Online Ticketing

[Craig Ledgerwood]

Hiya

I'm just looking for some opinions on online ticketing. What ones people use etc and how successful they find using them.

Thanks

Craig

[Alan]

Hi,

I haven't used any myself (from the selling end) but got this through the post last week from a free online ticketer - http://www.ticketsource.co.uk/toolkit.asp

No recommendations etc. either way, just a flier postcard through the mail!

Alan.

[Alan Potter]

If you look at http://www.linlithgow-musicals.co.uk you can see that they've just done it using a simple PayPal shopping cart.  Simple but effective, and it will tie into the system that the club is currently using to allocate tickets.

I'm very tempted to add something similar to http://www.sabos.co.uk next year!

regards,
/alan

[DavidM]

a lot dependson how the venue works too and its capacity. Online ticketing is convenient but can come with additional costs for the purchaser which in today's economic climate can cause a little resentment.

Larger venues will use ticketmaster which allows an instant seat allocation but as a company you need to consider the percentage of house you keep back for company generated sales - for companies not used to this methodology  a 3/1 company/online ratio might be a good start.

Whatever method you use it doesn't replace good old fashioned "buzz". Audiences now have a far wider choice of show and fewer show dollars to spend so you have to battle for every seat sale for every night.

Convenience of sale by online means has a downside against traditional methods (large national tours excepted here!) - it means that you cannot get the sale there and then - it creates the objection of "i'll order online later".

Remember this and don't forget that good old fashioned WOM is your best bet for the local show!