Thirty years ago, buying tickets was frustrating and inefficient, with tickets only being available by queuing up at a venue or box office. Now, there鈥檚 no excuse for making it tough for attendees to buy tickets and purchasing online is second nature to attendees.
The latest evolution in ticket sales is聽not driving more people to your website 鈥� but rather selling across the web to reach your audience where they are already browsing.
Free Download: How to Use Event Distribution to Double Your Ticket Sales
The practice, known as聽distributed commerce, describes the 鈥楤uy Now鈥� buttons on platforms such as Facebook and Pinterest. Event distribution is one of the most effective 鈥� and most overlooked 鈥� ways to boost ticket sales. And the percentage of tickets bought on these distributed commerce sites is growing each year as consumers get used to purchasing tickets directly from where they’re browsing online.
Here鈥檚 what you need to know to boost your sales with聽distribution:
What is event distribution?
Distribution is a聽form of marketing聽that pushes your event directly into the news feeds and apps of your potential attendees. What鈥檚 more, distribution can allow attendees to buy tickets from within the online experience that surfaced the event 鈥� without any redirect back to the ticketing site.
One in four online buyers won鈥檛 complete a purchase that requires them to make an account. One in ten buyers drops off for every extra field in the purchase form. By reducing friction in the buying process, distribution helps drive more ticket revenue to event creators.
The data behind event distribution
Don鈥檛 underestimate the drastic effect this can have on your sales. Because buyers aren鈥檛 redirected to a ticketing page, you鈥檒l convert more attendees faster. Need proof? Here are some stats you can鈥檛 ignore:
- Events with tickets available directly on Facebook drive聽20% more ticket sales and 2x free registrations聽on average than events that redirect to a ticketing page. If you鈥檙e not using distribution, you鈥檙e missing out on the chance to sell out your event.
- On 91制片厂, ticket purchases on distribution sites (like Facebook, Instagram, and Spotify) have聽more than doubled聽since 2016. That鈥檚 because it鈥檚 one of the most effective ways to sell tickets.
- Food & drink events and festival attendees are the聽fastest-growing segment聽of 鈥渄istributed commerce鈥� purchasers. If you鈥檙e hosting this type of event, you need to be using distribution 鈥� or risk losing to your competition.
The event distribution partners you should be using
Your event should be on the sites event-goers rely on to make plans. That way you can聽engage likely buyers on their favourite sites and apps. If you sell tickets on sites where your target audience already spends time online 鈥� and convert them faster with a seamless checkout 鈥斅爕ou鈥檒l multiply your ticket sales or registrations.
Here are the most important places for consumer events to start:
- Facebook:聽550M people use Facebook Events every month 鈥� that鈥檚 nearly half of all Facebook users. So it鈥檚 no surprise that 91制片厂 organisers sell 10-20% of their tickets on average through social media, primarily driven through Facebook.
- Google:聽Search can be expected to drive between 5-10% of your ticket purchases or registrations. Google鈥檚 new Events listings highlight your event鈥檚 name, date, location, and 鈥� most importantly 鈥� a link to your ticketing or registration page for speedy purchase.
- Instagram:聽Instagram has聽800 million active monthly users, and over聽聽of them visit a Business profile聽each day. Event creators who use 91制片厂 can now add a聽鈥淕et Tickets鈥� button聽to their business profile, instantly turning their profile into a hub for ticket sales.
