Back to Start PageOnline Ticket Sales
PRE-PUBLICATION DRAFT
STAGE DIRECTIONS
COPYRIGHT 1999
AUTHOR: Patrick Finelli, Ph.D.
TITLE: Selling Tickets in Cyberspace
Last month we proclaimed that you could forge new connections with your audience by publishing your season calendar on the World Wide Web with hyperlinks to your box office for ticket sales and special promotions. Marketing your theatre and selling tickets in cyberspace involves several factors in order to make the process easy for your audience. Whether you have a home page for your theatre or not ("Theatre Websites" SD August 1999), there are many options for you to reach audiences and make tickets available on the Web. If you just want a software program to manage your tickets in-house, you could refer to "That’s the Ticket" (SD, March 1998).
Even if your theatre does not have a presence on the web, you can send the pertinent information to Playbill (Figure #1, www.playbill.com) and they’ll include it on their web pages under the section for theatres in your state. I checked out Morning Star at Steppenwolf Theatre Company in Chicago. Playbill lists Steppenwolf’s box office telephone number for reservations and sales because they are not actually selling the tickets through the web page, they’re just marketing them on their website. Ticket reservations and sales will be done the old fashioned way - through telephone, credit card and will call.
Another alternative is to explore the option of having a theatre ticket booking service handle ticket sales for a fee. Website banners proclaim that customers are "only three clicks from Broadway." Your theatre can also be in that clickstream by placing your information with one of the large broker services such as Ticketmaster (Figure #2, www.ticketmaster.com), which handles concerts and sports as well as arts events. Ticketmaster’s site lists the top 25 national touring shows and also includes regional productions. I found South Pacific at the Pasadena Civic Theatre. This option is feasible for larger venues, but may not be cost effective for smaller houses due to the per-ticket fee.
NetTiks (Figure #3, www.telecharge.com) is another online ticket broker which has the backing of the Shubert Organization. A visit to NetTiks led me to a production of Forever Plaid at the Alex Theatre in Glendale California. The display shows the theatre’s address, dates, times and other information. The ticket buyer can review and select the quantity, price range, seat location and delivery method (mail, UPS, will call) before purchasing online with a credit card.
Most sites conduct e-commerce on a "secure server," which means there is a "firewall" or software barrier to ensure the security of your online transactions and protect your information from falling into the wrong inbox. If you want to sell tickets through your own website, you should make sure that your Internet Service Provider (ISP) offers a secure server.
In order to actually sell tickets over the Internet directly from your own website you’ll have to create a hyperlink to a page with forms for ticket sales by credit card. Today we see many exciting possibilities for direct ticket sales through the web. If you do not already have a merchant account with a bank, a company like Cybercash (www.cybercash.com) will help you arrange for online credit card payments to be deposited directly into your local bank account as a result of Internet transactions, which might eventually include the sale of posters and t-shirts as well as tickets.
The ticket buying procedure should be a simple and easy procedure for your patrons. The customer should be able to select a particular show and options for date, seating preference and price range. You must make sure that the buyer enters personal information such as name, address, e-mail address and credit card information. You could have an option to "Add Tickets" or "Purchase Tickets" when ready. Then the transaction is processed by the bank and the delivery method is selected. Since you know the e-mail address of each customer, you should reply to the online purchaser via email within 48 hours with details about the seat locations and available performance dates and times as well as a reservation code. You could also ask the customer to confirm acceptance of seats and performance time within 48 hours from the time your box office sends the confirming email message either by return email or by telephone before charging their credit card. Make sure you let them know that if they do not respond within 48 hours, the seats will be released.
Your online box office may attract new audience members who learn about your theatre on the Internet. You will find new opportunities for advance sale by making these options known to your existing audience, especially if you already have a website for your theatre. Link up your season and ticket sales with your city pages and art guides to make your presence known to out-of-town visitors. You can offer discount coupons and other cyber-promotions. Soon your season will be sold out in advance, the actors will be happy that there isn’t an empty seat in the house and your bank account will allow you to make those much needed improvements backstage.
© Copyright 1995-1999 by Patrick M. Finelli. All rights reserved. These pages are protected by United States and international copyright laws. Copying or distribution by any means is strictly prohibited. Please send e-mail to finelli@satie.arts.usf.edu