Monday, ten o'clock. Ticket sales for the cup match open and your club has just shared the link on all channels. At the same moment hundreds of people open the ticket shop. Two people click the same seat. At the box office in the canteen a volunteer sells a seat that was just gone online. And season ticket holders wonder why they couldn't go first.
A busy sale is good news, as long as it is fair and predictable. That takes five things.
1. A queue before you choose, not halfway
When it's busy, everyone joins a queue and sees how many people are still ahead of them and roughly how long it will take. What matters is when that queue comes: before you choose anything. Whoever's turn it is gets a fixed time to complete the whole order, hospitality and seats together. That way you don't first choose your match dinners only to queue again for your seats.
When it's quiet, nobody notices that queue: you go straight through.
2. One seating plan, from stadium to seat
Supporters choose their seat the way they know the stadium: first the whole stadium, then the section, then the seat. For each selected seat you choose the price category (e.g. adult or youth) and you immediately see the price. Sections where you can't buy for this event remain visible but are greyed out, so you can still find your way.
3. One stock for the app and the box office
Double-sold seats usually arise between two channels: online and at the box office. That's why the app and the box office the same seats. Whoever chooses a seat holds it for a while; nobody else can buy it at that moment, not even at the desk. If someone abandons their order, the seat becomes available again by itself after a while.
At the box office you sell on the same seating plan, take payment in cash, by card or by invoice afterwards, and print the tickets right away with QR code.
4. Priority for season ticket holders, even if their season ticket doesn't apply
For a cup match or a friendly, the season ticket is often not valid. Still, you want to reward your most loyal supporters. That's why per event you can set up a pre-sale for season ticket holders : holders of a season ticket of the selected season can buy from their own date, before the regular sale starts.
5. All tickets in one link
If someone buys thirty tickets for the supporters' club, you don't want to send a mail with thirty PDF attachments. The confirmation mail contains one button: "View and download your tickets". There you find all tickets with their QR code, and with one click you turn them into one PDF to print. The link is personal and cannot be forged.
Practical example: for the Croky Cup match between K. Lyra-Lierse and Standard de Liège, all ticketing ran through Clubwise: 1,200 digital tickets, zero double entries or fraud. Antoine Roex (Standard de Liège): "No queues, no problems. Just smooth and professional."
And security?
A busy sale also attracts unwanted attention. New accounts must first confirm their e-mail address before they can buy, so fake accounts can't block seats. Anyone who wants to can switch on two-step verification with an authenticator app. And links to tickets and payments are signed: changing a number in the address bar gives no access to someone else's order.
Finally
A busy ticket sale doesn't have to be a stressful moment. With a queue at the right moment, one seating plan and one stock for all channels, everyone knows where they stand: your buyers, your volunteers at the box office and your board.
Ready for your next busy sale?
Discover in a free demo how the queue, the seating plan and the box office of Clubwise work together.
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