So what is the big deal about selling tickets online as opposed to the traditional ways? Here are 9 of the top reasons why online ticketing delivers event organisers major advantages over traditional ticketing channels.
Disclaimer: Obviously we are a ticketing company, so our opinion is clearly biased! However, working inside an online ticketing company gives us unique insights to the benefits our clients receive and rave about. So here are some of the things they tell us.
With Online Ticketing you will...
1. Save Time:
You are going to be seriously busy running all aspects of your event. Outsourcing your ticket sales to your online ticketing platform is going to save you (and your committee) many hours work. Opening sales counters all hours of the day at specified locations (which probably isn’t convenient for your customers anyway) takes up a lot of time....time you could use focusing on other aspects of your event.
2. Have additional resources to call on:
A good ticketing company will have staff available for you to talk to in person should you need advice and tips. They will also deal directly with your customers when it comes to lost tickets, refunds (where relevant), any queries with card processing, and will of course want to help drive your event to sell more tickets. Its a bit like having a free consultant working for you.
3. Save Money:
Here is what you won’t spend if you migrate to an online ticketing platform: Base printed ticket stocks, bank fees associated with running your own eftpos merchant account, fewer staff required at the venue to process venue sales, misplaced/lost/stolen cash from the ticket booths on the door - to name a few.
Moreover, a standard practice for organisers is to charge more for people buying at the venue. So ironically, by enabling your new online ticketing channel (eg. at your usual price points) you may also be able to lift ticket revenues and your average ticket yield by executing a new higher price point for those buying at the door.
4. Gain a better first impression:
First impressions count! A stunning and easy to use online ticketing platform delivers a great 1st impression for prospective attendees, and ensures that attendees spread word of your event virally.
5. Sell more tickets & create word of mouth marketing momentum:
Offering an online ticketing channel will help you sell more tickets than not having this channel available. A bold statement certainly, so why is this so?
Your customers are online (Brits have for many years now been spending more time on the internet than watching TV). They buy everything online, and you need to enable this for your event too, thereby allowing your patrons to buy tickets to your event 24/7 from the comfort of their sofa.
Given the dominance of online media today your customers are most likely learning about your event online (via recommendations from friends on social media, your promo emails, your social media feeds, online videos, your website, article mentions about your event etc) – enabling people to buy their tickets at the very moment they are most excited to hear about your event will convert to an instant ticket sale...far better than asking someone to buy tickets in person at a later point.
Having a longer 'sell period' means that more people are likely to hear of your event. It also means you can build up interest and excitement around how many tickets are available. If you have tickets selling out, this will encourage people to commit sooner, and ensure you have a higher turnout for your event. Have a look at some ticketing strategies here.
And....if I have my ticket I am now definitely going so am likely to tell my friends I am going. If I don’t have my ticket yet, I won’t be as good an advocate for your event (as I really haven’t yet committed). Enabling people to buy early and easily will kick start the free and very powerful word of mouth marketing effect.
6. Gather marketing insights:
We have all tried it, but attempting to capture marketing insights (what age are you? how did you hear about the event?) at face to face point of sale locations is really hard (you and the customer just want to get their tickets and get going). Whereas online buyers have a bit more time to answer an extra question or 2 to deliver you those valuable insights you have always wanted to ask buyers as they make their purchase.
Gain a free marketing database for future events, that is automatically GDPR compliant: Similarly, asking for people’s email addresses at face to face sales locations just doesn’t work. And knowing who came last year, so you can promote to these people next year, is critical for the future commercial success of your event. It is significantly easier and less expensive to sell to a previous customer than finding a brand new customer and then convincing them to come along.
7. Better weatherproof your event:
Pre-purchased ticket holders are committed and will be much less flakey about inclement weather conditions on the day. People with no financial commitment to your event will be more likely to stay at home and light the fire if the weather for your event turns bad. Importantly, having a large amount of pre-purchased ticket holders will also ensure they influence their friends (who will buy at the venue) to come along anyway despite the weather.
8. Achieve faster access at the venue:
Scanning a pre-sold ticket on the door takes less than 5 secs per person. Completing a venue sale can take several minutes (and requires a box office/cash register solution at the door).
Plus, slow entry procedures will require you to hire more staff on the day to process sales quicker, and of course slow entry to your event won’t be delivering a great first impression of your event to the customer.
9. People expect it:
The world of events has changed dramatically even over the last few years, and people now expect to be able to buy tickets online to almost any kind of event, from New Years eve down at the Dog & Duck through to enormous Music Festivals, online ticketing has become the norm.
So for a raft of reasons (and lots more besides just the above) offering an online ticketing channel is absolutely critical to the success of your event. If you would like to discuss how an online ticketing channel could assist your event, please don’t hesitate to contact the Client Services team at Ticketebo.
In the meantime we’d love to hear from you. What reasons have we missed from the above list? Or feel free to counter our viewpoint by offering up reasons why you think traditional channels are better than online.
