Use Festival Software to Upsell Like a Pro
-
by
Riley Manning has worked as a travel and entertainment writer for more than 10 years. Today, he writes about unique events and the technology that helps make them happen.
When you’re running a festival or other event, using your festival software to sell tickets is only half the battle.
Ticket sales cover critical costs and contribute to the overall profitability of your festival. But the fact is that a significant amount of revenue can come from upselling ticket purchasers with merchandise, concessions, multi-day ticket packages, and more.
In eCommerce, effective upselling has been shown to make a significant positive impact on revenue. It’s also easier to upsell to customers already purchasing event tickets than to find brand new customers.
In fact, upselling can increase your revenue by 30%.
Upselling doesn’t have to mean aggressively trying to sell to customers. Rather, the right approach to upselling is more about offering the right choices at the right time, giving event-goers access to additional purchases they’re likely to be interested in.
You need festival software that provides a more dynamic approach to selling. A software platform that combines different types of transactions from a single point-of-sale, offering a streamlined purchasing experience, will lead to satisfied, empowered customers who’re more likely to buy additional goods and services.
Event software like SimpleTix offers functionality beyond selling tickets, with the ability to upsell to your customers, giving them what they want and increasing your event revenue at the same time.
Here’s what you need to know about using your festival software to upsell like a pro.
Table of Contents:
- Bundling Merch with Ticket Sales Online
- Streamlining On-Site Merch Sales
- Simplifying Redemption with Festival Software
Bundling Merch with Ticket Sales Online
When people attend events, they’re paying for a memorable experience. Mementos like hats, stickers, T-shirts, and posters can commemorate those memories. Pre-purchasing concessions and other upsells lets customers know they’re getting the most out of their time at your venue, and they’re doing it based on the choices they want.
Online bundling allows you to upsell and meet customer expectations:
- Many event-goers want branded clothing; clothing is a leading online sales item–53% of U.S. shoppers purchased clothing online in 2022.
- It’s easier to upsell to people already planning on buying event tickets, especially repeat customers. Upselling or cross-selling to customers you’re familiar with is 60% to 70% sure.
- With the rise of mobile eCommerce, ticket purchasers increasingly prefer to pay online. 22% of global retail sales will be via eCommerce by 2023.
Online festival ticketing software should allow your customers to bundle tickets and merchandise seamlessly, without the need to go through different point-of-sale systems that give customers a clunky and disjointed purchasing experience.
Having one online sales system makes purchasing easy for customers and selling easy for staff. It makes for dynamic selling that’s highly customizable and allows you to present a personalized event experience.
SimpleTix offers the ability to bundle merchandise with ticket sales, with unique functionality through a partnership with Square.
With Square integration, you can add items to your Square catalog, such as different sizes or styles of branded merchandise or food choices at different price points, which you can then bundle and sell when purchasers check out to buy their tickets.
With SimpleTix’s Festival Mode, you can also upsell bundled multi-day festival tickets or offer other specialized ticketing bundles seamlessly.
Streamlining On-Site Merch Sales
In the past, you might have to sell a ticket at a gate using your ticket software, then use another software or device to sell the merch and other add-ons. This approach can create bottlenecks in the process of selling.
Staff must try to get people through the gate quickly, clear lines for on-site merch sales, and keep the entire system as uncomplicated and straightforward as possible.
With Square functionality, SimpleTix provides a multi-level approach to on-site sales.
Scan-and-go entry lets those who pre-purchased tickets get into the venue quickly by QR codes on a digital or printed ticket. With Square, purchases can be made on-site with Apple Pay and Android Pay, chip cards, and contactless payments.
Using the same Square-integrated system, you can sell merch and concessions on-site. Combining and simplifying sales with a single online system lets staff upsell items in your Square catalog from within the same app, and in the same transaction.
Simplifying Redemption with Festival Software
When customers pre-purchase merchandise and add-ons online, it’s not always practical to check them in and redeem their merchandise in the same spot.
Let’s say you’re redeeming T-shirts customers bought with their tickets for an event. If your staff has to scan attendees in and give them their shirts in the same spot, this will slow down your line.
A beer festival is another example where upselling with festival software simplifies the redemption process. A festival attendee may choose to buy a certain number of beer tokens.
With SimpleTix, those “tokens” are digital and are integrated into the attendee’s ticket.
This comes with several advantages:
- Guests and staff don’t have to track physical tokens, which are cumbersome and can become lost.
- Within your Square catalog, you can price different categories and variations of items. In our example of a beer festival, different styles of beer will be priced differently.
- When customers buy tokens, you can use festival software to assign an SKU number depending on the tokens the customer pays for.
Usually, when you scan a ticket, that ticket then becomes deactivated. Because of this, a higher level of functionality was previously unavailable. Now with software like SimpleTix you can place vendors wherever works best for your festival without compromising on efficiency.
SimpleTix festival software lets you upsell to ticket purchasers in a way that’s tailored to what’s most effective for your needs. Whether you’re selling merch, concessions, multiple ticket bundles, or other add-ons, whether it’s online pre-sales or on-site purchases, SimpleTix has you covered.
SimpleTix has offered an affordable, premium event ticketing platform that outperforms Eventbrite and similar apps for over 12 years. Compared to the competition, SimpleTix offers better options at a better price point. To learn more, call us at +1 (855) 550-3670 or email us at support@simpletix.com.
