Ararat Performing Arts

See how Ararat Performing Arts Centre began selling tickets on TryBooking and increased their productivity.

Background

How do you get more people to your theatre? A great performance is just part of the equation. The success of most theatres is driven by how well they manage their customer relationships. Targeted, effective marketing is essential to attract consistent audiences. The better you know your patrons, the easier it will be to entice them back time and again.

Ararat Performing Arts Centre began selling tickets on TryBooking to increase their productivity, lower their costs and improve their market knowledge. 

"We had considered online bookings for some time," explained Russell Potter, Assistant Director, "but we baulked at the cost. So initially it was the low cost and simplicity of use that drew us towards TryBooking."

The change

Ararat Performing Arts Centre tickets 25-30 shows a year. "TryBooking greatly reduced Box Office staff time and saved us the wastage of printing tickets that might not get used," says Russell.

Another important benefit soon became apparent: how quickly they increased their customer knowledge and how easily they could now track tickets sales.

Collecting customer information during the booking process expanded Ararat Performing Arts Centre's ability to plan effective communication campaigns. "In the past we didn't capture customer data, so we had limited options. Having a consolidated view of our audience helps us to develop marketing strategies, like email campaigns. Now we can even map where our audience comes from and plan more targeted advertising," continued Russell.

The key is to quickly capture complete and accurate data at the time of ticket purchase. The more people buy online the more opportunities Ararat Performing Arts Centre has to save resources and track their customers, "We encourage Internet sales by reducing the cost of tickets purchased online. People already love the convenience of buying on TryBooking, and with our online seating plans they tend to purchase earlier to choose the best seats. We have a link on our website so as soon as a show is listed, people can click the link and book their tickets".

"In addition to reports about our customers, we love the all Event Revenue and our ability to easily refund tickets. I think we use most of the reports at one time or another during our booking window and post-event analysis."

The results

 "TryBooking have provided exceptional service and support and a first rate product that improves both our ticketing process and our customer communication."

"The transition to TryBooking was relatively painless. As with all changes there was a learning curve, but TryBooking provides such excellent customer support that we found it very easy to use."

Russell concluded, "Our experience with TryBooking has been very positive. From our first contact with them to the occasional question that arises, TryBooking have provided exceptional service and support and a first rate product that improves both our ticketing process and our customer communication."

Russell Potter
Assistant Director
Ararat Performing Arts Centre