The Psychology Behind Ticket Sales

Ever wondered why certain events sell out within minutes while others struggle to fill seats? Or what drives people to pay top dollar for a premium experience? We’re diving into the psychology that goes into making a purchase and exploring consumer behavior because understanding these nuances can be the game-changer in event success.

Selling the Experience

There are various factors that have the power to influence a customer’s purchase decisions:

  • FOMO: Even if you’ve never heard of it, you have most likely experienced it! As an abbreviation for “fear of missing out,” FOMO is that worried or anxious feeling in your gut when you may miss exciting events, or see pictures on your social media of friends having fun at an event without you. Folks don’t like the idea of not being a part of something, and you can use this to your advantage. Combine this with the principle of scarcity and you’ll be selling tickets in no time. Using phrases like “limited tickets available” and offering limited time deals are both great ways to create that sense of urgency that can lead to impulse buying. 

  • Emotional Connection and Nostalgia: Whether it’s a county fair that has been held over over 100 years or a festival celebrating local culture, there are events that are a little extra special to us, and most of the time as consumers we are willing to pay more for that experience. Remind buyers that for a ticket to your event, they can relive fond memories and create new ones with their own family. 

  • Pricing and perceived value: Let’s talk about the psychology of pricing! The initial price you set for a single ticket, known as the “anchor,” will typically have a higher-than-normal anchor price (think of the original prices set at stores like Kohl’s). Then by offering discounts, promotions or bundled packages, customers get the feeling of bagging a great deal. Another factor is in the perceived value of the ticket. Create and market your event in such a way that buyers have the belief that the ticket’s value exceeds its cost, it can heavily influence whether or not a purchase is made. 

Online Ticketing – Convenience & Psychology 

Gone are the days of standing in long queues or making phone calls to secure your tickets. The shift to an online-buying experience has fundamentally altered consumer behavior, changing how we market tickets too!

User Experience and Decision Making

The purchase of tickets now entails more than simply choosing an event to attend. Factors such as ease of access, seamless navigation, security, and trust play pivotal roles in influencing consumer decisions. The interface design, the reassurance of secure transactions, and the ease of the checkout process all shape the psychology behind a successful ticket purchase.

Integrated ticketing systems have emerged as game-changers in this scenario. They redefine the entire process, not just by streamlining ticket sales and distribution but also by harnessing data for personalization.

The integration of such systems deeply impacts consumer psychology in multifaceted ways. Trust and reliability are fostered through seamless transactions and secure platforms. The sheer convenience and efficiency elevate the overall ticket-buying experience, contributing significantly to building customer loyalty.

Understanding and Exploring Integrated Ticketing

Having an understanding of consumer psychology within the realm of ticket sales is paramount. It’s not just about selling tickets; it’s about comprehending the nuances of consumer behavior and leveraging that understanding to enhance the entire process.

 Consider exploring the benefits of what different ticketing platforms have to offer, such as security and support. If you want to see firsthand what an integrated platform can do for an event like yours, sign up for a demo with Saffire! 

Ticketing Solutions for Your Haunting Adventure

Don’t frighten away guests with long lines or slow entry! With the right ticketing partner by your side, you can deliver a haunting experience for all.

With Halloween right around the corner, we enter the season of spooky hayrides, haunted houses, frightening corn mazes and other spine-chilling haunts! But what’s actually scarier than a headless man running after you with a chainsaw? A ticketing company that doesn’t have everything you need to run a smooth event. 

So, let’s explore the features your haunted attraction should look for in a ticketing partner so you can deliver a horrifying (but efficient) experience to all your guests. 

A Hauntingly Effortless Ticketing Process 

First and foremost, you want to make sure people can actually buy your tickets! Look for a partner with an intuitive interface that’s easy to manage–and bonus points for integration! Plus, Most folks are buying their tickets on their smartphones nowadays, so you’ll want to double-check they offer a mobile optimized platform. 

Next thing to consider is can you offer the types of tickets you want? From general admission and VIP tickets to group discounts and promo codes, the more ticketing options you have, the better you can meet the needs of your audience. 

Making Entry Management Scary Fast  

Don’t let long, slow-moving lines frighten away your guests! Instead, use a ticketing system that delivers their tickets directly into their mobile wallet. With a QR code on their smartphone, it only takes a couple seconds (and less gate attendants) to scan tickets and let folks in. You’ll also want to keep people moving once they’ve entered the attraction, so find a platform with real-time capacity monitoring to avoid overcrowding and ensure safety. Additionally, a robust system should allow you to effectively manage re-entry and prevent unauthorized individuals from entering. Access control is crucial to maintaining order and the spooky experience for guests. 

