#Technology

Overcome your nightmares: How to master ticketing on your Halloween events

By Constancia Moreno

October 16, 2023

Let’s face it, organizing an event can be a bad dream. On Halloween, ticketing events faces challenges multiplied a thousandfold given the high attendance and competition of the spooky season. That means your event is going to need something extra to get attention. But fear not, there are always tools to overcome your worries so that your only concern is choosing between going as a zombie or a bogeyman.

In this article, we recap the solutions and essential points to keep in mind to fill your venue as if it were the premiere of the latest SAW movie. And you’re in luck, because everything we’re going to mention exists under one concept named Nightgraph. Get ready to cast a spell on your attendees and make sure they’ll never want to miss one of your events in the future!

First things first: Organize your event with as much time as possible

First and most crucial: plan your event as far in advance as possible.  Don’t leave it for September, start tying the knot as early as August or even earlier if this date is crucial for you. On Halloween, ticketing events is just like Christmas. Demand and competition are at their peak. Starting early gives you a major advantage. It allows you to secure the ideal venue, choose the date with the highest sales projection, line up featured artists and build an effective marketing strategy. Planning ahead is your best defense against last-minute nightmares.

Buying your tickets should be easier than dressing up as a ghost

Your attendees have a lot on their minds on this date. Make it simple with clear information about your event, location, artists performing, atmosphere, music genres, catchy flyers and properly sorted ticket types. 

It is also important that the tickets have an intuitive design, easy to understand and, conveniently, in PDF format and transferable to the smartphone Wallet, which will be from where users buy most of the tickets.  Another good option to ensure a profitable number of attendees is to make a promo code available to them or to offer them a set of Early Birds at a reduced price that will make them choose your event over your own. You know how this works, almost everyone buys the week before. 

Also, if you have additional services or add-ons such as transportation, merchandising, accommodation or refund insurance, make sure you add them easily in the same process of buying the tickets. 

Disruptive communication and targeted marketing

Standing out in terms of communication and marketing is something intrinsic to any event, not only on Halloween. Having your own visual identity nowadays is almost as important as hiring artists. Therefore, the presence of graphic design in your social media is essential. 

Regarding the latter, to highlight in the oversaturated industry, it is important to create original content that captures the attention of potential attendees. Use images and, above all, videos and graphics that reflect the essence of your Halloween event. Another good option is to opt for human content or behind the scenes of the organization of the event. 

Also, consider holding contests, challenges and polls to keep your audience engaged and excited about your event. Remember the possibility of using ads to give a broader boost to the reach of your posts, and that these can be accurately measured through Facebook’s conversions API.

Newsletters are another invaluable tool to keep your potential attendees informed. Take the opportunity to incorporate visual elements and color schemes that resemble a Halloween night. Use persuasive yet mysterious language in the subject line and body of the email to pique the curiosity of recipients.

Similarly, the web design of your club, festival or party should be engaging enough to invite visitors to explore and ultimately purchase tickets. Finally, you can give more visibility to your event with a press release or briefing document for media partners like Night Mag, which might be interested in publishing something about it and allow you to reach a specific audience.

Let them come together with group tickets

One of the most effective strategies for attracting audiences to your event is to offer group tickets. To implement this offer successfully, it is essential to set the minimum number of tickets in the offer and customize both the quantity and the price according to the needs of your event.

Offering different discount levels based on the quantity of tickets purchased can be key. For example, you could set a 10% discount for groups of 5 to 9 people and a 20% discount for groups of 10 or more. This pricing structure incentivizes groups to increase in size while rewarding larger groups with significant ticket savings. Your event, your rules.

Make it easy for VIPs with downpayments

To make the VIP experience even more accessible for your customers, it’s essential to make it easy for them to pay. Many of the VIP tables and areas are often priced at a premium, and customers may feel more comfortable if they are offered the option to pay for a portion of the reservation upfront, online. This financial flexibility is achieved by implementing downpayments.

The option to make a downpayment when booking a table or bottle not only lessens the immediate financial burden for your VIP customers, but also gives them the reassurance of securing their place at your venue. Also, to streamline the process, consider enabling convenient and popular payment methods, such as Google Pay and Apple Pay. This will further facilitate the transaction and make the booking process hassle-free. During Halloween, ticketing events should give you a boost of benefits for the whole year so make sure you make it right for the top customers.

The real after. Follow the sales data and Analytics of the event

The real after of an event is not limited to what happens once the lights go out and the guests go home. It actually begins when you start analyzing event data and metrics. Data is essential for evaluating the success of the event, understanding the audience and making informed decisions for future editions.

Data analysis provides insight into the impact of the event, such as attendance, social media engagement, ticket sales and more. This data reveals trends, patterns and areas for improvement. It also helps to better understand who your attendees are, their preferences and behaviors, allowing you to fine-tune your marketing strategy and event content for future occasions.

Lucky for you, everything we have just mentioned exists under a single concept, our Nightgraph. With Nightgraph and Xceed, you’ll have an end-to-end solution that covers everything from ticketing management to disruptive communication and data analysis of your events.

Nightgraph allows you to simplify all aspects of event organization, from creating an engaging networking experience, to implementing group ticket offers and downpayments, to collecting data that will help you make decisions for future editions. By centralizing all these functionalities in a single platform, Nightgraph gives you full control over your events and allows you to adapt to changing market needs in an agile way. On Halloween, ticketing events won’t be a nightmare with Nightgraph!