Selling Event Tickets Online – Benefits

In this Internet age, there’s an expectation that you can purchase practically whatever you like online, and have it delivered to your doorstep. And every day there are more and more companies setting up websites to sell their products online.

Naturally the same expectation applies to patrons who visit your website and wish to purchase tickets to your events. Of course it’s always possible to direct your patrons to a ticketing service company, but there are many benefits to both your customers and your organisation, if you can give your customers the ability to purchase tickets directly off your website.

So let's take a look at some of the main benefits of selling your tickets online

A box office that’s open 24 hours a day, seven days a week

No longer will customers wishing to purchase tickets have to wait until it suits your box office rather than themselves. And indeed, if you are not offering the ability for customers to purchase tickets immediately they see details of your events, there’s always the danger they will change their mind or find an alternative event before your box office opens for business the next day.

No more excessively high booking fees charged by ticketing services

A common complaint with many online ticket purchasers are excessive so-called “convenience fees” or transaction charges that are levied on online ticket purchases.  With other products, customers tend to expect that if they purchase goods online, the goods will actually be cheaper, but in the case of online tickets, unfortunately it is often the reverse.  If you are using your own online ticketing software however, you can set whatever charges you wish, or if you like, eliminate them entirely. So your customers are happier, and more likely to purchase tickets online.

Customers can choose the exact seats they want from an interactive seating chart

With the more sophisticated box office ticketing systems, patrons can choose the exact seats they want from an interactive seating map, by simply clicking on the seat with a mouse. Generally, they will have the ability to zoom in to a particular section or zone, to scroll up and down, and to see prices by hovering over any particular seat.
And with interactive seating charts, your box office personnel can easily check details of any ticket sold, including the date of the sale, the bar code number, the name of the customer and the ticket seller, by simply hovering over any seat on the seating chart.

Saves time and reduces work for your box office personnel

Any box office ticketing system will greatly reduce the time you spend recording tickets and managing your ticket sales.  And with an online box office ticketing system, you have the added benefit in that you can spend less time answering phone calls and correspondence because a proportion of your tickets will be sold directly online.  For small nonprofit organisations in particular which are usually run by a dedicated band of volunteers, this can be a huge benefit. Of course, personal contact with customers will be reduced, but on the other hand, you are in fact providing a greater level of customer service, by giving the option of purchasing tickets online and printing their tickets at home.

A virtual box office that lets you sell tickets from anywhere in the world

The more advanced online box office ticketing systems give you the capability of selling tickets from anywhere in the world with an Internet connection. This means you can set up additional ticket selling agents or distributors, you can sell tickets through multiple physical box office outlets, or you can even sell tickets from your own home. Generally speaking, you can set up various access permissions, so that different resellers will have restricted access to certain parts of the ticketing program, or may have restricted access to selling tickets to specific events. Any ticket resellers that you set up will normally be able to access the ticketing program by simply logging in with a user name and password.

Increase your “brand” awareness

More people visiting your website builds a greater awareness of your company and your website, hopefully leading to additional business especially if they know they can purchase tickets directly online. And displaying your URL on all your publicity materials including brochures, posters and any other advertising material as the place where they can easily purchase tickets is generally much more effective and convenient than simply quoting an address or telephone number for contact.

Enhance your customer loyalty

Most people visiting a website assume that it will contain the most up-to-date details about programs and events.  So providing your customers with as much information as possible, as well as giving them the ability to immediately purchase any tickets they require, is an excellent way to build up your customer loyalty.  And of course your website is generally in your lowest cost option in terms of promoting your organisation and events.

Send promotional e-mails directly from your box office ticketing software

With many box office ticketing software programs, you can send e-mails directly from the program, reminding customers about upcoming events or simply giving them a regular newsletter with useful information.  And with the more sophisticated programs, you can filter your customer records in different ways to fine tune your marketing program even more.