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Three tips for early sales

Event Tips >

You can avoid the havoc caused by last-minute ticket sales by selling a good portion of your tickets well in advance of your event. Early ticket sales help you better plan for capacity and staffing, cover upfront costs and gauge event demand. Here are just a few things you can do to get people to buy tickets in advance.

1. Early bird discounts: 
Early bird discounts not only reward your most loyal and attentive fans, but also drive a nice percentage of presales. Set your time-sensitive early bird discount for even just $5 off the face value and you can start filling seats right away. As Andrew Wood of the San Francisco International Arts Festival explained to us, presales are the most valuable. With last-minute ticket sales you never know what your numbers are going to be and it’s incredibly difficult to plan for staff and capacity. Lowering ticket prices just a little for the early bird discount is a great way to drive early sales and have a strong event.

2. Post higher door prices: 
Post a higher price for tickets bought at the door to provide incentive to buy early! However, if people don’t know there will be an increase, they won’t feel any urgency to buy early. Even if you are selling advance tickets online, publish your door prices online as well.

3. Create a sense of urgency:
Limit the number of tickets available at a discounted price and let people know that only a few are available. While it’s not cool to lie about the amount of tickets left, it’s smart to release just a small amount for discounts and use scarcity to increase demand. As your event approaches, update the number of tickets available. (This can be done automatically on Brown Paper Tickets.) You can also create limited quantity tickets for things such as VIP seating, fan club pricing, or tickets with souvenir bundles. Post updates on your social media channels like Twitter and Facebook when discounted tickets are almost gone.

Want one-on-one guidance to help you sell more advance tickets to your events? 
Call our event promotions department at (800) 838-3006 (option 5). We can go over your event specifically and help you generate more ideas for early ticket sales.

Need help setting up special discounts or different ticket prices on your Brown Paper Tickets event? 
Please call our Client Services department at (800) 838-3006 (option 3). Our team is standing by 24/7 to help with all your technical and account questions.