6 Ways To Increase Ticket Sales With Your Online Ticketing Software

Last week, we talked about how online ticketing software can help your bottom line. In a nutshell, when you sell tickets online, you’ll be able to sell more tickets, you’ll get access to a new revenue stream with convenience fees and you’ll be able to cut back on front line labor.

So you’re sold. You start selling tickets online. But online ticket sales don’t take off like you would expect. What can you do to improve your online sales and make the most of them?

Spread The Word

It’s great that you offer customers a way to buy their tickets online but it will only work if they know about it. How can you let customers know?

There are lots of ways! You could send an email to customers whose email addresses you already have. Or you could mention it periodically on your Facebook page so that your fans will see. Put signage up in your facility or advertise it in the trailer text on your receipts. Mention your online ticketing anywhere that your customers might see it. That’s the only way they will know to use it.

Improve Visibility

Make sure that it’s easy for customers to find the link to buy tickets on your site. If you just have a text link buried within your website, no one will buy tickets online, even if that’s why they came to your site. Instead, make it jump out at them. Be sure that your customers can get to your ticketing from your homepage or, better still, every page of your site. Don’t have a basic text link, use a large graphic. You could even include a “Buy Tickets!” link in your site navigation. If no one can find the link, no one will use it.

Limit Transaction Fees

We have discussed transaction fees for online ticketing software several times in the past but it is still a hot issue. Every situation is different, but our stance is that you should charge some type of transaction fee to help cover your costs as well as to earn revenue for offering a convenient service.

That being said, it is also important to keep your transaction fees reasonable. If you try to charge a $5 convenience fee for a $10 ticket, you will quickly scare away your customers. You should be able to recoup your costs and even make a little on top, but extremely high transaction fees will just upset your customers.

Make It Easy

If a customer wants to buy tickets online but gets confused, they will likely just give up. Buying tickets online should be as easy as possible for your customers. So when looking for online ticketing software, make sure that you consider ease of use. Walk through the ticket purchasing process of any system that you consider, preferably at a live web store. As a general rule, if you get confused about any part of the process, your customer will, too.

Limit The Options

If you already have online ticketing software, there are still things that you can do to make the process easier. Look at which tickets you offer online. Maybe your facility offers dozens of different ticket types and multiple daily specials. Do all of these really need to be available online? Try to limit the options to your most popular ticket types. This way your customer won’t get overwhelmed and managing your online ticketing sales will be easier for you.

Match Your Online Store To Your Website

Finally, you want the online ticket purchasing process to be smooth and simple. With online ticketing software, the default look and feel of the store will likely be vastly different from your main website. When customers click the link to purchase tickets, some will be confused if they are immediately sent to what looks like a totally separate website.

Some online ticketing software will allow you to theme the online store to make it match the look and feel of your main website. This allows you to have a smooth flow to online ticket purchases which will keep your customers happy.

If you are going to offer online ticketing, make the most of it! Don’t ignore it and hope that it works out well. Take some time to look at your online ticketing software from your customers’ perspective and make sure that everything about the process is as smooth and simple as possible.

Interested in learning more about CenterEdge’s online ticketing software? Call (336) 598-5934 or click below to schedule an online demo.

{{cta(‘85503dfc-1fe7-4708-9033-9252a1b5d7ec’)}}     {{cta(‘357fdbdc-6e3a-4593-b010-b18f7a96ab43’)}}