Case studies
Beyond museum audience segmentation: a research framework for online and onsite audiences.
University of Oxfords Gardens, Libraries and Museums (GLAM) Divisional Office
GLAM supports University of Oxfords six institutions – the Ashmolean, the Bodleian Libraries, the History of Science Museum, the Museum of Natural History, the Pitt Rivers Museum, and the Botanic Garden and Arboretum – in coordinating their work across teaching, research and public engagement.
Services: Research Framework Development, Action Planning
Tools: Consultancy, Data Strategy
Delivered: 2025
The ask.
The GLAM Divisional Office wanted to strengthen its existing museum audience segmentation, enabling more consistent gathering, sharing, and use of insights across all six organisations. This would in turn help embed human-centred design practices — enabling teams to better understand audiences, improve experiences, and demonstrate public impact to funders.
The answer.
A shared framework for audience research and an implementation roadmap to make audience insight part of everyday work.
GLAM wasn’t starting from scratch. There were already tools and data in use – but uptake was patchy, confidence varied, and some approaches didn’t feel relevant on the ground.
We worked with teams across all six organisations to co-create a practical new Audience Framework and a three-year roadmap to embed HCD practice across the organisation. Together, they help teams make better decisions, embed insight into day-to-day practice, and report meaningfully across organisation and divisional levels.
The approach.
Listening first
We spoke with staff across GLAM to understand who was using audience research, what was getting in the way, and how well current tools worked in practice.
What we found
There was strong commitment but also clear tensions: central tools didn’t always match local needs, insight felt hard to apply, and competing priorities got in the way.
The challenge
Each organisation had different audiences, goals and capacity — so a single, one-size-fits-all tool wasn’t going to work. But the lack of a shared approach meant duplication and missed opportunities.
Co-designing the framework
We created a new framework that respects these differences while offering shared direction. It works flexibly for both small education teams and large digital teams, across in-person and online experiences.
Building a roadmap for change
Alongside the framework, we developed a three-year roadmap focused on small, cumulative shifts — building confidence through peer learning, embedding insight into planning, and showing value through real examples.
The outcome.
The new Audience Framework and roadmap are helping GLAM teams to:
- Align mandatory funder reporting with richer, more strategic audience insight
- Create a shared language around audiences across six very different organisations
- Build confidence in using research in day-to-day planning
- Shift perception of human-centred design from ‘extra’ to essential
Already, teams are using the framework to inform both divisional reporting and local programme planning — demonstrating public value in ways that resonate with funders and feel relevant on the ground.
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