Traditionally, tickets were bought and received at ticket outlets for events such as attending sports events and concerts. However, in today’s day and age, the traditional flow of purchasing tickets online, and presenting an “eTicket” on a smartphone upon arrival is becoming more mainstream.
eTicketing In The Entertainment Industry: Streamlining The Ticket-buying Process
In contrast to conventional paper tickets, digital tickets (or eTickets) are becoming increasingly popular because they have several advantages such as improving the user experience, reducing the operational burden on the event management side, and eliminating opportunity loss.
The following are ways eTicketing can redefine ticket purchasing:
- Reservations and ticket acquisition take less time – It goes without saying that traditionally customers need to physically go to the ticket office to purchase tickets. In the case of purchases made in advance via bank transfer or convenience store, it is recommended to inform the customer of the payment method and then mail or deliver the ticket. With eTicketing, users will be able to buy and reserve tickets from anywhere on their PCs or smartphones and will be able to receive them immediately in the form of eTickets.
- Available round-the-clock – Reservations received only over the telephone or at the ticket office may not be able to be handled outside of business hours, and you may lose customers. The user may also lose payments made at convenience stores or through bank transfers if they forget to deposit. With online reservations and payments, you will be able to accept reservations and make purchases any time of day, reducing the chance that you will overlook opportunities.
- Cancellation measures can be taken – The possibility of empty seats will increase if a customer cancels a reservation for their convenience. Therefore, the introduction of eTickets will allow the process of online reservation, distribution, and receipt of tickets to be completed after payment. The outcome not only reduces labour and mailing costs but also improves customer usability.
What To Keep In Mind When Developing And Implementing An eTicketing System
For companies that have no experience with eTicketing, it will be necessary to modify the existing business process. Consider each of the following points carefully before moving forward with a strategy that fits your business.
- Operational load- A new system’s implementation must take on-site training and daily operational workload into consideration.
- Server load when access is concentrated- When taking reservations for tickets and launching advertising campaigns to attract customers, the automated process of mass emailing will also take place along with the concentration of reservations. Thus, it is necessary to choose a server that can handle a sudden spike in traffic.
- Prevention of unauthorized use of tickets- In addition to the concerns of event operators, it is critical to prevent unauthorized usage and resale of tickets.
- Ticket delivery/delivery function- It is also important to consider the case where the customer transfers a ticket to a friend or distributes it to a group after purchasing. To facilitate this, it is ideal to have an e-mail or QR code option that allows the purchaser to send tickets to other participants.
- Linkage with databases such as CRM- If an eTicket system is being implemented, a database link should be considered, as well as a mechanism to sell tickets.
