6 ticketing strategies to boost event ticket sales

So you have more than a handful

of tickets that have to be sold for

that upcoming event.

Unless your company is a

household name, don’t exactly expect tickets to be in high

demand.

Nevertheless, it’s still very much possible to sell all or most of your

tickets if you work smarter and

not harder.

Here are 5 ways to be strategic

and make it worthwhile for your

potential attendees to buy a ticket.

1 EARLY BIRD SALE

Products typically sell better when

they’re released to a select few several weeks before the official

release to the rest of the public.

You can do the same for your

event. Surely, you have customers

who are members of your loyalty

program, or at the very least

repeat consumers or service

subscribers.

Reward these people by giving

them the chance to secure their

tickets early and at a discount

price.

Emphasize that this is a thank you

gift for their loyalty. Early bird

tickets can also be offered to

those who attended your previous

event.

The offer should be included in an

email newsletter sent ONLY to

those who you’re extending the offer to. There should be a link

where they can RSVP and pay for

their discounted ticket.

2 CONVEY URGENCY

The language you use in your

event page and ads can influence

sales.

While you should be careful not to

be too promotional, you should

make it known that tickets can be

sold out at any moment.

This is known as the scarcity

tactic and is a common strategy

in a marketer’s playbook.

Basically, your ads and event page

should include language like:

Last chance to reserve your ticket before they’re all gone

Act now before they’re all sold out

Act now because ticket availability is not

guaranteed

Tickets are selling fast, so don’t procrastinate and secure your spot right now

3 SELL TICKETS

AT THE DOOR

Provided that tickets haven’t sold out by event day, allow stragglers

the opportunity to purchase

tickets at the door.

The day before the event,

announce that X number of tickets

remain and will be up for sale at

the door.

Also make it known that the

tickets will be sold at a higher

price.

The higher fee isn’t to penalize last minute attendees but rather

to encourage people to buy their

tickets as soon as possible.

Selling the remaining tickets at a

higher price should also help you

earn some additional revenue and

part with tickets that otherwise

would not be used.

4 INCLUDE

PROMOTIONAL

OFFERS

Once the regular sales open to the

general public, provide some form

of limited-time only incentive.

Whatever the incentive is, it

should not be equal or greater

than the discount provided to

your early bird customers.

You don’t want your VIP customers feeling like general

members are getting the same

benefit that was only supposed to

be exclusive to them.

In other words, if early bird

members got a 30% discount,

then the promotional offer can be

something like 20% off the ticket

price for ticket purchases made

the first week or two when sales

open to the general audience.

You can also include second-

chance promotional offers. The

first promotional offer holds good

only for the first week and offers a

20% discount.

The second week of sales

provides a 10% discount. By the

third week and beyond, tickets

will return to the usual price.

5 PROVIDE DISCOUNTS

FOR BULK TICKET

PURCHASES

Hardly anyone attend events by

themselves. Events are so much

more fun when you bring along a

posse of friends and relatives.

In fact, you should encourage

attendees to do just that by

offering incentives for tickets

purchased by the quantity.

Perhaps attendees can get a

discount if they buy at least three

tickets and an even bigger

savings if they purchase five or

more.

Make it known that the event is

family-friendly to encourage

group attendance. If your event

caters to a B2B audience, then

encourage attendees to invite

fellow staff members.

There can even be exclusive

offers for companies you have

done business with. Invite them

and their faculty members to

attend at discounted prices.

6 GIVE TICKETS AWAY

AS INCENTIVES FOR

OTHER PURCHASES

Instead of including incentives for

buying a ticket, the ticket itself

can be the incentive.

Perhaps you can give tickets away

for customers who make an X

amount of purchase of a company

product or service.

As with promotional and bulk

purchase offers, provide different

tiers of incentives.

Giving tickets away as an

incentive is a good tactic if you

are getting closer to the event

and you still have more unsold

tickets than anticipated.

If you can’t sell these last minute tickets, then use them as bonus

offerings to fuel other company

purchases.

BE OPEN TO NEW

SALES APPROACHES

Your tickets may not exactly be a

hot commodity in the beginning.

However, if you employ the right

sales technique, then there is no

reason why you shouldn’t be able to get the sales numbers up.

When you give people a reason to

buy a ticket, then you’ll acquire a few favorable responses from

people here and there.

DOWNLOAD

FREE EBOOK

This 30-page ebook is packed with tips and

tools to help you plan and market your event

like a pro in no time.

Suling Wong

Produced by

Dan McCarthy

Guest article by

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