Research shows more people buy tickets online to events today than by phone or in-person, which means if you’re not selling tickets online, you’re losing ticket sales. It’s that simple. The key to your event’s success is determining the features you need, so you can select the best online ticketing platform for you.
To help you get started, following are the most important features you should look for to ensure your online ticket sales go smoothly:
Event Features
When you’re choosing an online ticketing application, look for a platform that is secure and provides an easy-to-use dashboard, so you can see how your event’s ticket sales are going, track your promotions, and track ticket sales against your goals at any time. In addition, choose a platform that offers online support for you and your ticket buyers as well as email and phone support seven days per week. You never know when a problem might arise!
Your ticket buyers should be able to easily exchange, cancel, or refund their tickets directly from your online ticketing application, and it should be easy for you to resend tickets as needed. Furthermore, you should be able to create a compelling ticket sales page that motivates people to buy, and you should be able to send a post-event survey to attendees directly from your dashboard.
Some providers offer a variety of unique tools that can benefit you as well. For example, AttendStar offers an Event Scorecard, so you can see which features you’re using and which you might be missing out on that could help you boost ticket sales. AttendStar also allows you to compare your ticket sales to previous events and other similar events.
Ticket Options
Don’t choose an online ticketing platform that doesn’t give you the ticket options you need. Look for a platform where you can sell tickets with reserved seating if you need it as well as multiple pricing tiers, early-bird pricing and other discounts, and add on items like free food coupons, drink vouchers, or event merchandise.
If you plan to sell tickets offline or at the door or gate, choose a provider that can help you with those sales channels and makes it easy for you to design custom tickets for your event. Additional options to look for are the ability to add additional fees of your choice and the ability to display or hide those fees to buyers. Being able to set ticket minimums and maximums might also be important, and be sure to choose a provider that will alert you when ticket inventories are low.
Promotion Tools
To maximize ticket sales, you need to promote your event, so you should choose an online ticketing platform that comes with promotional tools built in. For example, AttendStar offers Ticket Buyer Buzz and Remind Me for email marketing as well as discount codes and ticket packages.
Other promotional tools and features to look for include social sharing, QR codes, and Facebook comments on your ticket sales page. Event organizers who leverage these promotional tools sell more tickets, so make sure your ticketing provider makes it simple for you to promote your event without leaving your ticket sales dashboard.
Reports and Data
Without reports, you won’t know if you’re on track to reach your ticket sales goals or how well your marketing investments are working. In other words, if you don’t have the right data, you can’t make important decisions that will ensure your event is a success.
With that in mind, look for an online ticketing platform that provides a variety of reports so you can track critical data. You should be able to access and download data related to your daily ticket sales, ticket buyers, scanned tickets at the event, discounts, unsold seats, profits and losses, and more.
Online Ticketing Integrations
You’ll save a lot of time and money when you automate ticket sales processes, but to do that, your ticketing software must integrate with the other tools you’re using to manage your event. These tools include your web analytics tool, email marketing tool, online advertising tool, and more.
For example, if you use AttendStar to sell tickets online, you can quickly integrate Google Analytics, MailChimp, ActiveCampaign, Google AdWords, Facebook Advertising, Adroll, and more directly with your ticketing dashboard. You’ll be able to track exactly where traffic to your ticket sales page is coming from and what marketing investments are driving the most sales.
Pricing and Payment Processing
How much does online ticketing cost? It depends on the platform you use. Some of the pricing and fees to consider are the fees you pay per ticket and the add-on fees you pay for additional features or options. For example, AttendStar charges a flat fee per ticket that is added to the ticket price. That means event managers pay nothing to sell tickets through AttendStar.
Payment processing refers to how you receive your payments for ticket sales. Keep in mind, online ticketing providers don’t all send your money to you at the same speed. AttendStar pays you as tickets are sold regardless of how many tickets sell. Other providers set thresholds or only pay at certain times.
Extra Features
Not all online ticketing platforms are equal. In fact, some offer much more than others, so do your homework and evaluate all of the features available to you. Do you need an automated phone system for your event? AttendStar can help you, but many other providers cannot.
The same is true of traffic planning, mobile communications with ticket buyers, email marketing, and lead generation. AttendStar offers services to help with all of these activities, but most other providers do not.
Online Ticketing Advice and Event Marketing Support
Finally, think about how much you know about event planning. If you’re not a professional event manager, you’ll need help to ensure tickets sell and your event is successful. For example, AttendStar is different from other ticketing companies because you get so much more than just ticketing software. AttendStar has valuable data on thousands of events and what made them work, which you can use to improve your event.
AttendStar can help you with marketing, too. The AttendStar event marketing team offers email marketing, Facebook advertising, ad retargeting, copywriting, website and graphic design, and promotion and ticket sales tracking services that truly can turn so-so ticket sales into sellouts. If you need marketing help, it’s highly beneficial to get help from expert event marketers who also handle your ticket sales.
Your Next Steps
Choosing platform to sell tickets to your event is a big decision. After all, your event’s success depends on ticket sales, so nothing can go wrong! Use the suggestions above to find the best provider for your event, and you’ll be one step closer to reaching your event goals.