Frighteningly Good Reporting 

Improving your haunt and its operations should be driven by data! By having access to real-time reports and data collected from customers, you can tailor your marketing efforts to different audiences and optimize pricing strategy based on sales trends. You can also use the data to make your haunted attraction even better for next year–see what specific haunts are most popular and allocate resources during peak times to keep guests enjoying their spine-tingling adventure without long waits or empty scares. 

Scream-Worthy Service 

You might be running a haunted attraction, but that doesn’t mean you want to be ghosted by your ticketing partner! Whether it’s the haunting season or not, you’ll want to find a ticketing partner that is available year round by chat, email or phone. The ideal ticketing partner will be one of your best allies! So be on the lookout for one with a smart and dedicated team to answer your questions quickly, offer emergency support and promptly offer any assistance. With the peace of mind of a support team that always has your back, you can focus on making the spookiest, scariest haunt possible! 

As Halloween approaches, it’s hard to overstate the importance of finding the perfect ticketing partner for your haunted attraction! Look for a partner that can facilitate a seamless ticketing process, keep the lines flowing, collect the right kind of data, and prioritize responsive customer support. With the right partner, you can create bone-chilling experiences that will haunt them long after they leave!

Five Ways to Master Media Coverage

Ready to get the word out? Discover how to secure media coverage that extends your event’s reach, enhances your brand reputation, and outperforms traditional advertising.

Securing media coverage offers the fantastic advantage of introducing your event to fresh and diverse audiences, creating a ripple effect that extends your event’s influence far beyond your usual crowd. Not only does media coverage capture the public’s attention and improve your brand’s reputation, but it can actually be more valuable than a typical advertisement.

Creating an effective media outreach strategy will take some time and patience, and to help you with the journey we’ve compiled our best advice for gaining media coverage. 

Define Your Event & Understand Your Audience 

Start by getting the basics out of the way: define its purpose, lay out your goals and zero in on the audience you’re trying to target. How old are they? Where do they live? How do they get their news? These are just a few of the questions you’ll want to answer. Don’t forget to consider the unique selling points (USPs) that set your fair or festival apart. Do you have the tallest ferris wheel in the South West United States? Or a 300-pound sculpture of your governor carved from butter? This is what the people want to hear about!  

Create Captivating Collateral 

Next up is creating two key pieces of key content: a press release and a media kit. Craft a compelling event announcement press release that is concise and includes the who, what, where and why in a punchy manner. The press release should also include a quote from the event’s organizers and contact information for media inquiries. Journalists should be able to find your organization’s media kit and access it easily. Include high-quality images, logos, branding assets, event background information, press releases, a detailed schedule and other relevant information (like statistics).

Get to Know Media Outlets & Journalists 

Now you need to know who to pitch to. Oftentimes, the relationships you’ve built with media outlets and journalists will determine the media coverage your event gets. You’ll want to research both local and regional outlets (press, radio and television) as well as outlets that cover similar events to yours. Forge genuine connections with journalists by personalizing outreach and tailoring messages to their interests or unique perspectives. 

Offer an Exclusive

Unfortunately, the inboxes of journalists and outlets are constantly barraged with press releases, pitches and story ideas, so it’s important to stand out from the crowd. To increase your chances of landing media coverage, provide outlets and journalists with exclusive opportunities. Behind-the-scenes access, interviews with performers or a personal invite to a first-hand experience are good places to start. By offering a unique perspective you’re more likely to catch their attention! 

Tap Into Your Network

Reaching out to industry publications and familiar faces amplifies your event’s reach beyond the ordinary scope. As your network converges with media opportunities, a harmonious relationship emerges, propelling your event’s story into the spotlight and nurturing a cycle of growth that’s both meaningful and mutually beneficial.

In the realm of event promotion, securing media coverage can help you reach new audiences and launch your brand to the next level. From defining your event’s purpose to crafting collateral and from cultivating relationships with journalists to offering exclusive glimpses, every step is important in mastering media coverage.  

Best Practices for Capturing Video

Lights, camera, action! In the current age of digital content, sharing the magic of live events through video has never been easier. Whether you’re capturing a concert on your fairgrounds or documenting family fun at your festival, knowing best practices for gathering video can set your content apart. In this blog, we’ll explore some of our top tips, tricks and techniques to help you make the most of your video marketing strategy. From the front row to backstage, this guide is your ticket to mastering live event videography! 

