Most of us think of TripAdvisor as a resource for planning hotel stays or booking tours. In reality, a TripAdvisor listing is vital to all event businesses. This is especially true if your goals include growing sales with customers outside of your geographic area and to sell more tickets. In this article, we discuss the importance of TripAdvisor to your event business, how to list your business on the site, the power of reviews and how to invite positive ones, and how to sell more event tickets online with TripAdvisor and ThunderTix's integration with their service.
TripAdvisor Reaches Visitors Beyond Your Area
While long known for its connection with travelers, TripAdvisor should be important to all event businesses. This includes the performing arts, comedy and music venues, tours and family farms, and of course, interesting local attractions. Regardless of size or geographic area, don't underestimate the importance of a TripAdvisor listing for drawing guests to your venue. For example, Marlinton, West Virginia is a tiny town of about 1000 people tucked into the beautiful Allegheny Mountains. Not known as a travel destination, a quick search for "things to do" in the area yields a list of places worth seeing. (The Pocahontas Times Print Shop -- which includes a printing press display and old moveable type -- and the Edray State Trout Hatchery are two of those worthy destinations!) Listing your attraction or event for visitors passing through your area can help sell more tickets with TripAdvisor.
Get Listed on TripAdvisor
To start, get your business listed with Viator. Viator is the software platform purchased and integrated with Viator for online bookings. Next, look through TripAdvisor to see if a past customer has already created a review about your business. If so, you'll want to claim ownership in order to respond to reviews -- especially negative ones. If you don't find your event, enter your business information and await approval by TripAdvisor's reviewers. Make sure your summary generates excitement, so include great photos! If your location is difficult to find, a photo with visual cues can help travelers identify markers. Finally, add your website, contact information and hours of operation.
The Power of Positive Social Reviews
TripAdvisor is a "social review" site. If you've ever used Amazon's customer reviews to guide you in a product purchase, you know the value reviews have on your spending. So, your goal should be to increase those great reviews. The higher the review -- and we're aiming for 5 stars here -- the more traffic you'll get. I recently had a business owner tell me that he knew they were satisfying customers because they had 3.5 stars (out of 5) on a review site. Ladies and gentlemen, this is not a good rating! Ratings are all about customer experiences. Travelers with full schedules want confidence in their ticket purchases, so those 4 and 5 star events are going to win out every time.
Handling Negative Feedback
Of course, we all want 5 star reviews, but at times we'll receive a poor one. It could be that a customer had a great time, but the rain dampened their enjoyment. Those reviews cannot be helped, but responding empathetically to their circumstances and offering a discount for a return visit can go a long way.
Look at reviews from dissatisfied customers as an opportunity to learn and correct. If your reviews show a pattern of falling short of customer expectations or point to poor service, then leverage that feedback to improve. Visit with your team and discuss what changes might have affected the outcome of that customer's experience. After working to resolve a problem, respond to the reviewer with empathy. Tell them how you've corrected the issue, and provide a coupon towards future service when appropriate.
Since positive reviews will sell more tickets with TripAdvisor, ask your customers to provide them. As customers leave your event, ask them about their experience at the same time. Not only will you learn about missteps, but you'll have an opportunity to provide a refund, gift card or coupon as an invitation to return. For enthusiastic customers, consider handing them your business card with an invitation to write a TripAdvisor review, and make sure you thank them for their consideration.
Sell More Tickets with TripAdvisor and ThunderTix
You've got your site listed and you're earning great reviews. It's time to consider whether you want to begin sell more tickets with TripAdvisor and ThunderTix's direct integration. If you are already selling tickets on TripAdvisor, open a support request, so we can help you connect your ThunderTix account with Viator. We'll keep track of all sales via TripAdvisor, so you don't have to transfer sales data, and the direct connection helps you to stay within your capacities.
If you're new to TripAdvisor, contact their sales teams with questions. Some might include:
- What is the percentage that TripAdvisor charges as their commission?
- Are high volume discounts offered?
- When are revenues depositied and how?
- Do you have complete access to the customer data?
Regardless of your decision to begin selling tickets with TripAdvisor, understanding the power of social sites and utilizing them should be an important part of your marketing plan. When you sell tickets to your event online, social sites and great reviews translate into higher ticket sales. So, add your business listing, respond to negative reviews with empathy, correct problems as they arise, and invite positive reviews to grow sales. ThunderTix provides many social sharing features for venues to promote events. Happy selling!
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