Case Study: Kansas City Zoo achieves world-class status and higher visitor satisfaction with Service Management Group (SMG)

From survival to triumph The Kansas City Zoo reaches world-class status by listening to its customers

The Kansas City Zoo was facing dwindling attendance, mounting losses, and a deteriorating reputation in the early 2000s due to poor upkeep, inconvenient layouts, and limited animal visibility. In 2005 Service Management Group (SMG) — the Kansas City–based customer experience research firm — stepped in pro bono to provide Customer Experience Measurement and a data-driven survey program to determine what visitors truly wanted.

SMG’s surveys guided targeted changes: moving exhibits (e.g., river otters) to the entrance, adjusting feeding times, adding viewing decks, improving grounds and restrooms, redesigning the entrance, creating the Discovery Barn, and building the polar bear exhibit. Those actions, driven by SMG insights, produced measurable gains — a 28 percentage-point increase in satisfaction with animal viewing (2005–2012), 58% of visitors highly satisfied in 2012, and a 15% attendance increase to 824,218 in 2012 — helping the zoo achieve world-class status.

Kansas City Zoo

Randy Wisthoff

Director of Operations