Nothing is more frustrating than increasing web traffic and getting very few conversions. When planning an event, it’s only natural to worry about attendance and wonder if you can improve your ticketing process. This blog looks at how you can increase online event ticketing and reduce bounce rates.
What Is a Bounce Rate?
One of the worst statistics for marketers and event planners is the number of people who visited their site and left. A bounce rate measures how many people only look at one website page without taking further action. This marketing metric helps teams measure what percentage of their visitors don’t align with the website’s message.
Bounce rates won’t affect your Google ranking (or SEO). However, a high bounce rate could be an indicator that something is wrong with your site, your marketing strategy, or your process.
What Is a Good Bounce Rate Benchmark?
You can’t avoid all bounces. In fact, many of your visitors will hop off your page without performing any additional actions. Many visitors don’t convert on their first interaction but could return later to reconsider.
So, what’s a good bounce rate for your organization?
The truth is: there is no perfect bounce rate. Bounce rates can vary dramatically by organization type or industry. Semrush notes that the average bounce rate can range from 26% – 70%. Blogs and landing pages tend to have higher bounce rates.
The bounce rate measures visitor engagement; how does your audience respond to your call to action (CTA)? Your goals for this metric should differ based on your industry, where traffic is coming from, and what you are asking visitors to do.
If your bounce rate seems high, you may want to evaluate your ticketing strategies.
Why Are Your Visitors Bouncing?
There are several reasons why people might leave a page without navigating to an additional page or registering for an event. Here are some of the reasons your audience might leave your site:
- Your page takes too long to load. Slow loading times are a leading reason for people leaving to go somewhere else. Keep your images compressed and optimize your site to ensure slow load times aren’t a hurdle for your event ticketing strategies. You can use Google’s PageSpeed Insights to see if loading time is an issue for your site.
- You are attracting the wrong audience. Don’t target an audience that won’t have an interest in your event. People will leave if your site message doesn’t align with what they are looking for.
- Your page is messy or overwhelming. A poor site design can feel confusing and drive people away. Poorly designed sites might include hidden navigation bars or showcase too many events on one page without breaking them down by event type.
- Visitors get distracted by other tasks. You don’t have a lot of time to hold your visitor’s attention and convince them to register. Keep your messaging focused on a single conversion point (ticketing) and help your visitors make an informed decision quickly. Don’t focus on what your organization does for the event; center your messaging around how your visitor benefits from the event and what they get out of the experience.
- Visitors are worried about fraud and don’t feel confident in your site. Poor site design can also make visitors concerned about your legitimacy. Make sure your site looks professional and has a secure checkout process that protects registrants.
- Your audience can’t find clear event details or pricing. Don’t hide the details! People often back out if they are surprised by the cost. Don’t make your guests go through the checkout process just to see the cost.
- Your site isn’t optimized for mobile. Many people are browsing on their phones. Over 62% of all web traffic in 2022 was done on a mobile device. Mobile-friendly web design is a must if you want to effectively target your audience.
4 Ticketing Strategies to Increase Sales
“How can I improve my ticket sales?” You might have a great event in the works, but it will be a flop if attendance is too low. Here are four event ticketing strategies to help you optimize your ticketing process so it’s easier for your visitors to follow through with purchasing.
Keep Visitors on Your Site
Getting directed to another site for ticketing can be a jarring experience, making your audience wonder if they are in the right place or if the checkout is secure. Plus, if you push your visitors to another site to register, you risk them not coming back.
Embedded events keep your visitors right on your site. When any visitor clicks on an event, use a simple popup to help them complete the purchase. Learn more about the benefits of embedded event ticketing and how to get started in our recent guide.
Reduce Checkout Friction
Take away extra steps to make the process as seamless as possible. People are easily distracted; the more hoops they have to jump through, the more likely they are to abandon checkout.
You can set your forms to automatically populate with any information you have so that your guest has fewer fields to fill out. Embedding your events is another way to reduce that friction and make the ticketing process easier to complete. Also, support a friction-free experience and don’t require your guests to create an account during the checkout process.
Provide Key Details
Clarify your dates, package details, and costs upfront to avoid cart abandonment. People don’t like hidden costs or going through the checkout process just to understand pricing. 55% of people say they’ve abandoned a transaction because they were surprised by the cost at checkout.
Showcase your pricing upfront to help people make an informed decision without jumping through any hoops. Include any taxes or additional fees in your price so people aren’t surprised by extra costs when considering a purchase.
Encourage Early Buying
Impulse buys are a key part of a strong sales strategy. Over 87% of US shoppers make impulse buys each year. People tend to make faster decisions when they find a good deal or opportunity. Create scarcity around your offerings by setting a deadline or a limited quantity of special deals.
You can help people make a decision faster by incentivizing early buying. Encourage your visitors by offering special deals, limited numbers of premium tickets, early bird packages, and more.
How to Increase Sales and Attendance
Are you trying to convert more of your audience? These tips will help you increase sales and attendance.
1. Understand Your Audience
Know whom you are targeting and what is important to them. It’s much easier to convince people to attend your event if the event is designed to meet their needs or interests. Don’t assume you know what people are after — take the time to actually ask them.
2. Offer Early Purchase Benefits
What will your attendees get after buying tickets? Promote the benefits of getting on the list by promising things like event reminders and supportive resources.
People can’t register if they don’t know about your event. In order to spread the word, you need to target the right people in the right spaces. Promote your event wherever your target audience is likely to see it, like on key social media platforms, on your website, through guest posts, and more.
4. Personalize Your Email Nurtures
You can leverage your existing contacts list to increase conversions. Don’t treat every contact the same — instead, segment your list so you can effectively personalize your message based on their interests and prior history with your organization.
5. Get Critical Feedback from Attendees
Hone your event planning process by understanding what went right and wrong after each event. Survey your attendees to find out how you can improve or better meet their needs with your next event.
6. Measure Your Outreach Methods
Find out where your audience is coming from and what channels bring in the best attendees. Metrics that clarify outreach can help you better target your audience in the future.
Make sure your tools aren’t confusing or difficult to use. Simplify the buying process by using an all-in-one tool that handles your setup, contact management, marketing, ticketing, and reporting.
Increase Ticket Sales With Brushfire
Are you looking for an industry-leading platform to create successful events? We can help! Use Brushfire solutions to support your ticket-selling strategies and boost event attendance. Our innovative tools and top-notch customer support are second to none. Learn more about our solutions by requesting a free demo from our team!