Future Proong the Box Oce
How arts and culture organisations can keep up
with consumer technology expectations, plus the
pros and cons of in-house ticketing solutions.
Introduction
Eventbrite commissioned REMIX to create ‘The
Big Ticket Questions’. The report explores the box
oce requirements of organisations in the arts
and culture arena, including the pros and cons of
organisations building in-house systems, versus
using third party software.
The full REMIX report is downloadable here.
This Britepaper looks at the report’s ndings and
oers guidance on how Eventbrite can meet your
outsourced ticketing needs, and outperform in-
house solutions.
REMIX organisation explores the intersection between Culture, Technology
and Entrepreneurship. https://www.remixsummits.com
Remix
Ticketing solutions exist for one
reason alone: to sell lots of tickets.
Quickly, easily and repeatedly. It
is therefore essential to optimise
technical solutions for the task on a
frequent and ongoing basis
‘‘
Delivering the Technology
Consumers Expect
Consumers have high expectations from their interactions with brands online. So
whether a large retailer, an online service, or purchasing a ticket to an experience,
customers expect a certain level of service. This service in turn gives the consumer a
level of trust in the brand they are purchasing from.
A poor experience, such as being unable to easily purchase tickets on a smartphone,
weakens trust and may put them o completing the ticket purchase.
At Eventbrite we’ve found that people buying tickets on our site are four times more
likely to complete their purchase than on an average ecommerce site. And with the
ability to sell tickets directly on Facebook and their own website, organisers can turn
even more of their audience into ticket buyers.
The expectation of high service also relates to ‘at event’ technology. If their ticket is
not available on their phone, and queues are being caused by crossing o guest lists it
will impact the overall experience.
These are common issues for organisers who rely on in-house systems that can’t
oer the cutting edge technology that comes as standard with Eventbrite. Using our
system you’ll enjoy a world-class entry management solution, which helps reduce
queues and improves the onsite experience.
“I can do this in-house”
It is of course possible to build a range of functionality in house. However, it is not a
simple task to remain at peak optimisation.
REMIX highlight that testing and optimising is an ongoing process, and that any
changes could be out of date within 3-6 months. Maintaining and updating software
should be built into an organisation’s capacity in terms of continual future investment
and manpower.
Contrast this with selling your tickets with Eventbrite, where we have a team of
developers working around the clock to make sure our platform remains the most
eective and secure option for meeting your customer demands. It’s good to know
your box oce is future-proofed without having to lift a nger.
REMIX highlight a range of functionality required specically by arts and culture organisations. As
illustrated below, Eventbrite is geared up to do much more than simply host the ticketing transaction.
Gift Aid:
We can add gift aid on to purchases and own the wording etc to ensure full
compliance with the guidelines around Gift Aid so you do not need to worry.
E-Commerce:
Through the checkout process you can add options for customers to upgrade
or purchase additional items at time of check out.
Memberships:
Discounts for members and access to exclusive tickets are easy to add into any
events allowing you to create bespoke ticket oers for your important clientele.
Onsite Box Oce:
Through the Eventbrite Organiser app, you can create specic on the door
tickets for customers to purchase. You can also simply scan pre purchased
tickets for a real time view of who is in your venue.
Timeslots:
You can use our repeating events tool to create a bespoke time schedules for
your event, or you can use custom questions to manage your expectations of
crowd ow.
Mobile Tickets:
A ticket purchased on Eventbrite remain in the customer’s account, and are
sent to them on e-mail. This can be printed out or simply presented on a
phone for scanning at the event.
Seating Charts:
Use our directory of pre set seating plans, or create your own using our simple
to use tool.
Social amplication:
Events sell better when people talk about them. Our platform makes it simple
for you to promote your event across various social media platforms and track
the performance of your marketing spend.
What’s more, our developers are constantly working to ensure the platform is ready
for the future by adding the features our users ask for.
Ticketing checklist
Communicating with Customers
The ability to communicate with customers in an orderly fashion is key. Various
departments such as Marketing, Operations, and Fund Raising need to keep track of
what and how much they are oering customers by way of information. Businesses
need to market eciently to drive trac and increase sales, but communicate
too much, and customers might feel ‘spammed’ and unsubscribe from all
communications.
Eventbrite oers the tools to communicate eectively, there are over 140 additional
partners and tools in the Eventbrite Spectrum, such as MailChimp and Salesforce
talking to each other via an API so that consumers receive targeted and timely
messages from your organisation. This enables organisations to create and target
communications to individuals.
You’ll also gain a wealth of information from your Eventbrite dashboard. This will help
you build the ‘Single Customer View’ REMIX discuss. For example, do you know where
people are coming from to attend your event? With the dashboard you can see this
information at the click of a button which can help inform marketing decisions, such
as where to place advertising eectively.
Handling Data Securely
In the online world, customer data and how it is handled is a constant hot topic. It’s
also a concern of customers that they do not want their data being passed around
unsecured. In addition to this no Event Manager likes trawling through e-mails or
spreadsheets of attendees or trying to nd out who has the most up to date attendee
information and lists.
Eventbrite can hold your lists and customer information securely in your event
manager tool.
You can also rest assured that it’s secure as Eventbrite have a dedicated team of
security experts working round the clock on your ticketing system. Our Trust & Safety
team and 24/7 global customer support team are there to help answer any of your
questions, anytime. If you’re unsure about something, see something suspicious or
just need to check you’ve set everything up correctly, we’re a call or email away. All
day, every day.
Your Ticketing Support Team
Eventbrite has support teams available to help out event managers any time of day,
any day of the week. If you woke up in a cold sweat at 3am on a Sunday morning and
needed to quickly change something urgently, but weren’t sure how, then would your
in-house team be happy to take your call?
Our team of trained experts will be, and they’ll make it their mission to get your event
set-up so that you can sleep soundly again.
When evaluating to remain in house or outsource your ticketing,
REMIX recommend considering the following components:
• Upfront development costs, plus ongoing updates
• Hosting, insurance, security and compliance costs
• Ongoing optimisation plans and costs
• Sta induction and training costs
• Administration and resulting opportunity costs
• Your ability to respond quickly to changing consumption and purchasing habits
In-house or Outsource
Consideration Checklist
Conclusion
Change can be scary, and if you’ve spent years and signicant money on your in-house
solution, then you’ll be hesitant about the sunk costs and moving on to a new way of
doing things.
Consider how much more your organisation has to lose by sticking with the status quo if
it’s not the best solution for you and your attendees; there’s a lot more to gain by trying
the world’s most trusted, innovative and reliable ticketing and registration solution.
Given it only takes 5 minutes to set up your rst event (and costs nothing), why not give
it whirl now? Visit eventbrite.co.uk/getstarted
Eventbrite enables people all over the world to plan,
promote, and sell out any event. Since its inception in
2006, Eventbrite has processed over 200 million tickets in
187 countries.
The online ticketing platform makes it easy for anyone
to discover events, and to share the events they are
attending with the people they know. Eventbrite provides
a professional, simple way to manage and promote events
to help you reach your business goals.
Learn more at www.eventbrite.co.uk/how-it-works/ or
call 0800 652 4993.