accesso Webinar Series Presents: The Latest in Performing Arts Ticketing with our accesso ShoWare Solution.

Every single relationship begins with a simple interaction, whether it’s a dramatic meet-cute in the first act or the moment a future concert pianist first touches the keys. Often it’s only when we look back after many years that we can identify that pivotal moment that set the stage for a lifetime. The same is true for your patrons.

When a first-time visitor becomes a member of your organization, it is the highest compliment: they believe in your vision and you can count on them to be your brand advocate. This all begins with a ticket and more specifically, the decision to purchase a ticket, so it’s important to make this touchpoint engaging. A beautifully-designed customer experience can make all the difference in someone advancing to the next stage of your patron relationship. Luckily, performing arts venues have many options for customizing the ticket purchasing journey, and there are a few key features that you can easily implement in order to increase ticket sales and build lasting relationships.

First, it is imperative that your ticketing page support mobile sales. Forecasts show that over $32 billion ticket purchases globally will take place on a mobile device by the year 2019, and data across all of our accesso clients’ ticketing systems is supporting that trend. However, there are still many ticketing sites that are not optimized for mobile sales. If you sell reserved tickets for your shows and performances, your seat maps should be accessible and easy to review on a variety of devices. Otherwise, a customer may abandon their cart and the opportunity to reach them can be lost. While some venues succeed with mobile apps, the majority of customers vastly prefer using a website with responsive design, which means the size of the screen will automatically adjust to whatever device the customer is using. A fully-responsive website preserves all aspects of your ticketing site: seat selection, purchasing ticket bundles or season subscriptions, making donations, using coupons and more. Our accesso ShoWare solution is fully responsive, so your patrons are ensured a beautifully engaging ticketing experience from start to finish.

Mobile or not, it’s also important to make sure that your online ticketing website can support all of the membership, subscription and bundle features that are sold at your box office. If your box office staff is trained to cross-sell similar shows or up-sell into a higher price category, why can’t your eCommerce site? Furthermore, once a patron has purchased a membership or package, they should be able to use those benefits immediately, whether it’s access to a certain performance date or a discount. By utilizing these “system-driven” benefits, there is no delay in customer redemption, leading to happier patrons, and there is less work for your box office staff which leads to higher productivity in your organization.

One of the biggest challenges facing arts organizations is identifying and nurturing new donors. Campaigns that may have worked for your most loyal, tenured donors will not necessarily reach a newer audience base. Email campaigns may be a tempting way to target virtually everyone on your mailing list, but the psychology remains the same: even with the best of intentions, if an email “ask” does not arrive at a convenient time, the request will be tucked away and likely forgotten. The solution can be as easy as integrating your fundraising page with your ticketing page, and asking if customers want to make a small donation ($1, $5, $15 or more) while they are completing their purchase. This makes it easy for your donors to donate and helps you reach entirely new donors, providing your development teams with actionable data for future campaigns while raising immediate funds for your organization!

Our accesso ShoWare solution is designed with many of these features in mind, and we are constantly investing in future enhancements to help our clients succeed. Watch our webinar video to learn what our accesso ShoWare solution can do for your performing arts center. If you have questions or would like a personalized demonstration, let us know about your business needs here or email [email protected].