Online Ticketing Platforms
Consider your options when it comes to ticketing your show, and what platform is right for you!
Overview
Online ticketing is an important tool and should be at the front of your mind when considering your ticketing options. Online ticketing can help secure pre-bookings (peace of mind), allow customers to book 24/7 and capture customer data, which will help develop audiences for future events.
If you have an existing audience base who are used to purchasing in-person or over the phone, changing this buying behaviour requires time and should be tested over several events and if possible, a number of years. To encourage online bookings, you may like to use incentives such as offering discount online pricing vs door pricing, access to premium seating or merchandise upgrades.
There are a number of paid ticketing platforms from suppliers such as:
These platforms are traditionally used by major venues with complex ticketing needs and a software licensing budget.
However, there are also simple cost-effective alternatives perfect for smaller events looking for a simple solution. Here’s three platforms we’ve tried, all of which have no upfront fees. We created an event in each so you can also compare the customer experience as well.
TryBooking | Eventbrite | Humanitix | |
|---|---|---|---|
Fees | $5 or less = 2.5% + $0.15 | 5.35% + $1.19 | Standard = 4% + $0.99 |
Can I choose who absorbs fees? | Yes | Yes | Yes |
Fees for Free Events | No Fees | No Fees | No Fees |
Maximum no. of tickets | Unlimited | Unlimited | Unlimited |
Custom Seating Plans | Yes | Yes | Yes |
Entry Scanning App | Yes | Yes | Yes |
Embeddable on my website | Yes | Maybe | Yes |
TryBooking
TryBooking is the most cost-effective ticketing platform that we’ve looked at and is often used by non-profits for this reason. TryBooking allows for allocated seating, has group booking functionality (e.g. family ticket) and you can clone an event, so you are not starting from scratch each time.
From the customer’s perspective (view our test event), booking a ticket is relatively easy although there is a bit of duplication with entering information. The event homepage is simple, clear and includes basic information.
Example
If you are selling 100 tickets at $20 you can expect to receive the following income:
You absorb the fee
- Per Ticket: Attendee pay $20 / You receive $19
- Total: Attendees pay $2,000 / You receive $1,900
Customer absorbs the fees
- Per Ticket: Attendee pay $21.50 / You receive $20
- Total: Attendees pay $2,150 / You receive $2,000
Eventbrite
Eventbrite is more expensive than Trybooking however the investment comes with a few more bells and whistles. The event build is more intuitive with an easy to navigate platform, useful booking summaries and template questions which makes event builds faster and removes room for error. Eventbrite also offers a host of promotional tools such as Facebook publishing and email invitations and the ability to customise your event URL. Eventbrite has recently introduced reserved seating.
From the customer’s perspective (view our test event), the event page is clean with a contemporary design including all the key info plus a venue map on one page. Customers can duplicate their own details to speed up the booking process.
Example
If you are selling 100 tickets at $20 you can expect to receive the following income:
You absorb the fees
- Per Ticket: Attendee pay $20 / You receive $17.74
- Total: Attendees pay $2,000 / You receive $1,774
Customer absorbs the fees
- Per Ticket: Attendees pay $21.50 / You receive $20
- Total: Attendees pay $2,226 / You receive $2,000
Humanitix
Humanitix is more expensive than TryBooking but cheaper than Eventbrite, though it has a lot to offer. The layout is easy to navigate, and your listing is much more customisable with Canva design tool in their event builder. It offers human customer support, and merchandise add-ons to tickets. You can also email you audience before, during, and after your event.
From the customer’s perspective (view our test event), the event page is clean and easy to view both on computer or mobile device, has all necessary details on one page as well as a venue map.
Example
If you are selling 100 tickets at $20 you can expect to receive the following income:
You absorb the fees
• Per Ticket: Attendee pay $20 / You receive $18.21
• Total: Attendees pay $2,000 / You receive $1,821
Customer absorbs the fees
• Per Ticket: Attendees pay $21.79 / You receive $20
• Total: Attendees pay $2,179 / You receive $2,000
Both Trybooking and Eventbrite allow you to take bookings over the phone or in person and enter the booking through the dashboard. Humanitix only does bookings online. They all collect audience data and run event reports that can be exported it to excel.
