replacing traditional methods such as comment cards and long surveys, the museum can now gather visitor insight quickly and efficiently through custom-designed survey kiosks. Visitors are invited to share feedback during their visit and opt in to the museum’s email list to hear about upcoming exhibitions and programmes.

 

To ensure data quality, email fields include validation rules, meaning visitors can only proceed once a valid email address is entered. This gives the marketing team clean, reliable data they can confidently use for campaigns, audience development, and future planning.

 

Most importantly, feedback is automatically reported and shared with the leadership team, allowing insights to be reviewed and acted on in a timely way — supporting faster decision-making and a more responsive, audience-led strategy.

A partnership that supports marketing goals

 

By capturing in-the-moment feedback, the marketing team can:

 

  • Understand shifting preferences
  • Balance the needs of diverse audiences
  • Build campaigns and experiences rooted in real visitor insight

For marketers, Avius provides the foundation for smarter strategy, clearer storytelling, and more confident decision-making.

 

Beyond the technology, Charlee highlights the importance of partnership.

 

Unlike “set-and-forget” vendors, Avius works closely with the Norton team to support evolving goals, refine the feedback approach, and ensure the system continues to deliver value. This ongoing collaboration allows the marketing team to stay agile as audience expectations change.

 

Looking Ahead

 

Looking ahead, the Norton Museum of Art is well positioned to deepen its connection with a diverse and evolving audience through future programming and artist collaborations. As experiences, exhibitions, and programs continue to grow, Avius will support the museum with real-time visitor insight, helping inform strategy, improve operations, and ensure meaningful, audience-led experiences for years to come.

 

“One of our favourite things about working with Avius is the ease of the experience for the visitor. That’s the most important thing — to make it easy for them.

 

Unlike other vendors with a “set it and forget it” mindset, working with Avius is different, they really are partners to us, and they help us achieve our goals — and that makes all the difference.”

 

Charlee Nolan
Chief Marketing and Communications Officer
Norton Museum of Art, Florida