Articles
July 28th, 2022
Refunds Don’t Have To Be a Nightmare With...
Whether you're canceling an event or issuing a one-off refund, giving revenue back to the customer is the last thing any event organizer wants to do. Most event ticketing apps don't make it easy. Apps like Eventbrite use their own internal payment infrastructure, which makes processing refunds a long, drawn-out hassle. As a result, you're left facing an impatient customer who wants their money. They'll blame you if they have to wait weeks or months for their refund. What if you could issue a refund instantly, without actually losing ticket revenue? Square gift cards let you do just that: protect your profits and protect the customer's experience. It is almost impossible to foresee all of the situations that may trigger a need to issue a refund from your event ticketing platform. Events can be canceled for any number of causes beyond your control. Some examples include: Weather incidents Performer cancellations Equipment shortages Facilities or maintenance issues Health and safety mandates These are large-scale incidents that may lead to your event being canceled altogether, resulting in mass refunds. Other instances could arise on the individual level that may cause you to issue a refund. Perhaps an event attendee was dissatisfied because of issues with the facility or a negative customer experience. You may also issue a refund in the interest of public health if your policies state that a refund is permitted due to COVID-19 exposure. Or you may just have a very liberal policy with ultimate customer flexibility as to event dates, specific event interests, and so on. Whatever the reason, your refund workflow will not only be easier with Square’s gift card integration, but it will also be more customer-forward in orientation. And in the end, customer satisfaction with your...
July 26th, 2022
7 Ways to Sell More Merch at Your...
Across the nation, haunted houses are major fall destinations, and there’s a reason that nearly every haunted house attraction has a gift shop or a merchandising stand. While event ticketing to your haunted house is certainly an important revenue stream, on-site purchases like merch and concessions really fill out your haunted house's bottom line. Thanks to SimpleTix's deep integration with Square, haunted house operators can manage all of these revenue streams through one convenient, streamlined platform. We help haunted houses deliver exceptional experiences every year, and we've picked up a few logistical tips that can help you score even more sales this Halloween season. 1. Make sure your attendees exit through the gift shop. While your initial impulse might be to situate your gift shop at or near the entrance of your haunted house, don’t do it. It may be high-visibility to customers starting your attraction, but when they exit your haunted house, they’re unlikely to trek back to the beginning to pick up some merch. Their focus is on the parking lot. Show them the creepy, must-have souvenirs on their way to the car, while the shivers are still running down their spines. 2. Design your gift shop as a walk-thru affair. Instead of creating another labyrinth, lay out the flow of the guests in such a way that they have every opportunity possible to interact with your merchandise. The more your attendees can look at, touch, pick up, or try on, the more likely they’ll be to make an impulsive purchase. A wall of merch along an exit path or a table of goods is a close second, but your sales will surely increase with more points of contact. 3. Offer plenty of merch options for customers to choose from. A wall of t-shirts has a certain curb...
June 22nd, 2022
Plan Your Haunted House With This Square-Integrated Ticketing...
With over 4,000 paid Haunted House events in the nation, it is easy to see that these attractions draw serious crowds—and revenue. Haunted houses can be complex attractions. Operators should strive to engineer every part to add to the spooky ambiance and raise the tension. But friction in the ticketing process, lines at the gate, and bad logistics can kill the vibe for visitors. With the right ticketing platform, you can solve several problems with one convenient tool. Reducing friction with this Eventbrite alternative Make ticketing simple The ability to buy tickets online is a game-changer for any attraction. It's not uncommon for haunted house proprietors using SimpleTix to wake up to several hundreds of dollars in overnight sales. But it's great for customers too. They can buy at their convenience when they're in the mood to buy, and if they need to change their day or timeslot, they can do it right within the app. Streamline the line While anticipation is a vital element of a spooky experience, long lines can stall the excitement. Mobile tickets can be scanned in a blink, whether they're on a phone, a print-out, or even a smartwatch. If tickets were bought in a group, your gate staff can scan part or all of the group in with just one scan. Hype up your haunted house With SimpleTix, you can dig into the analytics of your ticket purchasers and send them waivers, promo codes, and survey questions from inside your ticketing platform. You can also keep them informed about things like parking, weather updates, and other information. Early Bird Tickets and Instant Payouts Haunted Houses tend to see a large volume of early bird tickets. SimpleTix, unlike other Eventbrite alternatives, will pay those purchases out instantly. With this instant remuneration feature, event organizers have...
