Boosting online ticket sales

• This knowledge will enable you to focus on the staffing levels and ensure that you are staffing and operating your rosters effectively and efficiently. Building your forecasting model around the data will enable you to ensure that you are maximising the operational effectiveness of your guest journey and offer the best possible guest experience, value for money, and of course the opportunity to upsell and increase revenues from your guests when they visit.
• Who IS coming in? Who ISN’T coming?  Why?   
  Using the ticketing information to your advantage – where did they hear about you?  Is your marketing effective?  Evaluation and efficacy of campaigns – use of Promotional codes and other methods of tracking your sales will determine how you develop your Sales and Marketing strategy.  Demographics/Areas – these days the local UK and ROI markets are key and understanding which product appeals to whom and why will determine your future strategies short/medium and long term into the future.
• Are your membership/loyalty programmes working? Knowing who is coming in and why under which price point/ticket type and then overlaying that over the data and information gathered will once again determine whether your strategies/price points/frequency of visit targets etc are working.

• Are you driving your revenues knowing what you know?  
  Are you using the data your systems tell you to inform your decisions on pricing, packages, opening times and add-ons and potential memberships or loyalty incentives?
• Are you adding on and capturing opportunities for membership, upselling and cross selling?
  Online ticket sales mean that you can easily include links, videos and images to upcoming events which the customer may not have been aware of – certainly not when they were previously at your booking office or over the phone.
• Are you including links to User Generated Content?
  We know how valuable USG is for driving sales and giving people reassurance and reasons to press <BOOK NOW>.  Remember – when that Customer or Guest is on your website they will only press that <BOOK NOW> button when they are convinced it ‘ticks all the boxes’ for their need and that of their party.  More compelling reasons can be put in front of them during this process than ever before.
• The sales process – is it running perfectly?
  Having more and more customers booking online is of course beneficial to your operation.  It is less costly than in-person call centres, but a balance must be struck between the two, so you do not lose that personal touch when it is required.        
  
  

You are now selling 24/7 – at THEIR convenience – not yours!
Remember that – you are now ALWAYS OPEN – what opportunity!  Ensure that support and help with the online ticketing process is always available in the form of FAQs and ‘pop ups’ so you do not lose that sale because the booker has a question.  Online chat and support can be provided, but cost:benefit must be explored, and there are often much cheaper options which are just as effective.

Remember that the guest experience does not just start when they come into your premises and interact with your team.  The moment they land on your website, they are experiencing your attraction, so your website needs to reflect the guest experience onsite which you have so carefully trained your team to deliver.  The website experience should give the customer all the information they are looking for, be intuitive and answer questions that they didn’t realise they had about the day out in your Attraction. 

Capturing that booking:

• Book Now - You should have the <BOOK NOW> on every page – preferably in the same position so the customer feels comfortable and safe and when ready to book, they are confident they know what they are doing. 
• Booking engine - this should also be a ‘safe space’ and not misleading.
• Clear Price points -Simplify packages to the degree that when the customer books, they know EXACTLY what they are getting and how it all works.  Be clear, and transparent about the price points and what they get for their money.
• Data security - Ensure that you are promoting the security and GDPR aspect – they are entrusting you with their money and details after all.

The booking experience will also influence the visitor’s perception of your attraction.  If it lacks intuition, is clunky and difficult to navigate, they may end up booking something which they didn’t expect or understand.  This will of course impact you as soon as they arrive on site.  If the system is intuitive, smooth, clear and transparent and exudes Friendliness and Professionalism, that is what they will be expecting on their visit.  Think about the customer’s frame of mind when booking – make life easier for you and your team onsite.

We have spoken above about the website being the first stage of the customer journey and their experience of your attraction. Ensure it is a smooth journey to that <BOOK NOW> button, and the customer is confident in what they are buying, and know exactly what they are getting for their money.  Also – be mindful that they may not be visiting your website for the first time, but have seen and done their research before making that decision to book – just because they are looking now and not booking yet, doesn’t mean they will not in the future.

Ensure that your Brand Voice shines through from the moment you confirm the booking. Thanking them for their booking in the subject line is missing an opportunity – use engaging language like ‘Thank you for booking to see our seal family – they can’t wait to see you’ or something pertaining to the excitement of the attraction will build anticipation and be a window to what they are going to experience – once again building engagement through excitement and anticipation.  This in turn produces and potential recommendation and promotion of your brand from the most important source – your existing customer base.

Make it easy too – include all the information you think they may need in the confirmation – and hints and tips for making the most of the visit.  Also include the refunds and cancellation policies, and ensure that these are written in a positive way – ‘we understand plans change, and speak about what you CAN do – e.g., ‘we will be happy to…’ etc., rather than ‘WE OPERATE A NO REFUND POLICY’ - the wording is everything, even if it is essentially a negative message.  Remember your Brand Voice and language plays a part in the perceptions of the visitor which will flow through into their experience on the day.

