Pre-selling for events offers several significant benefits. Attendees paying in advance means fewer no-shows, more cash upfront, and a better pulse on your audience as you plan.
The perfect time to start is right after this year’s event. Here are our best tips to make the most of pre-selling your event.
1. Reach the Repeat Attendees
This year's attendees, who are still riding the post-event high, make next year's most loyal supporters. Show your appreciation for these potential repeat customers by offering them a special discount to grab tickets a whole year early.
Unlike the new attendees, the repeats rarely require all the nitty-gritty details to say yes. They already trust that they’ll have a great time and, most likely, already have friends to join them.
To reach your repeat attendees, use an email marketing service, such as Hubspot, to send a personalized email.
2. Offer an Early Bird Discount
Knowing that ticket purchasers tend to procrastinate, how do you get people off the couch and onto your ticket purchasing page? You offer them something even more appealing than a couch sprawl—a discount!
An early-bird deal is a great way to motivate people to commit to your event and, as a result, pre-sell even more tickets.
3. Promote Next Year’s Big Features
Did you score a sweet venue for next year? Is a top-40 band playing at your concert series? As you gather the details for next year’s event, start promoting them.
4. Announce Limited Space
Have you ever searched for a plane ticket and discovered there were only two-seats left on the flight you wanted to catch? We bet you scrambled to grab your credit card and buy tickets before they vanished.
Little motivates a person faster than knowing the event will sell out in a few days…or even a few hours. Make people aware of your event’s limited capacity.
It could be as simple as a “space is limited” line on your site or as specific as posting the remaining number of spots on your social media. When people know your event has a limited supply, inevitably, it will drive up the demand.
We’ve seen these strategies work for countless others, and we know they can work for you too.
Got questions? Reach out to our support team. We are here to help you!