May 13th, 2022
Top 5 Advantages of Eventbrite Competitors
High name recognition does not guarantee a quality product or impressive customer service. Though the Eventbrite ticketing platform has a widely recognizable name, it also falls far short of providing a streamlined ticketing experience and responsive service. Eventbrite competitors outdo its performance by offering unique and highly beneficial features. These features improve your profitability and your efficiency on the day of the event. These ticketing platforms also provide helpful human support when you need it. Eventbrite alternatives include options that improve your ability to organize, run, and market your events. For example, SimpleTix partners with Square to offer unique advantages to you and your customers. Eventbrite alternatives offer highly customized ticketing software for nonprofits, tourist destinations, large-scale one-off events, agritourism sites, and many others. Whether you are organizing a one-day outdoor event, hosting ongoing activities that require ticketing, or putting together a festival, your ticketing platform should provide flexibility, efficiency, and profitability. Eventbrite competitors provide all of these, along with easy access to customer service. Event organizers who want to put on well-run, memorable, and profitable events seek out Eventbrite competitors for their ticketing platforms. Read on to discover the SimpleTix features that make it possible to put on excellent, profitable events. 1. Instant payouts Every event organizer is familiar with the inevitable sinking feeling as funds flow out during the planning process. SimpleTix prevents this by enabling you to finance your event as you go. Thanks to a partnership with Square, SimpleTix offers instant payouts to event organizers. Square is the most comprehensive point-of-sale system on the market and is designed to be functional and user-friendly for businesses of all sizes. Instant payouts allow you to fund your event as you plan by paying you immediately for ticket sales, merchandise, and concessions. In this way, Eventbrite competitors make your...
January 6th, 2023
Upgrade Your Email Marketing With Our New MailChimp...
In a sea of advertising bombardments, email remains king of the marketing realm. Many Eventbrite alternatives will tout the messaging functionality of their event ticketing software. But how flexible are these functions, and will they fit the needs of your events, and—more importantly—your loyal customers? Harnessing the power of email marketing can lead to unprecedented profitability. With SimpleTix's new MailChimp integration, it couldn't be easier. The power of two platforms in your event ticketing software Communication with your attendees is vital in this business. It doesn’t matter if your event operation is a concert hall, a haunted house, or a drive-in theater, you need to reach out to customers in a thoughtful, effective, and integrated manner. Gone are the days when people would scan the local newspaper to see what events or gatherings were happening this weekend. You need to have a direct line of communication with your customers, and Mailchimp gives you that opportunity. Connecting SimpleTix with Mailchimp can save you steps, and it lays the groundwork for marketing your events better. If you aren’t using email as an integral component of your marketing plan, you're leaving money on the table. While the task of mastering this method of communication may seem daunting, there are plenty of free resources available to help you understand the ins and outs of email. Look into online videos, blog posts, and other media to see what suggestions the experts are touting. Your website CMS may have courses that will cover the basics and get you running an effective email marketing campaign. Compelling subject lines, exciting images, and clear content within your emails will help your message stand out in your customer's inbox and increase open rates. Over time, you'll track which of your emails do better than others, so you can see what's working and improve...
December 30th, 2022
Making Memberships Easy with This Eventbrite Alternative
Members are your most valuable, engaged, and loyal customers. They excitedly click on your bulk email campaign messages, they wear their lanyard or membership badge with pride at your events, and they invite all their friends to come to your future happenings. Studies suggest that members are four times as valuable as your other attendees. You can’t leave this market segment just sitting there. And by adopting a state-of-the-art Eventbrite alternative as your ticketing platform, it really couldn’t be any easier to create the connection that membership programs build. That dedication, that loyalty to your brand, and the attractions you bring to your customers are all within reach. Remember your members. Selling memberships is a great opportunity to build buzz and improve your bottom line. While some loyalty programs are free to customers (think airline mileage points and restaurant clubs), it’s good to associate value with that relationship. Let your members know that this isn’t just some swipe card that comes in the mail and collects points—no, let them know that it is exclusive and full of value. They will pay to be among your most honored guests, and they will feel more special in the process. Do you already have a membership program for your attendees to join? If not, we’ll show you the easy steps you can take to get it going today! But if you already offer a membership program to your attendees, fantastic! The following details will still help you see how SimpleTix is the best Eventbrite alternative to help boost your new or existing membership program. How to tell which customers have membership potential? If your Eventbrite alternative event ticketing software works well with Square and Mailchimp, you will have no problem segmenting your sales and email campaign data into useable and effective target groups....
