The Internet age has significantly changed how many products are traditionally sold, especially non-bulky information-based products that you don’t need to see before buying.
As a result, most people these days assume that it should be possible to purchase tickets for any event online, ideally from the event organizer’s website.
But the reasons why you should consider setting up online ticketing system are more than just to make it easier for your customers to buy tickets. If you enable people to buy tickets online, you can expect increased ticket sales and attendance, increased efficiency, higher profits, enhanced patron satisfaction and reduced costs.
Let’s consider a few of the most important benefits.
A box office that’s open 24/7.
Whilst simply setting up a web site is a great way of promoting your organization, you’re definitely losing customers if they can’t purchase tickets whilst they are on your site. Very often they’ll decide to attend one of your events as soon as they’ve seen your event description… so should make it as easy as possible for them to purchase tickets right at that moment. If they have to wait until the next for your box office to open, its quite conceivable they could either change their mind in the meantime, forget or decide to spend their money in other ways.
Eliminates booking fees and service charges added by ticketing services.
Both patrons and venue operators are becoming more and more disenchanted with the large booking fees charged by middlemen. With your own online ticketing system, you can not only eliminate service charges, but manage your your ticket sales and pricing as you like, which helps in developing enhanced and happier relationships with your customers.
Patrons can choose the exact seats they want from an online seating map.
With many online box office ticketing systems, customers are able to select and purchase the exact seats they want in real time with just a click of a mouse via an interactive seating chart. Such systems may offer the ability to display both the full auditorium or each section separately, to hover over seats and display the seat and row number and ticket price, to zoom and scroll over the seating chart, show available and unsold seats, or even show a view of the stage from the selected seat .
Saves time, reduces workload.
An online ticketing system greatly reduces the time you’ll spend answering phone calls, correspondence and other box office related matters … a huge benefit if you are a non-profit or volunteer run organization. And although this does mean that personal contact with your customers may be reduced, you’ll still be providing them with an enhanced level of customer service by offering the option of printing an e-ticket online, printing a voucher to exchange at the box office or requesting tickets to be posted.
Sell tickets from anywhere in the world.
With many web based box office ticketing systems, you can not only access the full administrative functionality of your box office system from anywhere in the world but you can Sell tickets, take payments and instantly print the tickets if you wish, just as if you were sitting in your local box office. For small or non profit organizations, and especially if you rely on a handful of volunteers, you’ll appreciate how useful this can be in farming out the workload.
Set up a network of resellers.
With an internet based event ticketing system, you can normally appoint resellers or distributors in any location provided they have access to an internet connections. These resellers simply log on to your system via their PC and internet connection and use your ticketing application to sell tickets the same as if they were sitting at a local box office terminal.
Increase “brand” awareness.
More people visiting your site to purchase tickets means more referrals and more awareness of your organization. And displaying your web address on all publicity materials (flyers, leaflets, magazines etc) as the convenient place to purchase tickets, is considerably more effective than just listing a contact phone number.
Build Customer loyalty.
Your own web site is always your customer’s primary choice when looking for information about events or ticket availability. Most people expect that your website will display the most up to date information about events and the best offers.Serving your patrons well by a website that’s not only informative, but allows them to buy tickets online, is a great way to build loyalty. And your web site is by far your lowest cost sales channel, plus the one with the highest return.
Send emails automatically to your patrons.
With most internet based ticketing software you can easily enhance your marketing efforts by sending emails to your patrons direct from your database, informing them of future events. And you will generally have the ability to fine tune you mail outs by selecting patrons on the basis of events attended, location or other categories that are set in your database.
There’s an increasing number of online box office ticketing systems available, all with somewhat different features and methods of operation. So, check out what online tickets sales software systems are available, maybe draw up a chart listing what features you see as essential, compare what is on offer and you’re sure to find a system that will meet your requirements and allow you to benefit from all that online ticketing can offer.