Turquoise Becomes A Preferred Supplier To The National Trust

Turquoise Thinking Ltd – 15 August 2019

Source TURQUOISE THINKING LTD

Having worked alongside the National Trust on a number of projects over the years, Turquoise is proud to announce it has been added to the organisation’s national agency roster. This will provide a great opportunity to strengthen the existing relationship and get stuck in to some exciting new projects, delivering full colour insights where they matter in the months and years ahead.

For an organisation like the National Trust, staying in tune with the opinions of the public in general and its members, in particular, is absolutely vital. The organisation does incredible work in preserving the nation’s cultural and natural heritage, but its continued funding is reliant on membership subscriptions and charitable donations. Turquoise has worked with the National Trust on several projects over the years to help the organisation understand how members and visitors feel about key issues. These include the following:

• Gauging public opinion as to the introduction of a café at Dunster Castle, including an assessment of the impact on local businesses.
• Field surveys into the acceptability of introducing car parking charges at Saltram House and Garden.
• A range of studies at Killerton to understand the likely impact of essential renovation work on the overall visitor experience.
• Several studies looking at visitor experience at various other National Trust sites

The wide range of sites and attractions that fall within the remit of the National Trust make this a unique organisation with which to work. The managers and volunteers involved in the projects invariably have a genuine and infectious passion for what they do, and there is always something special and out of the ordinary about the work.

Of course, the organisation has preservation and conservation as its primary goal. However, it is refreshing that at the same time, those involved genuinely care about delivering the best possible visitor experience. This means that National Trust properties and locations are more than just museum exhibits frozen in time – they are valued and enjoyed today as much as they ever were.

Turquoise has had the opportunity to utilise a range of market research techniques while working on the projects mentioned above. These are, however, the tip of the iceberg and we can’t wait to get involved in some exciting new projects and utilise the various tools at our disposal. These range from the traditional, for example, face-to-face interviews with members, visitors and volunteers, to the latest tech tools.

An example of the latter is Turquoise Touchpoint, an innovative and fun way of gathering data quickly, in large volumes and at minimal cost. In essence, it involves gathering questionnaire data electronically by asking participants to complete an online form. That sounds simple enough, but the unique part is the Touchpoint Kiosk platform. This is a touchscreen mounted on a pedestal that visitors can use while passing through the facility itself. It is a great way to capture opinions “live” as opposed to asking someone to answer questions hours or days later.

To date, the majority of projects that Turquoise has worked on with the National Trust have been at properties in the south and south west, and were managed out of our Barnstaple facility. Of course, there are National Trust properties across the country, and our other regional offices, located at strategic points across England and Scotland, will be able to provide coverage whenever and wherever it is needed.

These are exciting times, and everyone at Turquoise is looking forward to developing a long and fruitful partnership with the National Trust.