Latest News
Related Articles
Accept In-Person Payments with Stripe in the SimpleTix Organizer App
-
by
Event organizers can now conduct Stripe in-person ticket sales directly through the SimpleTix Organizer app using Stripe Terminal Selling tickets at the door should be easy. Now it is. SimpleTix now supports Stripe in-person ticket sales directly inside our Organizer mobile app using Stripe Terminal, giving event organizers a simple, secure way to accept credit card payments anywhere. Whether you’re running a concert, festival, class, fundraiser, or community event, you can now turn your phone into a fully integrated mobile box office. Sell Tickets at the Door — Without the Chaos Door sales are often where revenue is won or lost. Long lines, cash-only limitations, manual entry errors, and disconnected payment systems create unnecessary stress. Even worse, using a separate POS system means double entry and messy reconciliation after the event. With Stripe Terminal integrated into the SimpleTix mobile app, everything stays in one system: Accept credit and debit cards in person Support Apple Pay, Google Pay, and contactless cards Automatically sync ticket inventory in real time Issue tickets instantly See online and in-person sales in one dashboard A True Mobile Box Office for Event Organizers Small and mid-sized event organizers need flexibility. Events don’t always happen behind a counter. Now you can sell tickets: At the entrance At pop-up locations Inside large venues At festivals and outdoor events From multiple staff members simultaneously All transactions process securely through Stripe, while ticket inventory updates immediately in SimpleTix so you never oversell. Fast, Secure, and Reliable Stripe Terminal provides enterprise-grade payment security, including: EMV chip card processing End-to-end encryption PCI-compliant transactions Contactless and mobile wallet support You get the reliability of Stripe’s payment infrastructure combined with the simplicity of SimpleTix’s event management platform. Why This Matters for Growing Event Organizers For small to medium-sized events, adding a full POS system can...
PayPal Ticketing Software: Sell More Tickets with Trusted Payments
-
by
When ticket buyers reach your checkout page, the last thing you want is friction. Every extra step, every unfamiliar payment form, every moment of hesitation costs you sales. That's why offering PayPal—the payment method over 400 million people already trust—can transform your ticket conversion rates. SimpleTix integrates directly with PayPal to give your attendees a seamless checkout experience. One integration unlocks PayPal, Venmo, Pay Later options, and credit card processing—all the ways your customers want to pay. Activate PayPal → Why PayPal Matters for Event Ticketing Your attendees aren't just buying a ticket. They're making a decision in a moment—often on their phone, often in a hurry. PayPal's brand recognition removes doubt at the exact moment it matters most. The numbers tell the story: merchants using PayPal see 46% higher checkout conversion compared to other payment methods. For event organizers, that translates directly to more tickets sold from the same marketing spend. PayPal isn't just another payment option—it's your all-in-one checkout solution. Through a single integration with SimpleTix, you can offer: PayPal — The trusted standard for online payments Venmo — Tap into 92 million active accounts (US) Pay Later — Let customers pay in installments while you get paid upfront Credit and debit cards — Visa, Mastercard, Amex, Discover at competitive rates Country-specific payment methods — Reach international customers with local payment options Increase Average Order Value with Pay Later Ticket buyers don't always want to pay everything at once—especially for premium events, multi-day festivals, or group purchases. PayPal's Pay Later options (Pay in 4 and Pay Monthly) let customers split their purchase into manageable payments while you receive the full amount immediately. This isn't just convenient for buyers. It drives measurable business results: merchants with Pay Later see 55% higher average order values compared to standard PayPal transactions....
Eventbrite Is Being Acquired. Here’s What It Means for You.
-
by
On December 2, Eventbrite announced it's being acquired by Bending Spoons for ~$500M, down from a $1.7B peak valuation. The deal takes Eventbrite private and puts it in the hands of a firm known for aggressive cost-cutting and price increases. If you're an Eventbrite customer, this is worth paying attention to. Who is Bending Spoons? Bending Spoons is a Milan-based tech company that acquires underperforming software brands (Evernote, Vimeo, WeTransfer, Meetup, AOL) and restructures them for profitability. Their playbook is consistent: cut headcount (often 50-75%), raise prices, and streamline operations. That's not speculation. It's their stated model. What This Likely Means for Eventbrite Customers Higher fees. Bending Spoons is explicit about monetization being a priority. Eventbrite has already experimented with pricing over the past two years. Expect that to accelerate. Reduced support. Major headcount reductions typically mean fewer experienced support reps and longer response times, especially during the transition. If you run complex events (reserved seating, multi-day festivals, timed entry), this matters. Product stagnation. Ownership changes usually mean roadmap resets and internal focus on cost savings. Don't expect new features anytime soon. Questions to Ask Yourself You don't need to panic. But you should treat this as a prompt to evaluate your options: What are you paying in total fees today? How sensitive is your margin to a 10-20% increase? How critical is hands-on support to your events? Can you afford slower response times mid-season? What's your contingency plan if pricing or policies change after you've already committed to your event calendar? If any of those questions give you pause, now is the time to explore alternatives, not after new pricing is announced. Why SimpleTix Is Different SimpleTix was built for organizers who care about margins, flexibility, and responsive support. A few key differences: Transparent pricing with a hard fee...