Plan Ahead 

No one knows your event! Identify key points of interest around your grounds or venue (like the concert stage or a crowd-favorite ride) and take some practice shots to determine the best vantage point for filming. You’ll want to anticipate lighting conditions, possible obstructions and any challenges, so try filming a rehearsal if you can! 

Choose Your Equipment

Next up, how will you capture the videos? Nowadays, you can capture clear, high-quality video from most iPhones, but you will also want to consider the type of video you’re shooting. If it’s for a social media ad for instance, be sure you’re either filming with your phone horizontally, or you are using a camera that films in multiple ratios. Consider external microphones for better audio sources, and extra batteries or powerbanks so you won’t have to stop filming for a charge. 

Keep Shots Stable

Having a smooth stable shot is a simple way to elevate the quality of your footage. Tripods, gimbals and similar tools eliminate shaky footage, ensuring a smooth shot. Practice with your camera shooting in different angles and with different movements. 

Consider Lighting

Are you going to be filming the crowds during the day or capturing video at a nighttime concert? If you’re filming a show, familiarize yourself with the lighting setup (such as spotlights or stage lighting) and adjust your camera settings accordingly to avoid overexposed or underexposed shorts. 

Composing Your Shot

You’ll want to make sure your main subjects or point of interest are fully captured in the shot! Use the rule of thirds (essentially creating a tic-tac-toe board over the shot, and placing the subject where the lines are intersecting) to create more visually appealing shots, and experiment with different angles and perspectives to add variety to your footage. 

Don’t Forget the B-Roll 

In addition to capturing all the action at your live event, remember to shoot plenty of cutaways and B-roll footage! Getting additional shots of audience reactions and behind-the-scenes moments can add quite a bit of depth and context when editing your final video. 

At the end of the day, capturing video at live events requires careful planning, the right equipment and an eye for detail. With the right composition and footage, you can give your audience an immersive experience they won’t forget. Happy filming!

Expert Tips for Managing Staff Shortages

One of Saffire’s Core Values is “We Are Dedicated Team Players.” If you’ve worked with us on a project, we hope you’d agree we are outstanding partners!

Staffing any event can be a challenge, but we’ve noticed a trend with partner events across the country recently: Gate staff challenges, shortages and no-shows.

Is there anything worse than that feeling on opening day or night, when the months of planning and operational work have all built up to that moment when you are about to open the gate and welcome an adoring crowd into your event, only to realize there just aren’t enough people helping get them in? Ticket sellers, ticket scanners, line barkers, security and bag checkers, greeters… each of these staff members matter when you need to get folks into your event, and if you are short or unprepared with any one of the critical staffing areas, your guest experience can really suffer.

Saffire has developed so many software and product solutions to address ticket selling and scanning staffing needs, like our unmanned self-serve ticketing kiosks, iPhone/hip-printer mobile selling stations and line busters, QR code-based signage directing customers to buy their tickets online and come right up to scanning lines, and more. Although we’ve been able to help so many of our partners reduce their reliance on ticketing and gate staff, there are still several crucial roles that must be planned and staffed appropriately for your event’s admission process to succeed.

Planning a reliable staff for your admission is so important. If you are hiring a staffing agency, be sure you communicate your event requirements and ask them about their own backup plans! Relying on volunteers to staff your gates? Engage in constant and consistent communication with your team(s) about expectations and be prepared to provide a good experience for them too. Make it easy on them by making sure your volunteers know where to park, what to wear, what their hours will be and most importantly, THANK them often and in big ways.

Signage!

So much of an event’s success relies on the tiny details, so never underestimate the power of clear signage to help folks identify what line they should be in to buy a ticket onsite, or where they can go if they’ve pre-printed or brought a ticket on their device! If you are using self-service ticketing kiosks, make sure to clearly identify them with signs too, so people use them! If you have a bag-check process, use a sign to tell people in line what to expect to help you make the process efficient!

Conclusion

No matter how prepared you are with a ticketing system, technology and structure, if you don’t have the RIGHT people in place to execute your plan, you’ll be unable to get tickets into customers hands, through the gate, checked by security and scanned for entrance. Plan for your people and be ready with a backup plan so you have a solution if and when you need one in the moment. In the face of staffing challenges, do your very best to provide adequate signage and gate structure to eliminate as much confusion as you can for your customers.

