Eventbrite | Case Study
How the LA Auto Show Boosted Online Ticket Sales
The LA Auto Show is a 10-day event that hosts hundreds of thousands of car shoppers, auto fans, industry influencers, and journalists from around the world. The show attracts worldwide media exposure by unveiling the future of the auto industry in the car culture capital of the world. Their attractions include much more than just new cars — they also entertain show-goers by using the 870,000 square foot exhibit space to showcase cutting-edge technologies.
The Challenge:
In 2017, the show was celebrating its 110th anniversary, and making headlines with with dozens of global and North American vehicle debuts. But their antiquated ticketing system was holding them back. The checkout process was clunky, access to data was limited, and the team spent far too much time on seemingly simple processes to drive ticket sales.
The outdated system wasn’t only hurting the team’s productivity — it was also having a detrimental effect on their sales. The online purchase experience was a long and cumbersome eight-step process that often deterred potential ticket buyers from completing their purchase. A majority of their sales took place at the door on the day of the event, which meant long box office lines and little insight into who was actually attending the show.
“It’s unacceptable to make someone go through eight steps, or wait in a long line to buy a ticket. It should be a seamless experience for our event and price point.”
– Mike Asner, Sr Director of Marketing and Ticketing, LA Auto Show
When Mike Asner joined the team in 2016, he was tasked to bring the LA Auto Show’s ticketing technology and attendee insights into the 21st century. This meant increasing online ticket sales so they could continue to grow attendance and understand more about the LA Auto Show attendee.
Having worked in the ticketing industry for over a decade, Mike knew that to accomplish this goal, he would need a strategy to improve the attendee experience — and to get his team on board with a new technology. Mike needed a partner who could help them:
• Create a best-in-class purchase experience to convert interested event-goers into excited ticket holders
• Get the deep, actionable insights that they needed to inform their marketing strategy
• Find solutions that would make the team more efficient with their budget — and time
• Receive tailored, strategic support from onsale to onsite
LA Auto Show by the numbers
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5+
Hours saved each week
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37%
Increase in online ticket sales YOY
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10%
Growth in attendance YOY
Creating a best-in-class online purchase experience
The LA Auto Show prides itself on creating amazing, immersive experiences for its attendees — from the moment they walk through the door, fans are met with showstopper vehicles, impressive exhibits, and exciting activations.
But the experience leading up to the show was causing problems. “The biggest challenge that we faced was a sub-par online purchase experience,” explains Mike. “It was such a painful process — the ticket buying experience was cumbersome, it took eight steps and multiple minutes to check out, and the drop off rate was too high. And it was particularly bad on mobile where a majority of our consumers engage with our direct-response advertising.”
Mike’s team created compelling ads on Facebook and Instagram to attract a wider audience to the show. They knew that 70% of their audience was viewing that content on their phones and were driven to the mobile ticketing page when they clicked on the ads, but they were losing customers because of the antiquated purchase experience.
“What really compelled me to choose Eventbrite was the mobile-optimized purchase experience,” says Mike. “Now customers can see an advertisement for the LA Auto Show and buy a ticket in under 60 seconds. The number of steps to purchase went from eight to just three. The process was finally seamless.”
The switch drove results beyond their expectations: online ticket sales grew by 37% in the first year since switching to Eventbrite, allowing the show to reach incremental attendees. What’s more, those attendees were a new, younger audience — 57% of online ticket buyers were under the age of 45, a significant shift for the show.
Gaining deep, actionable insights into attendees
An increase in online sales wasn’t just important to their bottom line — it was the key to understanding their attendees. “For so long, we didn’t know who was coming to the show because a majority of people would buy tickets at the door,” says Mike. By selling tickets online with Eventbrite, they not only collected contact information, but they added custom questions at checkout to gather even more data about ticket buyers.
