Coupon promos are just one of the strategies you can use to increase the sales of your online event tickets. Not all coupons are created equally, so spending the time to create the perfect coupon and then measuring the effectiveness of the promotion should be an important part of your sales strategy. ThunderTix provides sophisticated options for coupons and redemption metrics to analyze results. If you want to sell tickets to your event, ThunderTix provides easy access to detailed reports on everything from coupon redemptions to merchandise sales. Let's examine a few examples.
- Dollar Off vs. Percentage Off
In general, dollar off coupons work best especially with average priced tickets. On the other hand, when prices are high and fairly well established, percentage off coupons provide the best return. Let's consider, for example, the price of airfare from L.A. to Boston. We might have a stronger incentive to buy now if we have the opportunity to get 50% off rather than a $100 savings. - Buy One Get One (BOGO)
Generically called "buy one get one" or "BOGO" coupons, these coupons incentivize ticket sales in two ways. - The traditional "buy one get one" offer can help bring customers in on otherwise slow selling days or events. Many tours are open daily for administrative purposes although ticket sales occur at higher rates over the weekend. If Tuesday is your slowest sale day of the week, why not combine a BOGO offer redeemable for that day only? (Yes, you can limit redemption to chosen days of the week or even specific calendar days.) When forecasted weather patterns might slow potential sales, advertising day-specific discounts in advance can help boost sales.
- Something like a "buy four get one free" offer can induce customers to add one or two more tickets to their purchases. For example, coupons for family oriented events might motivate a parent to kick up their purchase from three tickets to four for their children's friends. Group-centered events like blazer tag or paintball are also good candidates for these types of coupons and ultimately increase event ticket sales.
- Limit Number of Redemptions
"Hurry! The first 10 tickets purchased save $5 off!" Best used in advertising for a limited period of time only, customers are incentivized to make a quick and early purchase before others beat them to the deal. Hefty discounts can drive sales even more quickly and by announcing the remaining redemptions via social media over time -- "Quick, we have only 2 left!", you can keep the discount in front of your audience and drive the imperative nature to purchase quickly. - Time Sensitivity
Coupons tied to a limited time period can help motivate customers to buy tickets early and allow you to build up cash reserves in advance. A fall train tour can sell tickets earlier by adding an incentive like, "Don't miss the deal train! Hop on with the coupon code '15off' to save $15 on purchases through September 1." Consider targeting families on Facebook to see tour tickets fly off the tracks. - Automatically Applied Group Discounts
Reward large ticket purchases by offering group discounts automatically applied at checkout. These are best applied on events that don't generally sell out because they can easily expand to meet additional demand. Outdoor events and tours are among our most frequent users of these coupons. Don't forget to advertise multi-ticket discounts on media channels (Twitter, Facebook, etc.) or highlight them on your event's description. Best of all, these coupons can save staff time since ticket buyers aren't forced to call during business hours to receive the discount by phone.
Measuring Coupon Effectiveness to Increase Event Ticket Sales
Creating a coupon that nobody knows about won't help you increase ticket sales, so make sure you spread the word. Twitter is an obvious choice for many music and performing arts venues to advertise coupon deals. Use action verbs and try to motivate quick action by specifying the time sensitive or limited offer nature of the coupon.
A good coupon strategy can increase revenue, so take advantage of ThunderTix's detailed reporting on redemptions. In addition to knowing when coupons were redeemed, you can asses the value those coupons brought to your bottom line. So, make sure you analyze results so you can tweak how and when you share your coupon deals. If you need help defining a strategy, let us know, and we'll assist you to get the best results. Happy couponing!
References:
Watch our Create Event Coupons video tutorial.
Review ThunderTix's online coupon options to help increase event ticket sales.
