Ticketing Industry
Mobile Entry: Yeah, That's The Ticket
An overview of the opportunities and challenges created by widespread mobile entry in live event ticketing.
If you have worked or attended an event in the last year or so, you probably have noticed that you were not given the option to get a hard ticket and/or a print-at-home, PDF style ticket. This is because of the widespread usage of digital ticketing, a/k/a mobile entry. The phenomenon is not new, mobile entry has been available via most ticketing platforms for several years. However, COVID, and the subsequent “contactless” trend that followed, accelerated the push towards digital ticketing to the point where ticket buyers were no longer given the option.
Just like any other mandate, there has been some pockets of resistance to digital ticketing. In my opinion, this is mostly because people don’t like being told they have to do something, even if that something is as benign as how event tickets are distributed. That said, there are some genuine issues that mobile entry creates. To help navigate this new phase of the live event ticketing space, I decided to explain some opportunities and challenges.
Opportunities:
1. “I lost my tickets” is no longer anything anyone ever needs to say or experience. The tickets are always accessible. Even if you lose your phone, you can access your tickets from another device. The tickets exist in cyberspace, rather than just on a piece of paper somewhere.
2. Distributing tickets becomes a heck of a lot easier. No more coordinating meetups with friends who traveled separately, in the parking lot or at the main gate. If you’re in charge of a large allotment of group, season or suite tickets, there is no longer a need to mail tickets or schedule pick up times/location, which reduces the chance the tickets end up going unused.
Entry info signage at 2022 Genesis Invitational at Rivera Country Club
3. Will call is all but eliminated. Digital tickets reduce the need to have people wait in line at the box office. They also streamline the process of artist, player and other internal ticket orders. The tickets are delivered directly; no need to print out tickets, fill out envelopes and make sure those envelopes make it up to the box office. Digital tickets also ensure the person receives the tickets. I’m sure every box office has a story about a person trying to pick up guest list tickets left under a different person’s name and the trials and tribulations of trying to track down the right person that can sort out the situation.
4. Box offices can become mobile. Digital ticketing means there is no need for ticket printers. This combined with the sharp increase in cashless only payments, untethers box office staff from a physical box office. Tickets can be sold, or ticketing issues can be resolved, using a tablet or even just a smartphone. Even better, potential ticket buyers arriving onsite can scan a QR code and use their personal smart phone to purchase a ticket.
Challenges:
1. Communication of mobile entry policy. For years, there was an expectation amongst the public that when you came up to the box office and purchased a ticket, you would be issued a physical ticket. This is no longer the case and that can be a shock to the system for some folks. At this moment in time, and probably for the next few years, it is imperative to overcommunicate mobile entry policies. This includes website, ticketing point-of-sale, ample signage at the venue where the event is taking place and staff verbally reminding patrons as they enter.
2. People without smart phones. Believe it or not, 15% of US adults do not own a smartphone. I would imagine that the percentage of live event goers without smartphones skews lower. Take NASCAR for example, a sport whose fans have lower household income than most US-based sports leagues/organizations; 92% of their fans have smartphones. Still, if you’re at an event of 10,000 people, there is going to be a handful of attendees without smartphones. There needs to be a plan in place to help those people. Wifi specifically for ticket resolution is a must for venues in the age of mobile entry.
3. Wi-Fi issues. If all the tickets are digital than it is imperative that there is strong Wi-Fi at all entry gates and at the box office. This Wi-FI should be separate from the general venue Wi-Fi to keep users to a minimum and to maximize performance. There should also be a designated area for people to congregate that are either trying to purchase tickets or resolve issues with their tickets so that they are not block ingress into the venue. A “phone zone” if you will.
4. Staffing – Box offices are becoming more about ticket resolution than actual ticket sales. Tickets can be purchased anytime from anywhere, even as somebody is walking up to the venue from their car. Because of this, and the aforementioned reduction in will call, front-line box office staffs can be less people than in the past, but they need to be well-versed in the customer journey and in the technology that the ticketing provider utilizes. Ticket takers at the entry gates also play a bigger role. No longer is their job to stub tickets or scan a static barcode. They too must have a basic understanding of the customer journey and ticketing tech to quickly assist ticket buyers at the gate. Warm bodies are no longer sufficient for this role.
Mobile entry is here to stay. I’m sure many organizations have vocal minorities regarding the topic. My advice is that you should not worry about such a small percentage of people. If 10 people out of 10,000 complain, that is not a reason to halt progress. I would imagine that most of the complaints will peter out as time goes on and mobile entry is the standard almost anywhere.