How 3 SimpleTix Super Users Leverage Their Event Ticketing Software for Successful Events!
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Riley Manning has worked as a travel and entertainment writer for more than 10 years. Today, he writes about unique events and the technology that helps make them happen.
Earlier this month, we showed how SimpleTix super user Valas Pumpkin Patch rolled out their platform and took advantage of all the event ticketing options embedded in the software. Valas used SimpleTix as a cornerstone of their entire operation by managing merchandising, season passes, timed and peak/off-peak entry, and concessions within the SimpleTix platform.
Farms and agrotourism attractions aren’t the only venues that can use SimpleTix’s robust set of features to create efficiencies, increase loyalty, and grow their businesses. Today, we’ll talk about how a few other SimpleTix superstars are streamlining their ticketing processes to drive more revenue.
Santa Margarita Catholic High School
Located in sunny San Luis Obispo County, California, Santa Margarita Catholic High School (SMCHS) takes full advantage of the myriad of solutions offered by its event ticketing software—and for good reason. SMCHS teams have won 64 California Interscholastic Federation (CIF) championships, 92 individual or relay CIF Championships, 201 league championships, and five state championships with 50 SMCHS athletes having earned the title of CIF Player of the Year. Their athletic programming is very popular with the student body, and the school needs a robust system that is easy for the attendees to use. But SMCHS’s event ticketing solution needed to be user-friendly on the back end too. Many of these events are assisted by student and parent volunteers that may not have a lot of training, and they need to be able to understand and utilize the platform. Ease of operation is vital to super users.
The SimpleTix platform enables SMCHS to issue tickets to other events outside the sporting realm. Prom, the Homecoming Dance, and other dance events are ticketed through the platform, as well as registration for Mother’s Club, Dad’s Club, and other social functions. SAT prep classes can be registered and paid for through the software, as well as school lunch pre-orders and other inventory-specific transactions. Graduation events are complex because capacity constraints create the need to limit the number of tickets per family. SimpleTix was designed to negotiate these restrictions with aplomb and without affecting the user experience in any way.
Another feature the high school rolled out was its ASB program. These are student activity cards, purchased on the platform, that bestow membership privileges to the student purchaser. The membership grants discounts on different tickets and encourages more student engagement and participation at sports, social, and scholastic events throughout the school year. You can see how Santa Margarita Catholic High School has moved beyond just simple event ticketing and has utilized the software to the fullest, which is why they have earned super user status!
Warwick Drive-In Theater
Established in 1950, New York’s Warwick Drive-In Theater has a deep history of movie ticketing! In addition to making the ticketing experience as easy as possible for their movie-goers, the theater utilized the SimpleTix event ticketing software to facilitate their operations while the theater was short-staffed. (We call that a super user power play!)
The theater needed a powerful ticketing platform to help drive sales while simultaneously increasing customer satisfaction with their motion picture experience. Ticketing sub-categories for both adult and child attendees were necessary for the theater’s accounting staff to meet the movie’s licensing payment structures. SimpleTix’s accurate and easy-to-run reporting features allow them to do just that with empirical authority.
One of the features Warwick Drive-In embraced was the cashless options supported by the software. Cashless transactions speed up operations when the cars start lining up, as gate attendees don’t have to hassle with paper money, cards, Venmo accounts, or other time-consuming transaction methods. Powered by the robust and flexible Square integration, everything is paid for and settled before the moviegoers even drive up to the theater’s gates! Square even allows for the Warwick Drive-In to receive instant payments for these transactions, affording the theater more financial flexibility and positive cash flow.
Pre-sales are even faster for this super user of the platform. Warwick Drive-In was able to implement an embeddable widget on their existing website with minimal branding and distraction to their regular customers. The new SimpleTix integration with BoxOffice.com allows for attendees to view movie times and prices directly from Google and place their ticket orders with just a few clicks. It doesn’t get any easier than that!
Everglades Holiday Park
Everglades Holiday Park is a top-notch southern Florida attraction that draws families from all over the world. Featuring Everglades airboat rides, animal encounters aplenty, and the renowned Gator Boys Alligator Rescue Team in the world-famous Gator Pit, the park is inundated with ticket requests, selling over 200,000 tickets in the attraction’s history. A formidable and flexible system is necessary for their operations, one that can handle high-volume sales for multiple sub-categories of ticket types.
Event selections are typically bundled together at the park and might feature an airboat tour, the Gator Boys presentation, two group photos, and other options. Or park attendees might select an “uncaged and up close” Animal Encounter; 45 minutes spent with five animals, which includes professional photos of the animals guests encounter. And within these larger groupings, ticket sub-types based on age (i.e., child or adult) need to be selectable. The staff at Everglades Holiday Park knows that their customers want exciting, memorable, and varied Florida experiences, and they want the ticketing options to be easily navigable and crystal clear as to what the deliverables will entail.
The staff also understands the needs of the vacation destination attendee. Concessions and merchandise are available through the park’s deli, gift shop, and general store. Burgers, hot dogs, frog legs, and alligator bites can all be inventoried through the event ticketing software, as can the alligator teeth and t-shirts in the gift shop. When reporting on sales and inventory, the staff can see which items are particularly “hot,” and those that are not stand out in the reports, so they know if they need to run a special or adjust pricing. There is no need to jump between multiple applications to run your operations—super users understand these capabilities.
Are you a super user of your event ticketing software?
Are you maximizing the capabilities of your event ticketing platform to the fullest? Are you looking beyond just selling tickets to your events and realizing the optimization you can achieve with your current software? Staffing, catering, concession, VIP experiences, seasonal passes, and top-notch reporting solutions should be inherent to your event ticketing software. If you are still experiencing speedbumps with your processes, help is available! Let us know how we can assist you in moving past these hurdles and help you create successful, memorable events!
SimpleTix has offered an affordable, premium event ticketing platform that outperforms Eventbrite and similar apps for over 12 years. Compared to the competition, SimpleTix offers better options at a better price point. To learn more, call us at +1 (855) 550-3670 or email us here.
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