by Ticket sales will generally make up the majority of your revenue, so it’s important to know how to price tickets for an event.
A solid ticket pricing strategy can not only help you sell out your event but also maximise the profit you make from the sales.
Read on to learn about…
- How to determine the right ticket price
- When and how to adjust your prices
- Different ways you can increase profits
- Tools to help you work out the ideal price
Billetto is a ticketing platform that helps you manage, promote, and host events. Set up an event page and start selling tickets in 5 minutes.
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Top 3 ways to find the right ticket price
The first step to determining your event ticket price is to do some basic market research. Let’s go over the three best ways to find a good starting point for your ticket price.
1. Work out your budget
You can’t run at a loss, unless you have other sources of revenue. Use your event budget to find out how much you need to make to turn a profit (or at least break even).
Tip: Read our guide on how to manage your event budget to help you with the calculations.
2. Determine the value
Ask yourself how much your target audience would be willing to pay for an event. How much would a business professional pay to attend a networking event that can lead to sales?
Tip: The most expensive event tickets in the world tells you what people are willing to pay for.
3. Look at supply and demand
Your event budget and the perceived value are both second to the laws of supply and demand. The easiest way is to calculate the average ticket price for your event type to find a reasonable base price.
You can also see what competing events are charging for their tickets. Then lower your ticket price to compete with them on price, or raise it if you want to position your event as more high-end and exclusive.
Either way, head over to one of the many ticketing platforms on offer and browse the category that fits your event the best. You’d be surprised how many valuable insights it will give you.
Tip: You can, for example, check the average ticket prices for concerts if you’re in that space.
Top 10 pricing strategies for event planners
When it comes to ticket pricing, there is a whole science (or several sciences) dedicated to finding out what sells more. Let’s look at how you can increase sales with these top 10 ticket pricing strategies for event planners.
1. Increase perceived value
You can increase the ticket price by increasing the perceived value of your event. Ideas include creating scarcity, promoting exclusivity, or making the event private or even secret.
Tip: Read more about how to increase the perceived value of your event tickets.
2. Use discounted prices
You can also offer discounts to gain a competitive edge if you’re trying to break into a new market. That could help you steal attendees from competing events that are already established.
Tip: Read more about when and how to discount your event tickets to boost sales.
3. Gradually increase prices
An early bird pricing strategy can boost your cash flow early in the planning process. You can then gradually increase the ticket price as you get close to the date of the event.
Tip: Read more about how to use the early bird pricing strategy and other pricing increases to your advantage.
4. Bundle tickets
It’s common knowledge that you get a better deal when you buy in bulk. You can apply the same principle to sell more tickets by offering ticket bundles with 2-for-1 offers or VIP packages.
Tip: See how the bundling strategy works for other businesses to find inspiration for your event.
5. Create multiple ticket types
Another common strategy is price anchoring. A ticket price of £50 can seem steep on its own but sounds more reasonable when positioned next to a £35 economy ticket and a £90 VIP ticket.
Tip: Read more about price anchoring to find out which price you should use as an anchor.
6. Use partitioned pricing
If you’re selling tickets both online and offline, make sure it’s cheaper to buy online. Online ticket sales will:
- Help you better estimate attendance by having people buy in advance
- Let you collect attendee contact details which you can use for marketing
Tip: Grab yourself this cheat sheet with 10 online vs. offline pricing strategies (free registration).
7. Use charm pricing
Charm pricing, also known as psychological pricing is the practice of charging £19.99 for a ticket instead of £20 because the former seems cheaper.
Tip: Learn how to use charm pricing (and eight other pricing tricks).
8. Show higher savings
Use the highest number—whether it’s the percentage or monetary amount—when you advertise ticket discounts. If your tickets are £20, show a 20% discount instead of a £4 discount.
Tip: Read more about the law of large numbers and how it can work to your advantage.
9. Upsell post-purchase
Selling doesn’t stop after customers have purchased a ticket. Once booked, offer them a second ticket for their friend at a discount or push any event merchandise you might have for sale.
Tip: Read about the different upselling strategies you can use to maximise your profits.
10. Ticket giveaways
Giving away tickets for free sounds like a crazy idea. But once you’ve mastered the art of social media ticket giveaways, you can use it to reach more people and sell many more tickets.
Tip: Use our guide to social media ticket giveaways to help you set up a contest.
Useful tools to help with ticket pricing
As you can see, there are many factors that’ll determine the right ticket price for your event. Luckily, there are tools that can help you with the task of setting the price.
Event Ticket Price Calculator
This ticket pricing tool factors in the following numbers to determine your ticket price:
- Target profit
- Cost for tickets
- Marketing costs
- Number of events
- Cost per event
- Number of seats per event
- Percentage of tickets to be sold
Guide to people’s willingness to pay
Refer to this guide on calculating people’s willingness to pay so you can factor in:
- The state of the economy
- Seasonal trends
- Personal price points for attendees
- Circumstantial needs for attendees
- The rarity of your event type
- The quality of your event
Smart Pricer
This is a dynamic pricing tool that can help you set the right price by factoring in:
- The consumer demand for your event
- Price points for competing events
- The number of no-shows for your event
- Relevant historical pricing data
- The weather’s effect on attendee turn-out
Billetto is a ticketing platform that helps you manage, promote, and host events. Set up an event page and start selling tickets in 5 minutes.
CREATE YOUR EVENT >>
Experiment with ticket prices
Hopefully, you’ve found inspiration in the 10 pricing strategies we’ve outlined above. But sales and marketing is a constantly evolving space, so feel free to experiment.
For example, many ticket sellers will raise the price only after they’ve sold a certain number of tickets. Others will mix and match some of the pricing strategies we’ve outlined.
Get creative and sell more tickets for your event!
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