If 2021 was the year of the recovery, 2022 is sure to be the year where supply exceeds demand. With many of the events planned for 2020 and 2021 postponed until 2022, you’ll need to stand out from the crowd more than ever to attract attendees.
This article highlights 9 best practices to make 2022 a success for your events.
Content
- Spice up your onsale
- Relaunch your events ‘like before’
- Make good use of distribution networks
- Set up premium segmentation
- Set up cross-selling
- Fight the secondary market
- Use data to your advantage
- Offer a ticketing service that suits you
- Choose your providers carefully
1. Spice up your onsale
Festival goers are constantly exposed to ticket launches for events taking place in 2022. Orchestrating your ticketing opening is therefore crucial to selling as many tickets as possible.
We advise you to stagger your onsale to different audience groups. To do this, use a CRM to identify your most loyal attendees and allow them to access priority tickets several hours or days before opening up to the general public.
To reward your captive audience (those who know you, your organisation and your event), you can also offer them a private sale. As a comprehensive alternative to priority sales, for instance, we recommend setting up ticket sales complete with special ‘add-ons’ around the event. In limited quantities these unique experiences will delight your loyal attendees
You can also ‘gamify’ your ticket opening by making it fun and attractive. For instance, you can use a sponsorship deal to turn your attendees into ambassadors for your event. You could also set up a tracking link: loyal attendees share their unique link and every time a purchase is made via this link the attendee earns points that will convert to a ranking. The highest ranked attendee(s) will be able to enjoy exclusive rewards.
2. Relaunch your events ‘like before’
During the pandemic we noticed that formats which were more similar to what the audience was used to generally had a higher rate of sale.
Respecting the following 3 aspects therefore plays a major role:
- Time: period of the year, time span, etc.
- Location: geographical position, type of venue, standing/sitting format, etc.
- Content: programme, ‘extras’, etc.
Moving away from these 3 aspects has often frustrated and disappointed regular audiences who expected to experience the event as they knew it.
For 2022, we therefore recommend that you offer events in a format as close as possible to the one you had before the crisis.
3. Make good use of distribution networks
We’ve devoted an entire article to this subject, but we feel it’s important to go over some principles of using distribution networks for your ticketing system.
It’s important to analyse – or anticipate – your sales patterns in order to know the right moment to launch the sale of tickets for your event to distribution networks. This will allow you to rely on them during slower sales periods and not to create competition around sales for your own event.
In 2022, make sure you don’t give everything to your distribution network:
For instance, try to remain the only one to use your event name in online advertising campaigns (e.g. Google Ads). If someone searches the name of your event or brand on the internet it is because they know you and don’t need to go through your distributors to get their tickets. This would result in a loss of direct sales and revenue.
4.Set up premium segmentation
Setting up premium segmentation in your offering will allow you to attract a new audience with higher purchasing power.
Indeed, there is high demand for add ons such as glamping or experiences that go beyond standard tickets.
This audience wants to be able to enjoy your event with extra comfort which isn’t available to all and importantly they’re prepared to pay for it. This comfort can take the form of access to intermediate spaces (between the general public and VIPs), additional services, etc.
Offering this type of segmentation for your event will allow you to increase the average basket (this audience consumes three times more Food & Beverages, for example), and therefore lower the price of admission for the General Public, to attract more attendees.
5. Set up cross-selling
Cross-selling allows you to use your online ticketing system to sell products and services other than tickets for your event.
This approach allows you to take advantage of the point of purchase in which your attendees are open to spending. It also allows you to immerse them in the various experiences they’ll be able to find during your event.
You can cross-sell products or services that will be available on site, or which are exclusive and can’t be purchased at any other time.
Some examples of cross selling offers:
- A series of standard items with no limit on quantity, with or without promotions, such as merchandise, drinks, food, etc.
- Pre-sales of items in limited quantities, often premium, such as food, premium parking, exclusive merchandise, etc.
- Sales of partners’ offerings
For 2022, keep in mind that implementing cross-selling for your events allows you to provide an additional service, segment your offer, increase the average basket and improve your attendees’ welcome at your event.
6. Fight the secondary market
The secondary market is not always a problem for all events. It is most common around very popular events which are sold out long in advance.
Several issues come into play: strong profiteering of the ticket price, scams with fake tickets, flooding the market with tickets just before the event,etc.
Fortunately, various solutions exist.
Some organisers choose to take legal action against unauthorised resale platforms. However, this does not solve all the issues mentioned above.
Here are some pragmatic and easy to implement solutions:
- Use a secure ticket resale solution, such as TicketSwap
- Send tickets to your attendees as late as possible, like with the boarding passes used by airlines
- Verify the identity of attendees on site
- Ensure you are the only issuer of valid tickets.
7. Use data to your advantage
In the age of readily and widely available data it would be a shame to miss out on the valuable lessons you can draw from it. Testing, analysing and learning from your data allows you to measure the impact of your choices and actions.
For example, you can understand how your audience comes to you by using trackers and tools such as Google Analytics. This will give you a clear overview of your sales tunnel, showing you if your ticket sales mainly come from your email campaigns, online adverts, content on your social networks, your partners, etc.
Analysing data during your sales cycle will allow you to adapt and correct your actions based on real inputs, not on guess work or preconceived ideas.
It will also allow you to continuously improve your future events.
Our ticketing tool, coupled with our CRM, gives you a comprehensive overview and explanation of your data.
8. Offer a ticketing service that suits you
It is important to consider the user experience to ensure your attendees want to come to your event and also to immerse them in your universe before your event even takes place.
It might be appealing for them to be transported between your various platforms within a coherent graphic unit. This means, for example, similar colours and visuals on your website, social networks, emails, ticketing module, and so on.
For the most pleasant experience possible, we recommend that you add your ticketing module directly to your website. If you don’t have a website, Weezevent allows you to create a unique mini-site for your event in just a few minutes. Creating one is:
- Free
- Simple
- In your image
- Customisable
Read our comprehensive article on the mini-sites we offer.
9. Choose your providers carefully
In 2022, don’t select your providers solely on the basis of your budget.
To organise an event that meets your expectations and those of your attendees it’s essential that you find suppliers who really meet your needs. By investing now in the work of recognised, high-quality service providers you will ensure a better return on your investment later.
As we’ve seen in previous years, the unexpected is the essence of the events sector. The worst thing that can happen is if you’re unable to react quickly and adapt to the unexpected. It’s crucial that you mitigate the impact of any unforeseen events.
When it comes to ticketing, choose a service provider who can quickly refund your attendees in case of cancellation or postponement, who can set up total or partial donations of the ticket price, who allows you to communicate rapidly with your attendees … In short, one who is flexible and available 24/7.
To learn more about how Weezevent can help you succeed in 2022, contact our advisors who will be able to guide you according to your needs.
