on-line ticketing good or bad?

[RJ Productions]

There are going to expenses incurred as the ticketing company must also make money.
A lot depends on your market. My market sucks for people buying ahead.
They have a mentality of show up and buy! But I still use an on line ticket company.

First I would suggest that you pass the on line ticket cost to the consumer.
They are use to it as Ticketmaster and the like always had a ticketing fee attached
to the ticket. At first the services were suggesting the haunts absorb that cost.
It is a convenience fee, so it is more convenient to the customer, he pays the fee.
Most services will allow for this.

You also have the use of the equipment, the scanner(s) and any support hardware.
See if there is a fee for usage of the equipment. You can sometimes negotiate this.

Shipping. You have to ship the scanners both ways. Do you are the service company pay for this?
Most require you do, some ship to you, you pay the return. In any case it is an added expense.
Do you want it to just be a cost of doing business or do you incorporate it?

Some services require a minimum ticket purchase or you will be responsible to make up the difference.

As I said most points can be negotiated, shop around. TW was a great opportunity as most were
represented. Some services are adding other features. I heard Interactive ticketing is incorporating
on site merchandise sales into their platform.

Decide on the requirements you need, shop around and get what works best. Try not to lock into a long
term contract as if you are not satisfied you can switch the following year.

Try not to rape your customer with the fee. Keep it reasonable, but don't screw yourself either.
Remember you will have a small percentage that pays on line then never redeems the ticket (found money).
IF you think you may only sell a couple hundred the first year, factor that in with the ticket fee. If their fee
is $1.00 a transaction, shipping is $50.00, just add 25 cents for a $1.25 fee and you have no out of pocket cost.

As many have stated it just makes sense to have on line ticketing. Even if it starts slow (as our has) it will increase
as more and more people become used to on line shopping. It is also an image thing. Do you go to the haunt that only
takes cash or the haunt that has on line ticketing and takes debit or credit??? Which case seems like a company that plans
on being around a while??

Opps, you didn't even mention if you took credit cards!!! That could be a whole different thread (you should take credit cards too!!)

I have used Click N Print for a couple years, no problems.

Rich

[naberhoodhaunts]

Sorry to chime in so late. I'm sure you saw my post regarding Extremetix / ClickNPrint in one of the links provided by Bobby. To reiterate what Larry said, put online ticketing on your site and then drive as much traffic to your site as possible!

We have coupons distributed at more than 30 McDonald's locations, 4 or 5 Halloween Express Stores, 4 Domino's Pizza locations (including delivery box toppers), 5 Flying Burrito locations, etc. The coupons are valid for $1.00 Off of admission to the first 3 weekends. However, the coupon includes a code that people can use to purchase tickets online and double the coupon value. They are required to complete a short 5 question survey, which was setup by ClickNPrint, and are rewarded with the double coupon discount.

Historically we've averaged approx 10% of our ticket sales being purchased online. This past year, however, we had a significant reduction in online ticket purchases. I believe this was due to the economic crisis and its affect on credit cards.

The cost of using http://www.clicknprint.com/ has always been more than covered by the unredeemed tickets alone! We've never had anyone request a refund for not being able to make it after purchasing tickets online yet.

Hope this helps!

Kel

Hey Kelly, just a quick question. does the ticket money go right into your account or do you have to wait to get it after the event? also do you have a contact person that you suggest?
Thanks Joe

[Dark Scares]

Our online sales were I would say were close to 40% of all our sales.
we used ExtremeTix as well and were more than happy with them. I believe the money was deposited weekly directly into our bank account.

[Raycliff Manor]

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXxxxxx

[Karl Fields]

A little birdie told me they are adding some awesome marketing features for 2011! I'll be anxious to hear the updates on this!
Kel

Kelly, Don't know if it's one of the new features you speak of, but last season we were using Extremetix's smart phone function. Customer buys tickets online, even standing in our ticket line, has it sent to their smart phone, then presents the screen of his phone for us to scan the same bar code that would appear on hard copy. Worked much better than I was imagining and great to have the speed of customer spontaneous purchase (usually speed pass) and then not have all the paper accumulation!
Karl

To answer someone else's question, we got a direct deposit transfer once a week and had 1 or 1.5 percent held back for about 90 days. This percent was to account for any charge backs that might occur.

