Hi!
You know me: I’m always looking for an opportunity.
I was excited to do a little research for my upcoming secondary market conversation and talk about things ticket brokers love to see when a show goes on-sale when I found this interview with Zac Leigh of Tixel.
What drew me in were a few numbers:
- 88% of buyers are more likely to buy a ticket early if they know they can resell the ticket later.
- 70% of tickets are resold within a week of the event.
- Over 30% of tickets change hands, meaning get swapped for better or different seats.
What does this tell us?
- Just like with refund protection and the numbers that increased to over 50% in some places, behavior teaches us a lot.
- 70% of tickets being resold the week of the event means that people are waiting longer.
- If you look at a lot of sales data, it looks like this beautiful picture:
- This means there is a lot of activity at the start of the week, but things go silent until the last 48 hours.
- Price isn’t a motivator during the 4 or 5 days: don’t discount.
- People are waiting for the best deal, maybe. Or, they might be making up their mind whether to attend or not. Meaning, you are already in a losing position because when a buyer is buying a few days before a show, a lot can happen like life, alternatives, or doing nothing.
- If 88% of people will buy earlier with resale, having some sort of incentive for resale, refund, returns is a big winning opportunity.
- Can you roll refund protection into your offer?
- Can you make your refund and exchange policy a part of the sales conversation?
- Can you remind your buyers how easy it is to change their mind if life gets in the way?
- 30% of people swap tickets: that’s an opportunity.
- Just like you can promote resale, refund, return, you can make “upgrade your seat” a part of your offering.
- I’ve been involved in that before…
- You can find ways to help people be with their friends, increasing the likelihood of increased scan rates, potentially more ticket sales, and, hopefully, more F&B sales.
- Just like you can promote resale, refund, return, you can make “upgrade your seat” a part of your offering.
This gets me back to the notion at the top of Resale as a Service.
Is this a direction people could be willing to go to: having a resale platform/partner that helps manage not just the listing and pricing, but the different strategic ways to fill a venue?
Zac has given me something to think about: what about you?
Don’t forget to send me your ideas for Monday’s special holiday podcast recording of “Things Scalpers Love When You Go On-Sale”.
I want your ideas, questions, and thoughts.
Let me know:
- Reply to this email.
- Send me a DM or a reply on social media:
- The ‘Talking Tickets’ Slack Channel.
- Mail me a package/post card/letter.
- Carrier Pigeon works as well.
Dave
BTW, join me on January 3rd, 2024 at 1 PM Eastern for ‘First Wednesdays with Dave’. We are going to talk about getting off to a strong start in the new year.
It is FREE! And, fun!