We are ever so close to the moment where you’re going to start selling tickets for your event. But before that moment arrives you still have a bit of work to do.
In this chapter we’ll talk about the 3 key elements that will make or break your sales - the importance of your pricing strategy, how to increase your conversion rates, and how to develop your promotional sales offers like a true pro.
We are all used to the old sales trick of .99 pricing. This is called psychological pricing and although we are well aware of it, fact is, it continues to be widely used and it works. While pricing an event is harder since your “product” is an experience that is immeasurable, with the guidelines below you can make any price easier to swallow.
The Basics
Start off with the average price at which you would like to sell your tickets and build all ticket categories, special offers and discounts. If, for example, your average price is €200, you should price all your tickets from €150 to €400 EUR. This should allow for discounts and special offers.
With an average price and pricing threshold in mind, have a look at these QuickTips when developing your pricing strategy:
Now that we have the basics covered, have a look at some pricing tactics below, see what may work for your event and grab it, while stocks last!
The Tactics
To make your price seem less, reduce the left digit by one count and complete the whole number with a .98, .99 or .95. This is psychological or charm pricing and it works because we humans tend to scan information rather than analyzing it in-depth. At first glance we see 4,98 as demonstrably less than 5,00.
Whether it sounds completely logical or totally ridiculous, according to research numbers that are longer to spell out seem larger too.
• People also see prices written in a smaller font as being lower. A study discovered that “presenting the lower sale prices in relatively small font resulted in more favorable value assessments and greater purchase likelihood or choice than presenting the lower sale prices in relatively large font.”.
• Instead of .99 psychological pricing you can round off the price and still make the total look like less. For example €200 seems less than €199,99.00. Remove any unnecessary zeros and characters from your price.
• While you’re deleting the extra digits, delete the currency sign or wording too. According to a study conducted with restaurant menus, participants whose menus had no currency sign or wording, on average, spent more for their lunch.
Some of these tactics may contradict each other, but this is normal. As with everything else you should experiment, measure the results, update and improve.
Whichever and whatever pricing and tactics you decide to use, focus the attention on the benefits for your events’ participants. Every event is unique and brings value. Find what is unique and valuable about your event and share it. Focus more on the experience for participants, rather than the cost, savings or value for money. Inspire them to attend.
After all, the reason people attend events is for the experience!
The key to an effective event registration form is to engage your potential participant from the off. The quicker you have their attention the more likely it is they will fill in the form and buy tickets for your event. It’s well known that more than 85% of the information our brain receives is visual, which means visual stimulation is one of the 