Planning an event? One key to success is having a smooth payment system in place. Good event payment processing makes things easy for attendees and keeps things simple for organizers. Plus, a solid system not only secures transactions but also gives you useful sales data to help with future events.
So, what should you look for in a payment processing system?
- Security: People need to know their info is safe.
- Multiple payment options: Accept credit cards, debit cards, digital wallets — the more options you can offer, the better.
- Integration with event tools: Connect easily with ticketing, registration, and check-in tools to save time and cut down on manual work.
- Reporting and analytics: Get insights on ticket sales, revenue, and who’s attending, so you can make smart decisions.
In this guide, we’ll show you how to make your event payment processing a breeze with Event Tickets Plus. With this plugin in your pocket, you can focus on what really matters — creating awesome experiences for your attendees. Let’s explore how it can help you streamline payments and take your events to the next level!
Optimizing event payment processing with Event Tickets Plus
Event Tickets Plus is the ultimate tool for event organizers who want to sell and manage tickets on their WordPress websites. It’s got a sleek and straightforward interface that makes handling tickets super easy. With handy shortcodes, you can sell tickets from any page on your site, giving your customers a smooth and intuitive buying experience.
Now, we know what you are thinking…That’s what every ticketing plugin’s home page says!
So, here we will show you how Event Tickets Plus can optimize your event payment processing. We’ll walk you through its key features and share real-life examples where Event Tickets Plus has greatly improved the ticketing process.
Ready? Let’s start!
Accepting a world of payment methods
One of the keys to a successful event is offering flexible payment options for your attendees. Event Tickets Plus enables you to create free tickets and tickets at multiple price points, giving your attendees plenty of choice. The platform supports a wide variety of payment methods, ensuring a hassle-free purchasing experience for everyone.
With the free version, Event Tickets, you get secure payments via PayPal and Stripe through its own ecommerce platform, Tickets Commerce. But that’s just the beginning!
Upgrade to Event Tickets Plus, and you unlock even more options. Support for additional payment gateways like Braintree, and digital wallets such as Google Pay and Apple Pay, means you can cater to everyone’s preferences.
The best part? Event Tickets Plus doesn’t tack on any extra transaction fees beyond payment gateway charges. So, you get all these options with no hidden costs.
Seamless integration with WooCommerce
Event Tickets Plus integrates seamlessly with WooCommerce, offering you a host of benefits beyond flexible payment options.
First off, WooCommerce integration brings sophisticated inventory management. This means you can easily keep track of ticket sales and manage merchandise, all from one place. Selling event-themed T-shirts or other goodies alongside tickets? No problem!
But that’s not all. Integrating with WooCommerce opens up a world of possibilities with thousands of available extensions. Here are a few highlights:
- In-person payments: Offer more payment options for attendees who want to pay on arrival.
- Bundling products: Bundle merchandise or add-ons with your ticket sales using plugins like WooCommerce Product Add-Ons. For instance, Sip & Script, a calligraphy workshop business, used this feature to sell calligraphy kits alongside their tickets during the pandemic. This allowed them to transition smoothly to virtual events and maintain their revenue streams.
- Membership integration: Integrating with a WooCommerce membership plugin allows you to offer different ticket options based on membership levels, providing a more personalized and rewarding experience for your attendees. Take Inside-Out Storytelling, for example. They used WooCommerce with Event Tickets Plus to create various membership levels, offering tailored ticketing options and effectively promoting their coaching sessions.
Interested in exploring these case studies a bit more? We’ll cover them in more detail later in the article!
Integrated sales reports and analytics
Having easy access to customer sales data is crucial for event organizers looking to gain valuable insights into their ticket sales and attendee behavior. By analyzing this information, you can make informed decisions when planning future events, ensuring that you’re catering to your audience’s preferences and maximizing your revenue potential.
Event Tickets, both in its free and paid versions, provides comprehensive ticket sales reports that can be easily downloaded from your WordPress dashboard in CSV format. This allows you to perform detailed analysis using your preferred tools, such as Google Sheets and MS Excel, or even integrate the data with your Customer Relationship Management (CRM) or mailing software.
These reports offer a wealth of information, including:
- Ticket sales numbers and revenue.
- Customer profiles and demographics.
- Buying patterns and trends.
- Popular ticket types and price points.
Study this data to identify which aspects of your events are resonating with your audience and which areas need improvement.
