Today, every fair should offer tickets for sale online no matter how big or small. The truth is online ticketing offers many benefits that make fairs more successful. It’s just one more thing organizers can do to ensure their fairs are an incredible success, so they can hold their events again next year.
One of the best things about offering online ticketing is that it doesn’t have to add any upfront costs to your fair budget at all when you use a ticketing platform like AttendStar! With that said, let’s take a look at five of the key measurable ways online ticketing makes small fairs more successful.
1. Meet Ticket Buyer Expectations
Today, people expect to be able to buy tickets to events online. Whether it’s a concert, a big outdoor festival, or a small fair, the vast majority of people will be unpleasantly surprised to discover that they can’t buy tickets to an event online and in advance. In fact, the younger the ticket buyer, the more important it is to provide online ticketing, because younger consumers are used to buying just about everything with their mobile devices.
The convenience of buying tickets online is something that event goers have gotten used to, and many people will look for this option first. If they can’t find it, they’ll be disappointed, or worse, they may decide not to attend your small fair at all. You don’t want that to happen, so be sure to meet their expectations by providing a way for them to buy fair tickets online.
2. Improve Gate Entry
The easiest way to remove bottlenecks at the entry gate is to allow people who already bought tickets online to skip the lines and enter your fair seamlessly. The entire entry process will be faster and smoother if people don’t have to pay for tickets at the gate. It also eliminates the number of issues that pop up when you’re accepting cash or credit card payments and either devices, internet connections, phone connections, or other technical problems slow down the transaction process.
Another thing to consider is attendee satisfaction. If you want to hold your event again in the future, then attendees need to have fun at your event. If there is a long line at the gate or people have problems buying tickets at the gate, they won’t have a great experience. Their dissatisfaction could lead to negative word of mouth marketing and could decrease ticket sales for your fair now and next year – or whenever you plan to hold it again.
3. Sell More Tickets
When you sell tickets online to an event, including a small fair, ticket sales should increase. Not only is it more convenient for ticket buyers to buy online, but you’ll also have many more opportunities to boost sales. In addition to the many marketing opportunities that come with online ticketing discussed in #4 below, you’ll also have access to far more data, which you can use to optimize your budget and ticket sales.
For example, when you use an online ticketing platform like AttendStar, you’ll have access to useful event metrics, including real-time ticket sales data, which you can use to set the right ticket prices and launch pricing promotions like early bird pricing, ticket bundles, BOGO deals, and more.
LEARN MORE: 5 Creative Ticketing Tricks to Sell More Fair Tickets
4. Boost Marketing ROI
Marketing a small fair to ensure it’s as successful as possible requires a digital marketing plan for the simple reason that most people learn about events and share information about events online – through email, social media, and text messages. When you sell tickets for your small fair online, you’ll have an easy way to promote your event, track which marketing investments are working, and optimize your marketing spend to maximize ticket sales and the return on your investments.
If you use AttendStar as your online ticketing provider, you’ll be able to integrate your Facebook, Google, and AdRoll advertising directly with your ticket sales page. You can create an amazing ticket sales page that shows images, videos, details, and more about your fair, so people can’t resist buying tickets. You can also use built-in tools, like AttendStar’s Remind Me and Ticket Buyer Buzz, to boost ticket sales with email marketing.
In addition to all of the marketing features that are included in the AttendStar platform, the AttendStar team can build a custom fair website for your fair to generate more online sales. Using the data in your AttendStar ticketing dashboard, it’s easy to track where your ticket buyers are coming from before they arrive on your event website. You can use this data to improve your marketing efforts as needed. In other words, you won’t waste money on marketing investments that aren’t driving adequate ROI.
You can even capture emails and phone number through your website and the AttendStar software, which you can use for future marketing. As a result, your fair ticket sales will increase year-over-year.
5. Track Attendance for Advance Planning
When you sell tickets to your small fair online, you’ll know what the expected attendance is at all times. You’ll know if you need to increase or reinvest your marketing budget to drive more sales, and you’ll know which ticket pricing promotions are working best.
But that’s not all! You’ll also be able to plan in advance, so you’ll have adequate staffing, food, parking, security, restrooms, and so on at the fair. Online ticketing takes the guesswork out of so many aspects of event planning, so you can rest-assured that you have adequate help, resources, facilities, etc. on the event day without overspending.
Key Takeaways about Why Small Fairs Need Online Ticketing
Small fairs need online ticketing just like every other size fair or event does! In fact, online ticketing is essential to meet attendee expectations, maximize ticket sales, optimize the returns on your marketing investments, improve gate entry, and have peace-of-mind that everything has been planned in advance so your fair can be as successful as possible.
To do all of that, you need the right online ticketing partner! Contact us to learn about how AttendStar helps small fairs sell tickets online so they’re as successful as possible.