December 13th, 2022
Getting More out of General Admission Ticketing
Different event types and venues call for different event ticketing needs. The right online event ticketing solution helps you provide the choices that are best for you and your patrons. General admission is one of the most common ticket types offered for events. A general admission ticket gives event-goers the ability to enjoy your event at an affordable price point without having to pay for reserved seating. With event ticketing software, general admission also gives you a starting point to upsell additional perks and privileges for customizable higher-tier packages for online pre-sales. Online ticketing software allows you to pre-sell tickets digitally—that way, you don’t risk losing out on sales from those who don’t have the time to stop by and would rather buy remotely and plan ahead. Digital sales also let you sell tickets 24/7 instead of being restricted to the hours your venue is open during the day. Here's a closer look at how event ticketing software helps you optimize general admissions sales and more: Pre-sale tickets Bulk purchasing Season passes Pre-Sale tickets: why they matter Pre-sale tickets can help theater-goers ensure they have a ticket to the performances they want to see and that fit their schedule and preferences. Ticketing software helps you maximize the benefits of pre-sales, including: Better planning and resource management. When you pre-sell tickets online, you have real-time reporting of the revenue coming in and can better manage your budget and resources accordingly. You can also get an idea of what ticket packages or add-ons are selling and adjust your approach to marketing and sales as needed. Convenience for purchasers. Event-goers like to plan. They may also want to buy tickets to certain performances or events at a place and time outside of your physical location and hours of operation. The more convenient you...
December 13th, 2022
How the Right Ticketing Solution Can Create a...
The right ticketing solution can make the difference between your fans' gameday experiences being memorable or worth forgetting. In this article, we’ll show you how our Eventbrite alternative can make your gameday operations easier and more efficient while increasing your fans’ satisfaction with their minor league game day experience. Learn how you can use SimpleTix to: Offer season passes Pre-sell individual game tickets Upsell concessions and merch Effectively deploying your event ticketing software can lead to increased attendance at minor-league games. Moreover, cohesive communication between ticket sales and service staff can also keep customer satisfaction at an all-league high. By deploying the right Eventbrite alternative, your ballpark leverage growth and customer loyalty, too. Season Passes With the right Eventbrite alternative ticketing software, you can offer your fans a myriad of ticketing options that fit their schedule and lifestyle best. Full-season tickets are the obvious option, and a fruitful segment to market to. Full-season ticket holders tend to spend more money at the arena buying food, snacks and drinks, team merch, and other upsells. But not all fans are looking to attend every single home game, some want options to attend multiple games throughout the season without the hassle of buying multiple individual tickets. Try offering your fans varied ticket packages that allow you to provide different bundles of tickets and other up-sells to your guests. Establishing a consistent revenue stream can also be achieved with half-season and event quarter-season ticketing packages. Presenting these options to your ticket purchasers is an easy option with SimpleTix’s event ticketing segmentation, which allows your game attendees to still be engaged with the team on that “super fan” level. A robust event ticketing platform moves past these rigid structures and offers various options: Multi-game ticket packages that assign fans the same seat for all 10 games....
Our Trending Articles
April 27th, 2018 - Aron Kansal
Event Donations – Now Available!
Collect donations on your event page This is a feature that event promoters have been asking about for years. Previously, you could only add pre-set donation tiers to the shopping cart page. We heard feedback that this was too late in the registration process to be effective, and that the pre-set tiers did not work for everyone. We now offer the ability you to list one or more donation types on your page. Here's an example: Just like a ticket type, you can give the donation box a title and a subtitle. This allows you to let your prospective donors know exactly where their money is going. This is a great way for sports teams and other volunteer organizations to collect donations at the same time they are selling tickets to games or events. Click here to see a live example of an event registration form with donations. The Vaulter Club in California is using this feature for an upcoming clinic featuring world champion track and field coach Scott Kendricks. Kendricks coaches world-class athletes and will share what he's learned with the Vaulter Club community. The donations box on the event registration page allows patrons to make a donation to keep the club moving forward and support its other activities. The Vaulter Club provides poles and vault pits for its members to use. The club also offers private lessons and travel to events in other areas. Member dues and donations help make these activities happen while keeping the cost low for everyone involved.
