“We can achieve all of our membership goals now, which is so exciting.”

Chanele Moss, Ticketing and CRM Manager at the Australian Museum, said she and her colleagues have long relied on Tessitura to deliver an excellent member experience. Since implementing Tessitura in 2021, the museum’s member numbers have soared by the thousands.

The team was eager to take advantage of new membership capabilities in Tessitura v16. Their goals included simplifying processes and better serving members. They embraced v16’s native membership solutions to reimagine how they manage the program.

Equipped with Tessitura v16, the Australian Museum’s membership base continues to grow.

Enticing members by highlighting value

Founded in 1827, the Australian Museum was the country’s first institution of its kind. Its membership program is now in its 53rd year. As they prepare for 200 years of the Australian Museum, moving to Tessitura was the first step toward improving how they serve the community. Upgrading to version 16 was the second.

While entry to the Australian Museum is free, its special exhibitions require paid tickets. These popular offerings pose the perfect opportunity to upsell memberships. That’s because, Chanele explained, “One of the main benefits of membership is the free tickets to the special exhibitions.”

“[With Tessitura v16] we can make membership more visible in that ticketing journey. That's the hook.”

Highlighting the value of free exhibition tickets helps the museum successfully upsell memberships. Fortunately, with Tessitura v16, Chanele said, “We can make membership more visible in that ticketing journey.” They now display the free member tickets alongside the regular ticket prices. Even better, they list free member tickets first, above the other prices. That ensures visitors see the membership benefit before selecting their tickets.

“That’s the hook,” Chanele explained.

Simplifying the purchase path with Tessitura v16

The museum’s upgrade to Tessitura v16 presented the opportunity to simplify back-end processes and streamline the membership purchase path. The upgrade, Chanele noted, “allowed us to scale back our customisations, lean more into native functionality and deliver a better member experience.” 

Tessitura’s enhanced membership capabilities proved invaluable. The team could navigate complex business requirements while streamlining the user experience for both members and staff. “We were able to remove roadblocks to acquisition both online and on-site,” Chanele said happily.

One of those roadblocks had been a confusing purchase path. With v16, they reduced the number of membership levels while underscoring the benefits. They’ve also made the transactions easier to complete.

“Being able to display the value proposition and people being able to buy the memberships easily, that’s what’s done it for us,” Chanele shared. The simpler path to membership opened the door to significant growth.

One month after launching the v16 purchase path, membership numbers had already jumped. The museum saw stronger, faster growth in 2025 than in 2024.

“When I started at the museum 18 years ago, we only had about 1,500 memberships,” Chanele reflected. By early 2026, the Australian Museum reached new heights with over 6,800 active memberships — an increase of more than 450%. With each membership including up to six people, the museum currently totals approximately 24,000 members.

By early 2026, the Australian Museum reached new heights with over 6,800 active memberships — an increase of more than 450%.

A membership hub makes benefits easy

Alongside improving member acquisition, Tessitura also supports the team’s retention efforts. “The key to a successful membership program is being able to remind members how much amazing value they are getting,” Chanele explained. The team uses Tessitura to reinforce that value at each stage of the customer journey. A key feature they appreciate is the membership overview page, where members land after logging in.   

“We are slowly training our members that this is their membership hub,” Chanele said. From this hub, members can instantly access all their benefits. They can click through to book special exhibition tickets and see how many free tickets they have left. The online shop, where their member discount applies automatically, is a click away. And during renewal periods, a banner reminds members to renew.

When the first exhibition opened after the museum's v16 upgrade, members noticed a difference. From the first day, members praised the smooth reservation process.

The museum also revamped their digital membership card, the Wombat. “The digital membership cards [are] the last big win for us,” Chanele happily noted. Members can use them not just for museum entry but also at the museum shop, food and beverage outlets and even partner museums. The added convenience invites Australian Museum members to make the most of their benefits.  

Positive impacts ripple across the museum

Membership growth is just part of the story. “For the museum, members are the litmus test to how we’re doing,” Chanele said.

When membership thrives, the entire museum sees the difference. Multiple departments are reaping positive impacts from the influx of new members. “It’s increased the donor base for the philanthropy department,” Chanele shared. “And we’re getting more interactions with our school holiday programs.”

“We’ve been able to grow as a museum and as an organisation because of Tessitura.”

As they deepen member engagement, the museum team knows Tessitura will continue to play a key role in the Australian Museum's ongoing growth.

“We’ve been able to grow as a museum and as an organisation because of Tessitura,” Chanele said.

Banner photo by Alistair MacDougall. All photos courtesy of the Australian Museum.