It’s an all-too-common problem: you’ve sunk significant time and money into building your in-house ticketing system. Over the years, maintaining that system has become a serious headache — it’s tedious, it’s expensive, and it’s not giving your attendees a best-in-class experience. So why is it so difficult to move on?
The answer may lie in the “sunk cost fallacy” — the more you invest in something, the harder it becomes to abandon it, regardless of what makes the most sense.
So as you think towards the future (and a new year), consider the advantages of starting afresh. If your in-house system isn’t working for you, it may be time to move on.
Here are 8 good reasons to rethink your system:
1. You’ll save time
Most in-house ticketing systems aren’t sophisticated enough to automate the manual tasks associated with running events.
What’s on your team’s to-do list? It probably includes everything from reconciling payments to tracking food preferences. How much time do you and your team spend juggling all of these tasks? With a modern-day, online ticketing and registration system, you can stop doing repetitive tasks that don’t add value to you, your customers, or your organizations.
Eliminating this busywork allows you to allocate your IT and development resources towards much more valuable, mission-critical work for your business.
And if you’re still using email bookings and managing registrations on a spreadsheet, then the time saving will be even greater.
2. You’ll save money
Now that you’ve spend the money to build you system, you may think it “costs nothing” to maintain. But just think about how much time and resources you dump into:
- Repetitive tasks
- The salaries of an in-house development team (which could be better spent on other projects)
- Your current payment processing fees and other hidden costs
And that’s before you consider the amount of money you’re leaving on the table from poor conversion rates, bad mobile buying experiences, and more.
All things considered, the costs of moving your in-house ticketing to a platform like Eventbrite will probably net out as even at worst. At best, it could save (and make) you a significant amount of money.
3. You’ll make a lot more money
Speaking of money, moving your ticketing and registration system “out of house” will bring a host of revenue-growing advantages. These may include:
- Integrated social media promotion, making it way easier for your attendees to tell their friends about your event.
- More mobile sales, thanks to a mobile-friendly design. This is increasingly important as mobile usage grows.
- A streamlined ticket buying and check-out process, which results in better conversion rates (meaning you’ll sell more tickets without spending more money).
- An SEO boost for your website, meaning more people searching for your event will find it.
- Discovery on a dedicated platform, so all the users searching for events can find yours.
- The ability to make smarter marketing decisions. If your platform has powerful analytics, you’ll know what’s working and what isn’t, so you can adjust your promotions accordingly
4. You’ll give attendees a better experience
You know what people hate? Being inconvenienced.
For example, your attendees hate when they can’t buy tickets the way they want to (= on their phones). Long lines and slow entry drive them crazy. And the more distracted you and your team are, the harder it is to avoid simple mistakes on-site.
These are all common issues for organizers who rely on in-house systems that can’t quite offer best-in-class technology. You aren’t able to do your job, because you’re constantly delayed by tech problems — whether it’s your mobile buying process, or your entry management. A strong ticketing platform can solve all of these problems, and more.
5. Your attendees will be more secure
If you value the privacy and security of your attendees (which we know you do), then having a dedicated team of security experts working around the clock on your ticketing system should be a welcome precaution.
6. You’ll stop feeling behind
Do you feel like you’re always one step behind? Imagine, instead, that a dedicated group developers is working hard to improve the experience for you and your attendees — every single day. Look for a partner who is constantly releasing new features and improving existing functionality.
Eventbrite’s team has led the charge in RFID, our Facebook integration, beautifully branded event pages, and more — all to put our organizers a step ahead of the event industry. So instead of constantly patching up your legacy system and praying it doesn’t break down on you during your onsale, why not upgrade to something new (with no upfront costs)?
7. You’ll tap into even more innovative solutions
Maybe you’re happy with your in-house ticketing system. But if you’re looking for a tool for digital promotion, badge printing, email, surveys, audience engagement, fundraising, or just about anything else, you have two options: find a workable integration, or create your own. So…even more work. On the other hand, if you’re using a platform like Eventbrite, you’ll be able to tap a network of over 140 trusted partners and best-in-class event technology solutions. Problem solved.
Change can be scary, and if you’ve spent time and money on your in-house solution, then you might be hesitant about moving on. But you have a lot more to lose by sticking with the status quo — and you’ve got a lot more to gain with a trusted, innovative, and reliable ticketing and registration solution.
It only takes 5 minutes to set up your first event (and costs nothing), so why not talk to an expert about how Eventbrite can help you improve your events today?