For example, you might discover that a particular ticket type is consistently outselling others, indicating a demand for that specific offering. Or you may notice that a significant portion of your attendees come from a specific geographic location, suggesting an opportunity to tailor your marketing efforts accordingly.
As Jennifer Theodore, Director of Customer Success and Support at The Events Calendar puts it,
“Analyzing data from previous events is essential for making informed decisions when planning future ones. By understanding your audience’s behavior and preferences, you can create experiences that truly resonate with them and keep them coming back for more!”
Jennifer Theodore, Director of Customer Success and Support at The Events Calendar
To further assist you in your event-planning journey, we’ve put together a comprehensive event-planning checklist that covers everything from budgeting and venue selection to marketing and post-event follow-up!
Case studies: A look at Events Tickets Plus in action
Sip & Script: Navigating challenges with flexibility
Sip & Script, founded by Meg Chaloner, specializes in calligraphy workshops held in various local businesses across the U.S. When the pandemic hit, their in-person events came to a halt, forcing them to quickly change to virtual events. Their primary challenges?
- Transitioning from in-person to virtual events.
- Maintaining attendee engagement and revenue streams.
- Managing ticket sales and additional merchandise.
To overcome these, Sip & Script used the blended power of Event Tickets Plus and WooCommerce in several ways.
- They adapted their calligraphy workshops to virtual formats with the help of The Events Calendar plugins, allowing them to list and manage virtual events with ease.
- With Promoter, an email marketing system that integrates with The Events Calendar, they used automated emails to keep attendees informed before, during, and after events, ensuring a smooth virtual experience.
- Sip & Script used WooCommerce Product Add-Ons to sell calligraphy kits alongside their tickets. This ensured attendees had the necessary supplies, approved and published by the main team. This streamlined the event submission process and empowered artists to manage their own events.
- Revenue from ticket sales was automatically split between Sip & Script and the individual artists using Community Tickets, removing the hassle of manual calculations and payments.
The result?
Sip & Script successfully navigated the shift to virtual events, maintaining their business operations and revenue. The seamless integration of Event Tickets Plus and WooCommerce allowed them to manage ticket sales, product bundling, and revenue sharing effectively, ensuring a smooth transition and continued growth.
Inside-Out Storytelling: Enhancing engagement through membership
Inside-Out Storytelling helps individuals become more confident storytellers through coaching and workshops. They use their WordPress site to display events, sell tickets, and promote their sessions.
Their challenges included:
- Offering various ticketing options for different membership levels.
- Promoting workshops and managing ticket sales efficiently.
- Engaging attendees through multiple touchpoints.
With Event Tickets Plus and WooCommerce, they could:
- Create membership levels: By integrating Event Tickets Plus with a WooCommerce membership plugin, Inside-Out Storytelling created different ticket options based on membership levels. This allowed them to tailor their offerings and provide exclusive access to premium members.
- Set up RSVP and multiple ticket types: They used features like requiring users to log in before RSVPing and offering multiple ticket types, making the ticketing process flexible and secure.
- Display dynamic calendar views: Inside-Out Storytelling utilized multiple calendar views (Photo View, Month View, and List View) on their website to display upcoming workshops attractively and effectively. This customization helped visitors easily find and register for events.
- Leverage email marketing with Promoter: They kept in touch with members using Promoter. This ensured consistent communication before, during, and after events, fostering engagement and repeat attendance.
- Use WooCommerce integration to manage event ticket sales alongside other products and services. This included offering physical goods as part of ticket purchases without requiring them, enhancing the overall user experience.
The result?
Inside-Out Storytelling effectively promoted their workshops through personalized ticketing options and engaged with their audience throughout the event promotion process to drive a record attendance.
These two examples show how, with WooCommerce integration, Event Tickets Plus gives you the tools to sell tickets and manage merchandise, offer in-person payments, and customize your offerings with a variety of extensions. It’s all about making your event management as flexible and efficient as possible!
Start simplifying your event payment processes today
Streamlined payment processing is a big deal for event organizers and attendees. The right setup means smooth transactions, happy attendees, and less stress for you!
That’s where Event Tickets Plus comes in.
Event Tickets Plus supports multiple payment methods, integrates with WooCommerce, and offers easy-to-use sales reports and analytics. It’s everything you need to sell tickets and manage events on your WordPress site.
Ready to dive into Event Tickets Plus to make your event payment process a breeze? Get started today and see just how easy event management can be!
The post A Simple Guide to Hassle-Free Event Payment Processing appeared first on The Events Calendar.