Sell More Tickets With Influencer Marketing

With 61% of consumers trusting influencers’ recommendations, it’s not hard to understand why influencer marketing has quickly become an essential part of many brands’ marketing strategies. And it just could be the ticket (pun intended) to boost your ticket sales. 

By partnering with local influencers who have a relevant and engaged audience, you can leverage their reach and credibility to promote and drive interest in your event. 

It’s easier than you might think! Here’s some easy steps you can to get started with influencer marketing:

Identify relevant influencers

The first step in any influencer marketing campaign is to identify relevant influencers who can help you promote your event. Tasha Hyder from Clay County Fair actually invited two different influencers to this year, a “mommy blogger” appealing to families and a food blogger with a large audience in the area. 

Set clear objectives

Before you launch your influencer marketing campaign, it’s essential to set clear objectives for what you want to achieve. Do you want to increase brand awareness, drive ticket sales, or both? Be specific about your goals, and make sure they are measurable so you can track your progress.

Create engaging content

Once you’ve identified your influencers, you’ll need to work with them to create engaging content that promotes your event. Consider giving influencers creative freedom to come up with their own ideas for promoting your event. Authenticity is key to their audience.

Provide incentives

Influencers are often motivated by incentives like free tickets or access to VIP areas. In exchange for creating and posting content to promote your event, consider sending admission tickets, drink tickets, parking passes, food vouchers, or other goodies along with their invitation. Ideally, you would want to provide everything necessary for the influencer to attend, like tickets and parking, then add additional incentives to try and get them to come. 

Track your results

Finally, it’s essential to track your results and measure the success of your influencer marketing campaign. Use tracking tools on social media platforms like Facebook and Instagram to gather metrics including likes, comments, and shares. And take a look at sales reports in your Spark dashboard to see if any boosts in sales could be attributed to their content. This will help you determine what worked well and what needs improvement for future campaigns.

Spend some time exploring who’s influential in your area—did you know almost half (47%) of influencers are considered to be ‘micro-influencers’ with 5,000-20,000 followers? With higher engagement rates and many accounts meeting this threshold, there may be way more influencers around your event than you realize, and much more budget-friendly than you had considered. You can easily find influencers by searching relevant hashtags or nearby locations in your area! 

Alerting Customers to Fraudulent Tickets

Our top priority at Saffire is providing a secure and reliable platform for customers to purchase tickets to their favorite events. Unfortunately over the past couple years, the rise of fraud has made it increasingly difficult for folks to trust the ticketing industry. We’ll look at some of the common tactics used to swindle ticket sales and discuss how you can best protect your customers from falling victim to ticket scams. 

So, what should you be on the lookout for? 

  • Fraudulent ticketing sites: These are websites that claim to sell tickets to events, but are not authorized by the event organizers as the official ticketing platform. These fake sites look legitimate and often use aggressive marketing tactics to lure unsuspecting customers into making a purchase. Once someone has paid for the tickets (typically at a price significantly higher than face value), they are sent either fake tickets or no tickets at all. 
  • Ticket scams: Similar to fraudulent ticketing sites, these scams also involve the sale of fake tickets or tickets that do not exist. However, it can also involve the sale of legitimate tickets that have already been sold to someone else. This can happen when a scammer purchases tickets to an event and then sells them to people, pocketing the money without delivering any actual tickets. 
  • Unauthorized ticket resellers: This constitutes any individuals or companies that buy tickets to events and resell them at a markup. While this is not inherently fraudulent, it can lead to fake tickets that can’t scan, overpriced tickets and other issues. In some cases, these resellers will use deceptive tactics to make it look like they are the official ticketing platform or that they are a legitimate secondary reseller. 

Helping Customers Avoid Scams 

Be sure to remind customers the only way to protect themselves from ticket scams is to only purchase tickets from authorized sources. Warn folks to be wary of sites that offer tickets at prices that seem too good to be true, as these offers are often fraudulent. 

Some of our clients are adding messaging to their homepage or posting reminders on their social media to alert fans of potential scams, and remind customers that their site is the only place to purchase guaranteed tickets. We love how these clients are using the tools at their fingertips to get the message out! Check out the examples from Fond Du Lac County Fair and Cody Stampede Rodeo. 

Fraudulent ticketing sites, ticket scams, and unauthorized ticket resellers can be a major problem for customers who are looking to purchase tickets to their favorite events. By reminding folks to be cautious and only purchase tickets from authorized sources, you can protect your guests from falling victim to these scams. And with a trusted ticketing platform, you can guarantee attendees safe and secure tickets!