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April 6th, 2018 - Jenna Spinelle
Brew Angels Use Discount Codes for Homebrew Club Members
As craft beer's popularity continues to grow in the U.S., so too does the popularity of home brewing. Like many things in life, home brewing is better done with friends by your side; homebrew clubs are a great way to do just that. The Brew Angels Homebrew Club in Stockton, California has brought homebrew enthusiasts together for more than a decade. The club hosts monthly events where members come together to brew beer, share a meal to go with that beer, and raise money for the community. Many Brew Angels events are open to the public and to club members, with members receiving a discount on tickets. The group needed a way to keep track of those discounts without a lot of manual processing or tracking who was a member and who was not. SimpleTix discount codes provided just the solution they were looking for. Discount codes can be hidden so that they're only visible to members uploaded through a spreadsheet or through automatically-generated discount codes. Codes can be set up for any event in SimpleTix and customized based on membership tiers or other categories. For example, you might have one group that receives $10 off each ticket and another group that receives $5 off each ticket. All it takes is a few clicks to set that up and send the codes to your members. Once the codes are generated, they can be distributed to members and applied on the site just like any other promotional code. Codes can be set to used only one or multiple times and can be applied for any amount off of the regular ticket price. Even the title of the discount code and the text around it can be customized to meet your needs and adopt the language your group uses. This adds a more personal feel to the process rather than going through a generic, one size fits all system. The Brew Angels generated hundreds of codes at once that were emailed to their members for their annual St. Patrick's Day fundraiser. Emails are sent through SimpleTix with the code automatically filled in. Another cool idea for the brewing community would be to send the list of codes to a printer and have them added under bottle caps, much like the codes soda manufacturers used to use. Like a lot of things in SimpleTix, the possibilities are only limited by your imagination. Check out this video for more information on how you can use discount codes for your next event.
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April 5th, 2018 - Jenna Spinelle
Use Simpletix to Manage Multiday Event Registration
Now is the time of year when many people start making summer vacation plans. It's also crunch time for camp management professionals as they scramble to get a registration website up and running for the new season. Sound familiar? If your organization hosts multi-day camps or other types of events, you know how important it is to make registration as seamless as possible for your customers. Managing these events is complicated from an organizational standpoint, SimpleTix allows you to keep track of all your important details in one place. Fastlane Daytona recently used our multi-day discount feature to manage registrations for its Bike Week Campground event, which is held during Daytona Bike Week each year. At this event, a regular price RV spot is $60 per night. If someone buys a spot for five consecutive nights, the price drops to $55 per night. If the spot is purchased for all 10 nights of Bike Week, the prices is further reduced to $50 per night. That sounds complicated, but SimpleTix makes it easy to set up these discounts and keep track of them to ensure that each spot is being utilized to its fullest potential. All a potential customer has to do is select the spot they want and the number of days they want it; SimpleTix takes care of the rest. Behind the scenes, the discount is set up using the premium Discount feature in SimpleTix. Just set choose discount amount and how it should be applied and it will automatically be applied to your event: The Lanier Island Poker Run has also used this feature to manage registrations for this multi-day event held each summer. The possibilities for discounts are only limited by your creativity. Anyone who manages a camp or other multi-day event can use SimpleTix to take the hassle out of tracking attendance and payment. The less time you have to spend on these administrative tasks, the more time you can spend on the things you enjoy about camp management — working with campers and preparing your campsite to host another season full of visitors.
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December 13th, 2022
Getting More out of General Admission Ticketing
Different event types and venues call for different event ticketing needs. The right online event ticketing solution helps you provide the choices that are best for you and your patrons.…
December 13th, 2022
How the Right Ticketing Solution Can Create a...
The right ticketing solution can make the difference between your fans' gameday experiences being memorable or worth forgetting. In this article, we’ll show you how our Eventbrite alternative can make…
December 1st, 2022
Built to Help Farms Succeed
This year, we sought to make it even simpler for our 300+ farm clients to drive revenue from their events and make the most of their busiest season. Our partnership…
November 16th, 2022
Staying COVID-Ready: Four Tips for Your Holiday Event
With 85% of Americans stating they were planning on celebrating the holidays, even during the 2021 Winter COVID wave, it is easy to see how the spread of the pandemic would impact…
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Buncombe County Switches to Local Event Tech Provider,...
December 15th, 2019 - Aron Kansal
Buncombe County switched to SimpleTix, a local tech company, for the county’s annual Lake Julian Festival of Lights celebration. Ultimately, the county saved hundreds of dollars in fees and saw…
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Zapier now features SimpleTix
April 19th, 2019 - Aron Kansal
Automate repetitive tasks! Do you use other CRMs, email tools, or even Google Sheets? You can now find SimpleTix in the Zapier app list. Currently the most common SimpleTix Zaps…
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Taking the Hassle Out of Conference Registration
November 25th, 2018 - Jenna Spinelle
Anyone who has ever registered for a conference knows that it can be time-consuming to click through page after page of registration options. For the past three years, the Pacesetter…
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Combining Registration and Payment for a Club Event
January 8th, 2018 - SimpleTix Team
It's winter time in British Columbia and that means one thing — skiing! The Caledonia Nordic Ski Club is a community of more than 1,000 skiiers who share access to…
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Use Promotional Codes to Market Your Events
September 21st, 2010 - Aron
Sell More Tickets Thanks to SimpleTix e-Ticketing Promo Codes Feature With SimpleTix, you can easily use promotional codes in newsletters and ads as a marketing tactic In order to create…
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