In theory, nothing triggers the potential customer’s buying instinct quite like the combination of the word “special” with the word “offer”. But to maximize the benefits of a special offer and increase your ticket sales considerably, any such offers need to be used strategically. Let’s take a look at what makes a Special offer effective!
Wow them with value
The trick to a successful Special Offer is to make it excellent value for your participant. An underwhelming Special offer can even have a negative effect, or as I like to call it a ‘meh’ experience. What you want to do is ‘WOW’ potential buyers. Make sure the offer is not only right for your business, but also for your participants. When creating a Special offer start by asking yourself:
– Will it generate brand goodwill?
– Will it provide a positive customer experience?
– Who is it targeted at?
– What do I aim to achieve with it?
Once you have the answers to these questions, you are set on the right path to creating an effective Special offer.
Ways to apply Special Offers
There is more than one way to achieve great results with your special offers, but these steps are always essential.
Step 1: Select to which of your ticket categories the Special offer will be applied to.
Maybe you want to boost the sales of your least expensive ticket, or you want to encourage more students to show up for your event. Focus on gaining sales you would not normally make at your usual price.
Step 2: Give it some exclusivity
Time-limited offers are a great way to increase ticket sales and give participants a sense of money well spent. Special offers are most effective when there is an element of scarcity.
Step 3: Make it an attractive offer
There are always people who can’t quite make up their minds about attending an event. Split-minded or not, a potential participant will always recognize good value when they see it. You can set a flat discount or a percentage off the price of a ticket to help undecided participants and to attract new ones.
Step 4: Calculate profitability
Obviously a Special offer isn’t just about the participant, it’s also about boosting your event profits. Adjustments can always be made to increase its profitability, by changing the settings of the offer to:
– Apply only within certain values of the purchase
– Apply only within a certain number of tickets bought
– Have a limited number of uses
Remember that a Special offer should be good value for both you and your participants. You can add different offers for your event, with different targets, rule sets, and benefits, to make a good and lasting impression.
The DON’Ts of creating a Special offer
There are a few things you don’t want to do when it comes to your Special offers:
– Don’t create low-value offers! If the value is not good enough it will not provide enough motivation. It might even produce a negative experience in your eventual participants.
– Don’t set the discount too high! You run the risk of devaluing the participant experience. People may believe that something cheap is of no worth. That is definitely not the line of thinking you want associated with your brand.
– Don’t make your offers too similar to one another! This can lead to confusion. By creating different Special offers, you are giving your potential participant more options. They need to be attractive to them in different ways.
The bottom line
Knowing how to create an effective Special offer is pretty much guaranteed to increase your event sales, but you also need the right tool for it. And that’s why it’s important to see the…
The evolution of online event registration services…
The Special offers feature in Weemss lets you create and modify every aspect of your offer, from limiting the number of uses, to setting a minimum or maximum value of purchase. Sign Up now with a free account and put to good use what you just learned about “WOW” Special offers!
To learn all about pricing and selling event tickets, download our brilliant (and free) guide: The Absolute Guide to Pricing and Selling Event Tickets.