Hosting a Food & Drink Festival? Time to Ditch Tokens!

Tokens or paper tickets are outdated! Elevate the experience of your food or drink festival by going completely cashless.

If you’re hosting a beer festival, a wine tasting or a celebration of cuisine, it’s time to ditch the old token or paper ticket system for the future.

Using outdated systems of payment at food and drink festivals can lead to a range of issues, including slow transaction times, long lines, frustrated employees, and vendors who are often left with the time-consuming task of handling large volumes of cash and coins. The systems may also lack the security features necessary to protect against fraud or theft, putting your event at risk. 

The solution? Going cashless with RFID! This system provides a convenient and secure way to make transactions, reduce queuing times and it enhances the overall event experience. 

Benefits of RFID-Enabled Payments

There are three key ways your event could use RFID technology:   

  • Cashless payments: A certain amount of money is pre-loaded onto an RFID-enabled wristband or card that attendees can use to make purchases at food and drink vendors, merchandise stalls, and other points of sale. When making a purchase, attendees simply tap their wristbands on a reader, and the payment is automatically deducted from their balance. Credits are topped up online or at a kiosk onsite. 
  • Access control:  Wristbands can be pre-programmed with specific access rights, such as VIP access, backstage access, or access to restricted areas. When an attendee arrives at an access point, they simply tap their wristband on a reader, which verifies their access rights and grants them entry. It can even help you manage alcohol services by flagging underage customers.
  • Boosting your brand: By incorporating RFID tags into promotional products, such as wristbands, t-shirts, or badges, brands can create interactive experiences for their customers. Attendees can tap their RFID-enabled product at designated touchpoints, such as photo booths or interactive displays, to unlock exclusive content or participate in contests. 

Data is Key!

Furthermore, organizers can monitor and manage the flow of cashless payments in real-time, enabling them to make data-driven decisions about staffing, inventory, crowd control, event layout and pricing. One of the key benefits of going cashless with RFID at food and drink festivals is the valuable data it provides on customer behavior and preferences. 

By tracking which food and drink items are purchased and when, event organizers can gain insight into which vendors are popular and which items are selling well. This information can be used to inform future event planning and vendor selection, ensuring that attendees have the best possible experience at the festival. Additionally, by collecting data on customer spending patterns, organizers can identify opportunities for upselling or cross-selling, further enhancing the event’s profitability. Overall, going cashless with RFID technology at food and drink festivals is a win-win for both event organizers and attendees. 

The time to ditch tokens at your festival is now! Provide your attendees a convenient, secure, and data-rich experience for all involved.

5 Off-Season Events to Inspire Your Fairgrounds

The off-season can often feel like a time to catch your breath and take a break from the hustle and bustle of the fairgrounds. However, this downtime can also be an opportunity to plan and execute events that will not only generate revenue but also keep your fair top of mind for your community.

Sure, thousands of people (or maybe even a million) come through your gates during the fair, but what about the rest of the year?

Fairgrounds are a versatile environment that can cater to the needs of many different types of events throughout the off-season, generating revenue and keeping your fair relevant in the community. Planning and hosting an event also provides a unique opportunity for sponsorship and connecting with local businesses. 

With their vast and versatile spaces, fairgrounds can be transformed into a variety of venues, from concert arenas and exhibition halls to outdoor festivals and sporting events. The different facilities and buildings available on fairgrounds provide a range of options for event planners, including indoor and outdoor spaces, grandstands, pavilions, and even camping grounds. 

The possibilities are endless!

Below are five different off season events at fairs we’ve partnered with. Take inspiration from them and start planning your next off-season event today! 

Wine & Chocolate Festival – Enumclaw Event Center/King County Fair 

The Enumclaw Expo Center at the King County Fairgrounds hosts an annual Wine & Chocolate can sip, savor, and shop some of their favorite regional offerings.  For two nights in February, Washington State wineries and local confectioners gather at a fairgrounds just south of Seattle, and visitors come to taste wines and snack on chocolates while they shop from one of the many vendors. 

Elkhorn Antique Flea Market – Walworth County Fairgrounds   

Walworth County Fairgrounds is home to many treasures, including Southeastern Wisconsin’s largest antique flea market. The Elkhorn Antique Flea Market has been held four times a year at the fairgrounds since 1982, and today hosts over 500 vendors and attracts shoppers from all over the region. 

