What if I told you your ticket sales data, including your guest’s purchase history and personal identifying information like email address and phone numbers, wasn’t completely yours? Would that get your attention? We think it should!
Your guest’s data is one of your most precious commodities.
It’s what drives many of your buying decisions and makes it simpler to market to guests for their second, third, (and so on) visits. In your entertainment division, your data also helps guide critical booking decisions. Do your guests want to see country, classic rock, or comedy? Simply pull a report and check.
The use of personal data is a hot topic. It is important to understand if, and how, your ticketing provider may be using your guest’s data. If you’ve never read your ticketing company’s Terms & Conditions, you’ll want to start there. They must disclose if they have the right to share your data with other promoters, venues, sponsors, etc. Some do, some don’t, but you should know. Your ticketing software provider may be using your guest’s information for their own monetary gain.
Sharing data leads to a loss of personal relationships with your guests, and ultimately revenue. When ticketing companies use your data (like guest email addresses) to market competing entertainment opportunities in the same geographic territory, your investment in that guest is lost.
Think about it: You spent money to book a show, market that show, and paid hospitality staff to serve guests at that show. Maybe the event made money, maybe it didn’t; either way it cost you real dollars to find and serve that guest. Your reward should be to re-market to that guest with an inexpensive email or postcard for the next show. Instead, your ticketing company may already be marketing nearby events to your new guest.
Your ticketing company should be a trusted partner. They should not treat your data as their product.
Imagine any other industry where a software provider shared client data with their clients competitors and lived to tell the tale. It doesn’t exist. Entertainment ticketing is unique, in this regard, and it’s shameful.
The companies that do this will tell you that “all boats rise with the tide.” After all, you’ll be getting other clients’ data in the process, right? Perhaps, but the exchange is likely not equal. Not even close.
At the end of the day, your data is one of the most powerful weapons in your arsenal to thrive in business. This data costs you real dollars to capture and curate. Why hand it over to your competitors?
For more information on Etix, visit hello.etix.com