Audience Republic spoke to a host of event professionals to find out how they maximize ticket sales. Here, in the fourth of a series of blogs collating those insights, is a selection of their answers…
“Going back to 2021, [around 4% of Gen Z] would use payment plans across our events. 2024, about 10% of Gen Z customers are using payment plans. So we've more than doubled. And that's I think a combination of things. You've got slightly higher prices, combined with wage stagnation in the UK, so it makes sense that people are tapping into that kind of thing.
“And I think a huge cultural change has happened as well – Klarna burst onto the scene, and kind of made it acceptable, maybe even desirable, fashionable, to buy things and just spread the cost of paying for them.
“More organizers are offering it, [and] that's a big change from the organizers’ point of view, because it's not guaranteed income – you've got no guarantee [the customer is] going to finish that plan.
“But more and more organizers are going, well, it's worth the risk, because I can probably get more people to buy in. And then because it's a payment plan, that problem with engagement goes away, because now I'm going to have regular contact with that customer – every month there's an opportunity to reach out and say, ‘Hey, remember a payment's going to be taken in a couple of days, make sure you've got the funds available. And by the way, did you know we’re also selling this? Why don’t you add those to your payment plan?’
“So it gives you lots more touch points with the customer."
Read Phil's full interview here.
Read more: Tips For Maximizing Ticket Sales, Part One
“The trade secret is most festivals don't sell out clean. And there's always a ticket tier that you don't project that you cut loose.
“So whether it's GA, GA+, single day, three day, you find the thing that you projected based on data that isn't selling as fast as you hoped and you go, we're going to cut our losses, we're going to sell this tier out, and it's going to push forward the tiers that are doing well... and we can use it to market FOMO. Just cutting off dead weight.”
Read Samuel's full interview here.
“The decision phase is getting pushed further and further away from the announcement; people are just waiting longer to make decisions about where to spend their money.
“And so the emphasis on experience is really having to ramp up and elevate in order to make an impact. Being able to present to prospective buyers that this is the bang for the buck that you're gonna get is helping move the needle and convince people to buy sooner.
“There's an exercise that we've been recommending to clients about listing everything that's included in the ticket, things that you would normally perhaps take for granted: how many steps away are you from a clean restroom, easy ingress and egress, simple parking, the sightlines, vendor options, merch options.
“All of these things that get included in a ticket that don't necessarily always get written out when presented to fans, really ought to be. And just by going through that exercise, it's really helpful to pinpoint where the holes are in what we're offering, because ultimately the product is going to be the best marketing.”
Read Brian's full interview here.
Read more: Tips For Maximizing Ticket Sales, Part Two
“Referrals are becoming much more important as a sales driver. I think they are probably the most important sales driver in a lot of ways.
“That festival I did earlier this month, we tracked referrals for it. And 60% of our sales were referred to by somebody. The biggest thing that sells a ticket isn't the artist who's playing on stage. It’s, hey, are your friends going? That's the thing that drives the sale more than almost anything else.
“And so on the marketing end, what I think you want to do is really focus on [building] out a referral program. And I don't mean, oh, if you do this, we'll give you tickets. But how does marketing not stop after the festival?
“You can't force somebody's friends to go, but as a marketer you could give that one [superfan] the ammunition that they need to convince their friends. Give them the talking points, the value proposition of the festival. Make sure that you're communicating effectively so they can communicate effectively.
“Put forth a lot of content that is easily shareable, that is easy for people to send to their friends through different mediums. A big thank you email with a photo gallery, and recap videos. Your socials are still going to be highly engaged with those moments. It's gonna naturally die off afterwards, but you still want to attempt to capture those super fans.
“You're not trying to drive sales necessarily at that point, you're trying to harbor engagement.
“And then when you're back in cycle in a few months or later that year, you want to be able to have those people as part of your audience, as part of your socials, part of your community, your email list, etc, that you can tap into and remind them what a great time they had.”
Read Mike's full interview here.
Read more: Tips For Maximizing Ticket Sales, Part Three
“I've done it a few times where you put quite a lot of tickets in the presale, and then when the show goes on general sale, you don't have very many tickets left to sell. So you can sell the whole tour out in 10 minutes or whatever. You can use that to drive that hot ticket narrative.”
Read Matthew's full interview here.
To learn more about how you could be selling more tickets to your event, speak to our team today.