Bounce into Spring – Red River Valley Fair 

Over a dozen inflatable obstacle courses and slides on the grounds of Red River Valley Fair welcome kids and families to Bounce into Spring! It’s been a few years since the organization shifted focus to off-season events, but according to Elizabeth Birkemeyer, the impact in the community has been noticeable. 

Yesteryear Village – South Florida Fair 

Tucked inside the fairgrounds of South Florida Fair is a village known as Yesteryear open year round. There visitors take a glimpse into life in South Florida during the late 19th and early 20th centuries in the village that consists of more than 30 historic buildings, including a schoolhouse, a general store, a church, and a blacksmith shop.

Kids Fall Festival – Anoka County Fairgrounds 

Anoka County Fair, whose annual fair is held in July, opened their grounds the weekend before Halloween last October to hold a family-friendly fall festival for children of all ages. Although it was called a festival for kids, with pumpkin painting and a not-so-scary haunted house, there were food trucks and vendors to shop at for the parents. 

By charging a reasonable admission fee or selling tickets for activities, food, or drinks, you can generate revenue while still keeping the event affordable and accessible for families. Other revenue-generating opportunities may include selling merchandise, hosting a silent auction or raffle, or offering sponsorship packages for businesses. Whether you’re planning a trade show, concert, sporting event, or festival, fairgrounds offer a wealth of possibilities for creating a memorable and successful event. Plus, with SaffireTix and Spark web management, you can manage everything in a simple, integrated platform.

Mapping the Ticket-Buying Customer Journey

Understanding the journey your customer takes to purchasing tickets will help you find opportunities for improvement!

A customer journey map is a visual representation of the process a customer takes with a company. For the purpose of ticketing, the map begins when a person is initially made aware of available tickets and concludes after the ticket has been used for entry. All the steps in between are interactions or experiences that make up a customer journey map. 

The Purpose of a Customer Journey Map

If everyone who had heard of tickets bought one, you wouldn’t need to worry about the customer journey! Since this isn’t the case, mapping out the customer journey and gathering feedback on the different touchpoints to better understand guest behavior. A customer journey map is also key for your marketing team to identify the tone and content that should be communicated depending on the stage of the journey. 

Customer journeys are specific and based on actual experience, so take the time to collect feedback from guests to have a clear grasp on the patron’s journey to purchasing tickets. Is the customer journey too long? Is it too confusing? You may be surprised why people are abandoning their carts early

What are the stages of a customer journey? 

There are five defined states of your customers’ buying journey: awareness, consideration, purchase, retention and advocacy. 

  • Awareness: The first touchpoint of a journey! The customer is looking for a fun event to attend themselves or with their family and becomes aware of your brand, typically on social media or through an online search. Once awareness has been reached, it’s time to nurture that in the next phase.
  • Consideration: During the consideration phase, the customer will evaluate your offerings to competitors. Perhaps they’re considering your event, a nearby concert, a street festival and a fair for their day of fun. Highlight why they should attend your event (show pictures of families having fun or the delicious food they might find) while addressing potential pain points (tickets can be bought in advance or in a bundle for a discounted price). 
  • Purchase/Decision: With all the info gathered from the previous two phases, the customer makes their decision and purchases their ticket. 
  • Retention: Now that this potential customer has become an official patron of your event, it’s important to keep them engaged through email marketing, loyalty programs, special promotions, etc. throughout the year so when your event rolls around again, they are ready to buy tickets! 
  • Advocacy: If a customer has an easy time purchasing tickets to your event, they can turn into some of your biggest advocates! They’ll tell their family and friends how simple it was to purchase in advanced, skip the line and get into the event in a just a few minutes. 

Mapping the Customer Journey

One of the first steps to mapping and evaluating the customer journey is by gathering feedback on how their ticket-buying experience went. This could be done by talking to guests in-person at your event, leaving out comment cards for patrons to fill out, or sending a post-event survey to gauge satisfaction. 

You should also consider going on the journey of buying your tickets yourself! Google your event and navigate to the page to purchase tickets. Could you easily find it if you didn’t know where to look? Once you selected the ticket, was the purchase easy to complete? And how was the ticket delivered to you? Just like the customer, your next step will be getting to the front gate with your ticket. Were there extremely long lines to enter? Were attendants able to scan your ticket? How quickly were you able to enter the event? 

Answering these questions, collecting feedback from guests and mopping out the customer journey will help you identify pain points, improve communication and sell more tickets.