The same can be said for cancellation emails – if you are allowing the customer to cancel their booking online, then offer this as an opportunity to engage for next time.  You may want to provide a ‘carrot’ in the form of a discount or a special package for a particular day (when you know you need to boost your forward booking curve!) Again, all language will be in your ‘Brand Voice’ so the customer knows they can trust you and you will be accommodating when they can visit and take advantage of the wonderful experience and memories which await.

Whatever is appropriate for your attraction, online bookings give you the opportunity to build rapport and engagement prior to their visit, give confidence to the visitor as to how the visit to the attraction will go, and reassure them of their own decision to book to come to your attraction.  Emails like – ‘Only a few days to go – get ready to see the seals..’ in the subject line, will allow you to prepare the guest for the attraction, and provide upsell opportunities too – add on visitor guides which may not have already been purchased, photograph packages, food and drink advance purchases etc.  Once again – this is an opportunity to build rapport using your brand voice, your brand vocabulary, and will heighten engagement and anticipation of a truly memorable visit.

Think like your customer – what will they need to know?  Weather forecast?  Directions? Parking arrangements?  How far is it from the car park?  Will I need an umbrella?  What shoes should I wear?  Disabled toilet facilities?Covid precautions?  Height restrictions?  Food menus?  Retail opportunities?

Your customers may go through the booking process to the end, and then not finally ‘check out’ or complete the booking for whatever reason.  It is worthwhile having a process to contact the customer if this happens, and seek out the reason why, help them along with the booking etc, and convert them into a sale.  Whether it is your sales team, or customer service team who do this will be up to you, but it can provide vital information as to the Bookings Experience which your customers are going through, and perhaps formulate planned improvements to your website or booking journey which you had not considered.  If you are contacting the customer, and not just using it as feedback on your IT system, MAKE SURE YOU ARE GDPR COMPLIANT when looking into this, as customers’ digital footprint is covered by the regulations even if they have not booked your attraction, and they may not wish to be contacted.

This is the way to create loyal customers, perhaps increase members or ‘friends’ of your attraction, and obtain the best word of mouth referrals through in person family and friends referrals or positive review on Trip advisor and other social media.

Ensure that your post visit communication encourages feedback on all the social media sites, and clearly if they have some negative feedback for you, encourage them to get in touch in person.  A well worded after visit email can prevent potential social medial nightmare scenarios, as can on the day request for feedback in the form of instant feedback terminals etc.  Complaints which are dealt with on the day or swiftly dealt with after the event, and dealt with right, can often turn a complaining customer into a loyal customer, just because of the way it was handled.

Customer post-visit surveys can also be sent out in this communication.  A well written and short survey (ensure that the customer knows that it will only take them 3 minutes etc) can give you vital feedback for the operation and the team, and also some recognition too which is always positive to share with the team.  Taking on feedback and improving the service or operation as a result, will also result in increased sales in the longer term.   

This email communication could also promote future sales, offering offers and discounts for another visit within xx time, or discounted membership or annual passes.  Capturing this opportunity now – potentially through promotion code use to ensure that it is as smooth as possible for you and the customer – will ensure that you continue to engage with that customer into a longer term relationship.

When using promotion codes it is wise to keep things simple, and effective.  It is an easy mistake to make to have too many promotion codes and too much marketing activity aimed at different user groups which then means you and your marketing team spend too long setting up promotion codes and testing them and instead of putting efforts into campaigns and determine your strategic and tactical promotion offers. 

Changing offers weekly and creating and testing promotion codes prior to launch will put you on a ‘hamster wheel’ of activity which may not prove effective. It may be more effective to have different offers for different and specific user groups for an entire season, and tactical promotional offers – for instance – for your members or your mailing list, which change monthly. 

This will still have the impact of increasing customer engagement, be ‘new news’ to keep your attraction front of mind for the customer, and maintain your position in their ‘activities to do this Summer with the kids’ mindset or however you position yourself to your target audience.

Email marketing campaigns can help you connect with a wide audience of existing and potential customers.  Some questions to consider:

• Do these campaigns fit into your short, medium and long term marketing strategies?
• Who are you trying to reach?
• Are you emailing the right audience?
• Are you GDPR compliant?*
• What are you trying to achieve/Are you sending out the right content?
• Is your content engaging enough?
• Does the content have a CALL TO ACTION to ‘book now’?
• Do you have misleading headers?
• Are you sending out spammable material?
• Do people ‘unsubscribe’ after receiving it? WHY?