“We were able to learn where and when people were buying tickets. How old they were. How many years they’ve attended the show,” explains Mike. “We’re building profiles of our attendees and using that data to inform our marketing strategy and create lookalike audiences for targeting.” By targeting a segment of Facebook users with a similar set of interests and behaviors, they were able to get their ads in front of incremental audiences that were highly likely to buy tickets.
Another plus? More online sales means shorter box office lines for day-of buyers — and a streamlined entry experience for everyone else too. Attendees can easily access their tickets in their email or in the Eventbrite app and breeze through check-in the day of the show.
Finding solutions to make them more efficient with their budget — and time
In addition to the custom questions at checkout, Mike’s team implemented tracking pixels on their advertising campaigns so they could measure performance and quickly make changes to their marketing strategy. “The pixel tracking on Eventbrite was so easy to set up,” explains Mike. “In the past, that was weeks of painful back and forth with our ticketing providers. It was nice to have a nimble and flexible service, and put the control back in the hands of our team.”
The additional customer insights and sales data was a game changer for Mike and his team. “The access to analytics was incredible. I had real-time access on my phone via the Organizer App, so I knew instantaneously how sales and marketing campaigns were performing. We were able to fail quickly and try something different or add budget as we saw success with specific campaigns,” explains Mike. “Eventbrite let us be extremely efficient with our spend — and saved me and my team at least 5 hours each week.”
With more time, budget, and data, Mike’s team was also able to be more strategic and invest in experimentation. “There were things that we weren't able to do in previous years because of the headaches, but the streamlined processes and access to analytics was really powerful. It allowed my team to do A/B testing, and gave us time to collaborate and really digest the results to improve our sales strategy.”
“Having digestible and accessible analytics at our fingertips via the Organizer App gave us the ability to make on-the-fly, efficient, and data-driven decisions.”
– Mike Asner, Sr Director of Marketing and Ticketing, LA Auto Show
Receiving the support that they needed from onsale to onsite
When Mike began his search for a new event management solution, he knew he was looking for a technology that was as modern and innovative as the exhibits at the show. He also knew that he would need help getting his team on board with the new tech, especially after years of being on the same platform.
Mike leaned on Eventbrite’s customer success team to get ramped up quickly. “It was great to know that I had extra resources who were responsive, professional, and experts on the platform,” he says.
The weeks leading up to the event are particularly stressful for Mike’s team. That made the success team’s quick response times all the more valuable. “The team was quick to provide us with tips and resources whenever we needed help, usually getting back to us within 24 hours,” said Mike.
“They were communicative, transparent, and responsive. They did a great job of being a true partner.”
– Mike Asner, Sr Director of Marketing and Ticketing, LA Auto Show
They also relied on Eventbrite’s onsite solutions — including scanners and box office equipment, full-service staffing, and experienced onsite pros — to make sure everything went smoothly throughout the 10-day event. “The box office team stepped up to the plate working one of the biggest events in Los Angeles” says Mike. “They were extremely resourceful, especially when things didn’t go as planned.”
Not only did Eventbrite’s team manage entry, the box office, and customer complaints, but they also trained the staff to use the equipment and ensured that they kept a positive attitude to give attendees the best experience possible. “Their hospitality was paramount because they are the first point of contact with the event and the brand.”
Bringing LA Auto Show’s Ticketing Technology into the 21st Century
Looking back at the improvements that his team made over the past year, it was hard for Mike not to laugh. “It used to drive me crazy, because The LA Auto Show is all about unveiling the future of the auto industry and showcasing the latest technologies,” he says, “but it felt like my team was still operating in the dark ages. Eventbrite is providing us with the technology to advance with the ever-changing digital landscape.”
With more time on their hands, Mike and his team plan to continue to experiment to improve their sales strategy. And since they are making smarter use of their budget, they have more to invest in innovation to make the attendee experience even better — both online and onsite. “With Eventbrite,” says Mike, “that’s all possible.”
“We’re a very nimble team. Now we have a provider who is just as nimble, flexible, and innovative as we are.”
– Mike Asner, Sr Director of Marketing and Ticketing, LA Auto Show
