Selling event tickets is a big commitment!
by Anton Andreasson
Anyone who has organized any kind of event knows that there is much more to consider than just selling tickets and booking a venue and artists. The management of a multitude of activities from marketing, payment methods, VAT handling, inventory balances, personal data management (GDPR), refund policies, etc., needs to be thought through. "Early bird" release? Discount links for loyal buyers? Release certain seats after a certain time or show items only if you enter via a specific campaign? What may seem simple at first quickly becomes a major undertaking that requires a lot of brainpower – and a system that can meet all the requirements.
Selling online must be fast.
Everyone who has bought tickets online knows how annoying it can be to be forced to log in or create an account to pay. Your customers know this too. It is at the point of purchase that the overall experience of the event begins. And to ensure that the purchase experience is as pleasant as the event you are selling tickets for, it is important that the purchase flow is as seamless as possible, especially the mobile interface (which over 70% of all ticket buyers will use).
But in addition to low barriers to payment, page loading must also be fast, even on mobile phones that may be a few years old. Even when the user is truly mobile, it must be easy to buy a ticket to your event – on the train, in the subway tunnel, or in other places where the connection is intermittently poor. A mobile interface that loads quickly can be crucial to whether a ticket buyer will be able to complete their ticket purchase or, sometimes out of sheer frustration, abandon it.
Ticket sales are just the beginning.
Once you have sold your tickets online, the real commitment begins. Depending on the type of event you are organizing, you will now need to consider things like entrance management, maximum number of people in the venue, handling of exits/re-entry, and a host of other practical and logistical challenges.
In addition, you might want to sell merch? Or food and drinks during breaks, or reservations and dining experiences in the restaurant? Then it is convenient to have a ticketing system that also handles this sales and collects it along with the rest of the event’s reporting.
Organizing events is resource-intensive.
Few people have the energy to organize an event entirely on their own. If you are lucky, you are part of a club or organization that means you have colleagues and friends who help you let people in, sell at the box office, or answer questions. Perhaps you also need to ensure that these people have different permissions in the tools and systems they use, so that you have some control over what has happened if something goes wrong somewhere.
But sometimes you also need external help. Someone who is on-site to pull cables, set up networks, help with ticket scanning, and can answer technical questions. If you are lucky, staff from the respective supplier may be on-site to offer expert help, or at least be available by phone.
Being an organizer is a lifestyle.
But no matter how much effort, sweat, and brainpower it takes to carry out successful events, it is ultimately always worth it. Events are experiences for both those who attend them and us who create them. And believe us – we’ve been there ourselves. Tickster is actually the result of us, as long-time festival organizers, creating and further developing a system we wished existed when we organized Arvikafestivalen. And old habits die hard. Dealing with events is a lifestyle. Just make sure you have fun while you do it and surround yourself with people who know what they are talking about.
We are events – We are Tickster!