How to Increase Ticket Flexibility

“No refunds, no exchanges” is so 2019.

We are so close to making it out on the other side of the COVID-19 pandemic, and instead of going back to what was “normal,” we need to embrace the new normal. After watching the entertainment industry shut down overnight, we spent our time brainstorming how to make entertainment events a better experience for fans.

The answer? Ticket flexibility.

If 2020 showed us anything, it’s that life is unpredictable. Rigid rules only prevent us from taking chances, and after quarantine we’re all ready to get out and take some chances. With so much uncertainty in the world, it’s hard to commit to an event a few months in advance if you can’t get your money back if something comes up.

At Lyte, we realize that you’ve worked hard to bolster your bank account. You deserve to treat yourself, but you deserve to know that you will get to treat yourself at some point instead of flushing your money down the drain. We offer ticket flexibility so you can get tickets to events worry-free.

What is a Flexible Ticket?

In short, a flexible ticket is a re-bookable ticket, versus a standard ticket that is nonrefundable and nonexchangeable. Lyte has worked to create a platform where buying an event ticket is as easy as buying a shirt from your favorite retailer. If for some reason the ticket doesn’t fit (into your schedule), you can exchange it for another ticket or sell it back to the platform instead of trying to resell it on StubHub.

As Chief Strategy Officer Lawrence “LP” Peryer told Back of House, “If you look at what is best-in-class to other ecommerce categories compared to what consumers have to go through to buy a concert ticket, there’s no parallel there.”

Lyte places flexible ticketing at the center of its event ticketing solution plan.

What You Can Do to Increase Ticket Flexibility

If you’re looking to increase ticket flexibility, we’d be excited to help you get started! We believe that entertainment should be accessible to everyone.

We’ve worked with festivals, tours, events, and now artists. To toot our own horn, we’re experts at the ticketing game.

Your ticketing software system can use our add-ons to make the ticketing experience more efficient for you and your fans. We have a variety of add-ons you can implement in your system.

Fan Groups

Most people don’t go to events alone. By offering group tickets, you can let fans do the marketing for you by recruiting their entire squad to attend an event. No minimum of fans needed. Just people in seats.

Payment Plans

Your millennial buyers reeeeeeeeeally want to see [famous artist], but they don’t have enough money in their bank account to buy the $400 ticket and pay rent that month. However, with a payment plan with a set number of intervals, young fans can pay rent AND see the concert of their dreams. It’s a win-win.

Demand and Supply

Most fans don’t care when they get to see their favorite artist, but rather the fact that they will get to see their favorite artist live. By partnering up with a talent group or artists, you can have fans put a small down payment on a concert long before the tickets go on sale in exchange for the guarantee that they will have first access to the tickets.

This incentivizes the fans to commit to an event and also gives the artist the knowledge of how large an event will be in a particular area. Venues can then be booked based on the initial reservations made so artists are playing to full houses instead of half-empty houses.

Waitlist

Of course, there are some fans who miss the memo prior to ticket sales but still want to see a show. By establishing a waitlist, if someone chooses to get a refund for a flexible ticket they bought for an event, there is already an extensive list of people willing to buy that ticket right back. More happy fans, no loss of revenue for you.

Why Increase Ticket Flexibility?

Ticket flexibility can help get an accurate picture of ticket demand, especially in today’s unpredictable world. Establishing different methods of getting people to commit to an event will give you a clearer picture of what to expect with an event.

We have found that streaming and social media likes/follows are not necessarily indicative of whether or not someone will attend an event. Having someone make some sort of financial commitment—especially when they know they can always get their money back—will give you more accurate event data leading up to the event.

Utilizing different programs to analyze the ticket sales for an event will give you the ability to make adjustments in the future. We’re all learning and adapting in this industry, and at the end of the day it’s about providing an incredible experience to fans.

Rocking On

The return of live-entertainment events will look different for different communities and it’s important to be willing to adapt to your community. As much as we’re all itching to pack ourselves into a venue, it’s still important to keep safety measures in mind. That makes this the perfect opportunity to experiment with flexible ticketing for your clients.

At Lyte, we’re committed to making a better industry across the board for fans and producers. We don’t want to usurp anyone; we just want to make the transition back to live events seamless for all parties involved. We want to assist the development of new ideas and offer valuable services for the industry and all stakeholders.

If you have any questions about how we can help you or how you can help us, please don’t hesitate to reach out.

Read the full Back of House article with LP here!