Outdoor Events & Advance Ticket Sales

At a minimum you're collecting their name and e-mail address. For most online ticket sales you usually get much more data. This includes your attendee’s full name, mailing address, e-mail, and telephone number. Such detailed customer information is a gold mine for event promotion, ESPECIALLY if you have a recurring event. As the old marketing adage goes, “your best customer is the person who just bought from you.”

Here's a little Insider Secret … the unbelievable client advance ticket sales numbers I proudly display on the “success stories and testimonials page” are directly a result of ethically leveraging customer data.

It's Not Neccesarily What You Think
Let me throw some counter intuitive insight into the mix … Leveraging your customer data goes well beyond selling people advance tickets. You can use customer data to gain tremedous insight about your event. This includes things like pre-event and post-event surveys. You can also use customer data to give event updates, directions, and parking information. Think of it as a customer service tool. How could you ethically leverage your customer information? I've included some ideas in the links below. Use customer feedback to improve your event ... Something your competition probably isn't doing!

One Very Important Note About Customer Data
If you are using customer data for marketing purposes, let your customers know. Even in today's Facebook laden world, privacy is a very important issue and must be respected! That means letting your customers know how their contact information will be used. It's also important that you're in compliance with local and national regulations regarding marketing solicitation. 

One strong recommendation ... never rent or sell your customer data to third parties. This is one of the quickest ways to upset your own customers. Remember, all it takes is one RAGING MAD Facebook or Twitter post, and you could be headed for a PR nightmare.

Don't Jump Ship Too Quickly
Some event organizers might be apprehensive about selling ticket online.  That's completely understandable! If you've been selling event tickets off-line for years, I recommend easing into the online ticketing world. You might be thinking, “you just told me why I should try getting all of my tickets sold online." Yes, I'm giving you slightly conflicting advice, but give me a moment to explain ... If you’ve been selling tickets online for years, immediately jumping to an online ticket system MIGHT cost you ticket sales. You can "get your feet wet" by selling tickets both online and off. This allows you to slowly step into the world of online event ticketing.  Easing to online tickets will also show you if there is a significant difference in revenue channels (offline to online.) If more than 80% of your sales come from online tickets, you can probably curtail or eliminate off-line ticket channels. 

To truly financial protect yourself, you need to have an excellent understanding of all of your event revenue channels. Always take a careful look at your numbers before changing how you sell event tickets.

Again, if you’re apprehensive about selling tickets online, TEST FIRST.  Sell tickets both online an off … with zero assumptions. After your event is over, consider the sales numbers. Chances are that the results will pleasantly surprise you.

Here are some additional resources regarding selling event tickets online:

• Leveraging Huge Ticket Discounts to Drive Advance Tickets Sales
• How to Sell Even More Tickets to Your Event
• Event Promotion: The Psychology of Ticket Prices
• Event Marketing: Multiple Ways to Engage Your List
• Constantly Go Back to Your Ticketing Well
• Event Marketing Idea: Blocking Your Tickets
• Smart Advance Ticket Strategies
• Why Buy Tickets For Your Own Event?