About 30% of our total sales were in online tickets.

[HordeOfUndead]

I definitely like the idea of driving traffic to your website with an additional incentive to save, for example and extra $1.00 on top of someone who picks up one of your coupons for a $1.00 off.

Although this will be our first professional season, online ticketing is a must these days as most of you have mentioned above. I checked out clicknprint.com that multiple members recommended and it looks like that is what we'll be going with.

Quick question though. Say someone does pick up a coupon and it informs the potential customer to visit your site to enter the coupon code for an additional $1.00 if you buy the tickets online. Should every coupon have the same code on it or numbered like tickets? What would prevent someone or many people from just giving others the code and getting the same total $2.00 off even thought they never picked up a coupon?

Will the online ticketing system and security be set up in a way where it can recognize those types of situations?

I really don't want just a traditional $2.00 off coupon and (maybe) some individuals will check out your website or even show up for the event. I am focusing much of our advertising through viral marketing, website traffic, and social networks to let the word spread becoming more interactive.

[Raycliff Manor]

Great question. The point of the coupons and the code is to drive sales. If people think they are getting a fast one over on you by getting the code from their friends, great! That's just more sales. We have the actual coupons good for up to 4 people anyway, which encourages them to tell their friends. What you can do, however, to better track which coupon distribution points are working best for you, and more importantly to gather data that your sponsors will appreciate, is to have a different coupon code for each distributor, (i.e. one for McDonald's and another for Pizza Hut) By tracking the codes used for online purchasing you can determine which is working better for you. Make sense?

Kel

[HordeOfUndead]

That definitely makes sense. I didn't really think about it in the sense "pulling a fast one and increasing sales" at the same time.

On the other hand the Haunt Apps is BRILLIANT. I will without a doubt be further investigating that avenue. Too bad it sounds limited to only iPhone users vs. other App stores on different smart phones. All in all though great idea.

Thanks again!

[MovieRelics]

On the other hand the Haunt Apps is BRILLIANT. I will without a doubt be further investigating that avenue. Too bad it sounds limited to only iPhone users vs. other App stores on different smart phones. All in all though great idea.

Thanks again!

Hey guys...

Just want to let everyone know that we are going to be releasing an Android version very very soon. We are entering the last leg of beta testing and should have a official release soon. We are also working on a Windows Phone Version of the app also that will hopefully be released by the end of this summer. In the meantime, if anyone has any questions, please feel free to contact me at http://www.hauntapps.com.

For $15 dollars a month, you can get your own custom branded mobile app for your attraction for year round marketing and customer retention!!! Why spend thousands of dollars for an App when you can get your own HauntApp for way way less and built within 24 hours ready for submission to Apple?

Also, if you are ready to get your own app today, use the code POSTTRANSWORLD and you will get $25 off the initial setup fee.

If you have any questions, please feel free to call or contact me at hauntapps.com.

[MovieRelics]

Also, to answer a couple of questions that we have gotten this past week, you can offer your different ticketing info in the "Tickets" area. If you use Interactive Ticketing, your customers can purchase tickets from directly inside the app. We have also tested TicketLeap and have found them also compatible. If you use a different online ticketing system, let me know and we will contact them to test if they are compatible with our app.

But imagine your customers standing in line, see an ad for your app on the side of the building. They could download the app, view tickets, purchase one, and then walk up to an e-ticket line and have a barcode scanned directly from the phone or look up their ticket number for instant access. You just sold and processed a ticket instantly. If your tickets are $10 each, it only takes 1.5 tickets sold to pay for the month of the service. Plus you can now market to them year round with the app installed on their phone or iPod....