Reid Lawrence was busy pursuing his career as an events videographer when the pandemic struck, wiping out his business almost overnight.
So he pivoted.
“I was wanting to come up with a business that I could be passionate about, that would make an impact on my community, which is the LGBT community, and something that would be sustainable over the long term that I wouldn’t get tired of,” he explains.
“It came to my attention there wasn't an actual LGBT or queer-owned ticketing event platform out there. And I thought, ‘Well, why isn't this a thing?’”
Lawrence founded Sickening Events in 2020 and started building that platform, soft launching it halfway through 2021. Though it’s a queer-owned business, and strives to cater for events that are “close to the heart with the LGBT community”, Lawrence stresses that Sickening Events caters to “events of all shapes and sizes” that extend beyond that community.
“As of right now, we've saved organizers and our customers over $2.4 million and counting in ticketing and marketing fees. So we're really proud of that.”
Here, Lawrence outlines the best practices for minimizing cart abandonment, event accessibility for minorities and those with accessibility issues, overcoming ticketing pain points, and more…
What are the key things event organizers should look for in a ticketing company?
I think organizers who are already with a ticketing platform, who are maybe looking to switch to something better, should ensure that the platform really matches their current and possible expansion requirements.
They want to make sure that whatever platform they're going to choose is going to be able to adapt and handle those sorts of demands.
In addition to that, it should overall be a net positive experience for them as well as their users. A lot of times organizers may forget that the customer experience side of a ticketing platform is just as important as their interaction with it. So they should make sure that those both align with what they're looking for.
If you're a new organizer, and you're choosing a platform for the first time, you really want to be vigilant and cognizant of freemium barriers that can maybe trap you into paying money for a platform that may not be what you originally had intended.
What are some of the best practices for the checkout process to ensure people don't abandon cart?
The best practice is to minimize the amount of time it takes for the customer to go from choosing their tickets to completing the checkout process.
We spent a ton of time on optimizing the checkout flow. A customer can go through and make their ticket selection and even complete the purchase in as little as 18 seconds. For people like me who have ADHD, that is absolutely perfect.
So that, of course, reduces the cart abandonment. And we also will typically do things like sending those automatic abandonment emails to reel them back in if they were to get distracted by something when they were checking out.
"We spent a ton of time on optimizing the checkout flow. A customer can go through and make their ticket selection and even complete the purchase in as little as 18 seconds."
Eighteen seconds is quick. Were there certain steps or questions you removed from the checkout process?
That is, of course, best case scenario. We really utilize the system browser, and whatever device you're using – they’re able to pull in a lot of those automatic autofill type of widgets that are available in those browsers, so people can simply click to fill in all their information, and then they click a second time to pay with their mobile wallet, like Apple Pay or something like that.
And then the only thing they have to do beyond that is just select whatever tickets they want, which takes the most amount of time out of that 18 seconds.
Do you have any advice on the best practices for setting ticket prices?
We have a lot of organizers on our platform and so we are able to see a bird's eye view of what prices are working well, and in different locations.
But overall, if you're an experienced event producer, typically you're going to have a pretty good handle on what people are willing to pay for tickets in your area. So obviously, stick within that bubble that works for you, and those standards for setting prices.
But if you're new to event producing or being a promoter, I would check your local event listings on a multitude of different platforms – use those as a guide. But also make sure that the pricing you're setting is matching the type of event that you are going to be producing.
So if you're having a cooking class or a cooking workshop, try to find a similar event and see how those people are pricing. And maybe even reach out to them to see what seems to work well.
Always do your market research beforehand.
In what ways can you recommend event organizers make their events more accessible for minority groups, but also for people with accessibility issues?
It's a huge, huge factor in the events world. We all wish we could use nothing but accessible venues. And recently there is a lot of push to convert more spaces to accessible ones.
However, I would love to speak on LGBT and queer accessibility. Because it's really important to make sure everyone involved working the event is aware of the biases that they may have toward or against LGBT people.
And maybe even making sure that they're comfortable calling out others when there is discrimination happening. That's really important.
And I've also really seen successful LGBT and queer event organizers outwardly promote their events with a kind of ‘no tolerance for harassment’ [message], making sure that people who are attending these events know that ahead of time, and then promoting the event as an inclusive space. That has also helped promote that accessible, queer friendly type of space.
"It's really important to make sure everyone involved working the event is aware of the biases that they may have toward or against LGBT people."
Are there needs specific to the LGBT community that Sickening Events caters to?
We’re a value driven company. So our objective is to provide a similar or better experience for the organizer at an extremely competitive fee structure.
The main reason is that LGBT and queer people are notably more prone to oppressive economic factors, leading to more financial hardship. The thing that we do a little bit better is understanding the needs of LGBT and queer events and the organizations that run them.
So we offer things like custom pronoun selection, and custom name fields – that can be very important for people who may not go by a legally or God-given name, for example. We can cater to event formats that may not be available through other event software platforms.
So we're basically just making sure that we can cater to the attendees in whatever way makes them feel most comfortable at an event.
When you're advising your clients on the most effective ways to sell tickets, what are some of the key pieces of advice?
We always recommend having an active email list, that's step one. But in addition to that, if it is accessible to the organization or the promoter, we've really seen an uptick in text message and SMS marketing that has significantly positively affected conversion rates, especially due to the level of tailored [messaging] that most organizations are able to achieve through that.
"We always recommend having an active email list, that's step one."
What are you seeing the successful event organizers get right in terms of how they structure and run their events?
It's really about creating a cohesive experience, from the ads to the ticketing experience, all the way through to the end and the follow-up after the event.
This really comes into play when you're talking about branding, and all the different touch points that you have with the attendee, even at the physical event with the personnel. A lot of our promoters will put their personnel in branded clothes. And that really allows them to create the right vibe that matches the intention of the promoter or this specific event.
What are some of the common ticketing pain points you see event organizers encountering, and how can they navigate them?
I think a significant portion of sales revenue from ticketing is the result of paid social media ads. And honestly, I think the biggest pain point for event promoters that we work with is the fact that the big social media companies endlessly are changing their ad algorithms and the way that they're allowing advertisers to target the different audiences.
I've had a lot of my promoters come to me saying, we can't target our audience anymore. And I think the main way to address that is not to stop using them entirely, because they're great tools, but not to be as reliant on them and kind of create your own captive audience through marketing platforms like Audience Republic.
It's just becoming a lot more difficult for people in incredibly specific niches to target their audience without having direct access to them with an email list, and it sucks.
I mean, email marketing is still really effective. We see about 20 to 30% of ticket sales coming from a well optimized email list.
So audience data is the most effective data?
Yeah, definitely. And having any ability to narrow down an audience with a proven track record of either engaging in your content or attending your events is going to be crucial. And holding on to them, because those people are what is going to make your events and your brand successful.