*Data Management/GDPR legislation is a dangerous area, and you must ensure you are compliant with all the legislation to avoid potential heavy fines.  You must have the systems and processes in place to ensure that your lists are maintained and all unsubscribe requests are complied with and any requests under the legislation are dealt with and followed up according to your legal obligations.  It is wise to ensure you have experts who can advise and support you in this regard.

• How do you engage with your online audience?
  Are you using each communication medium to engage the right audience demographic? Insta/Facebook/LinkedIn/Twitter – all have different users and different purposes – use them to your best advantage.  Similarly if you have different medium for customer interaction, such as apps and email, all interaction must be planned and consistent to deliver your strategic and tactical purpose, and clearly the outcome must be increased revenue from targeted groups.
• Do you have a consistent ‘Brand Voice’?
  This must be used in every communication to maintain consistency and to bolster credibility and trust in your audience.  They need to know about you and your offering, and the use of consistent language will position you in the mind of your customer in a particular way.  It is important you use this to your advantage.
• Are you communicating the compelling reason WHY people would want to visit you?
  Remember and be confident in what you have to offer your guests and visitors, and why to choose you over the competition. It doesn’t have to get nasty – just point out your advantages over the alternatives – what is/are your Unique Selling Point/s?  Be proud of what and who you are.

An easy one to forget – especially if you are used to targeting an international market.  Have you checked your presence on:

• Google my Business
• Google maps
• Free listings in local community/local area
• Use Tourism NI information and support whenever you can

Also:

• Optimise your website for local SEO to have a better reach when people search for things related to your attraction
• Possible partnerships – think about local businesses who would be a good advocate for your business – local guides, local support attractions etc – food and drink on the way etc. Who can be an ambassador for your business, and what’s in it for them?  Explore synergies with other local attractions and services.

Local markets are particularly discerning when it comes to deciding how to spend their ‘staycation’ time and will of course seek out reviews to help them decide.  That is why it is vital you are completely in control of the content which is written about you and make sure you use this as a marketing tool.  For Example: Google Reviews/Trip Advisor/Booking.com etc.:

• Are you selling tickets through these sites? Is this something which could work for you?  Although you must be very mindful of the price points these type of 3rd party sales can offer, you can remain in control of what ticket price they are charging out to which closed user group by ensuring that all contracts stipulate your terms of sale for price points.  If you guarantee that your best price will be through your website, for instance, it would be unwise to give 3rd party sellers a discounted rate, and have to pay commission on the sale.  Think about what will work for you in advance of signing long term contracts and commitments.
  
  
• Are you maximising your impact when people seek out others’ reviews on these sites?

Are you responding and engaging to your audience where they are reviewing you?  It is important to ensure that you engage and use your ‘brand voice’ to thank people for good reviews and break down any barriers to booking caused by less than positive reviews.  A positive, well-handled response to a negative comment on Trip Advisor will allow you to gain more customers and more bookings.

• Are you using your online presence to elicit more interest?
• How can you turn online and one-time visitors into life-long members or loyal and repeat visiting guests? Think about the options available to you.
  • Promotional codes exclusive to visitors once they have visited
  • ‘Refer a friend’ schemes
  • Feedback forums – useful for gaining feedback and changing the offer in response to loyal customer feedback – promote through social media and promote the fact you have listened to feedback and this will attract an increased and loyal following – particularly in the museum and art space.
• If you are an attraction which has a loyal, repeat customer base, or one which operates a membership scheme, or perhaps has an ‘annual pass’ or similar, it could work for you to have a customer referral scheme to increase online sales and repeat visits.  Consider what would be the ‘compelling reason’ for a customer to introduce a friend, or get a friend or family member, and capitalise on the goodwill and loyalty of your existing customer base.

Increase online ticket sales by establishing and growing your online community.  Giving your visitors the potential to connect with like-minded people, and to engage with you on a regular basis will increase your loyal customer base and encourage word-of-mouth referral, translating into more ticket sales, and more memberships and/or repeat vists.

Ways to do this:

• Weekly blogs
• Forums for discussion on relevant and interesting topics (keep them level-headed and unemotive!)
• Online events – we have been forced to think a little more laterally when attractions were closed, and there has been a huge amount of engaging activity for attractions which maintained customer engagement during this difficult time. See what other attractions have done, and consider what the opportunities are to maintain the momentum in this important area.  Virtual movie and documentary screenings, virtual readings, virtual talks, online auctions, video tours etc.
• Educational content – sharing the knowledge can be a powerful ‘hook’ to increase visits and so boost sales. Keep things engaging and remember who you are targeting in the longer term – are you encouraging schools back in the new school year?  Are you helping teachers deliver their STEM targets?  Are you aiming direct at students?  What age group are you trying to engage? 
• Remember to have your ‘call to action’ at every point and maximise the opportunity to boost your sales at every turn.