It’s event season! As you prepare to get your gala on, here are some insights from our friends at AccelEvent to make it easier for participants to get tickets to your upcoming shindig.
As fundraisers and nonprofits tirelessly plan their fundraising events, one aspect that is typically taken for granted is the event ticketing portion.
While ticketing may seem like a fairly straightforward function for a fundraising event, technology now gives fundraising event organizers the ability to significantly improve the ticketing process, both for themselves and for their donors.
Below, we’ll walk you through some of our favorite tips to make the event ticketing process easier and more effective!
1. Sell tickets online
At this stage in the game, most event hosts are using some kind of online event ticketing service. If you haven’t already made the transition to online ticketing, we highly recommend it.
Transitioning to online ticket sales will allow your organization to have more flexibility in many areas. For one thing, you will be able to drastically increase ticket sales as you will not be restricted to selling physical tickets in person.
Online ticketing will also make the purchasing process a breeze for your donors as they can simply navigate to your online page (from anywhere) and easily purchase their tickets. This convenience will be greatly appreciated by your busy donors!
Finally, online ticket sales will help you save time setting up your event, collecting information on your guests, and checking them in. Because tickets were purchased online, you will already have contact information and, in most cases, payment information from your donors. This means that event check-in will not require registration, something we all know can become quite the bottleneck at the beginning of a fundraising event!
While there are many ticketing providers out there, some of the key criteria to look for when choosing a ticketing provider include:
- Pricing (flat fee, percentage, etc.)
- Fee Responsibility – Does your organization pay ticketing fees, or do your donors?
- Customization Options – The more, the better!
- Donor Information Collection
- Check-In Capabilities
For a more detailed guide on how to choose the best online ticketing service, feel free to view our guide!
2. Integrate with your fundraising tools
Our second tip to make the event ticketing process easier is to integrate your ticketing platform with any fundraising tools you may already be using. Integrating will not only make it easier for you to aggregate and analyze information about your donors, but will also make the experience seamless for your guests, from ticket purchase to donation.
Are you planning to include an auction, fund a need, or provide a donation page with your fundraising event? If so, it would be a wise move to make sure you choose an online ticketing provider that also offers mobile fundraising solutions. Choosing a provider that integrates ticketing with mobile fundraising will allow you to store all donor information in the same place. You can then contact your guests through the same platform to encourage them to participate in your silent auction, fund a need, or donation page.
From a user’s standpoint, your guests will be able to purchase their event tickets, bid on silent auction items, and donate – all in the same place. Once they arrive at your fundraising event, they will be able to continue their donation process all within the same system. We have found that this convenience leads to increased engagement and frequency of donations, as well as proceeds for your fundraiser.
Conclusion
Although you may have realized some of the initial benefits of online event ticketing, we hope that you can use the tips we provided, either to sell tickets online for the first time or to enhance your ticketing process in order to make the experience easier for you and your donors!
About the Author
Zach Hagopian is the co-founder and COO of Accelevents, a mobile fundraising platform that enhances silent auctions and raffles through online and text-message bidding. An active member in the Boston fundraising scene, Zach focuses on improving traditional fundraising methods and increasing fundraiser proceeds.
Thank you for this innovate guide. It was interesting reading through these 2 key points. One ticketing provider worth considering especially for fundraisers is Python Events. These guys let you keep 100% of your booking fees. If you are shifting loads of tickets it’s worth maybe looking at these guys. There software is white label also, this is great for independant companies wanting their very own event platform!
Thanks for sharing the great information, It was really a wonderful article and I was really impressed by reading this blog. Eventdexis also one of the best event management software. It helps manage the entire event lifecycle viz registrations, payment collection, badges, mobile apps, onsite management, reports many more, and many more. Eventdex charges flat $0.75 per ticket whether your ticket costs $50 or $5,000.You save that money and time. All in one place. for more info check out here: http://bit.ly/2KC3wi6