Online ticket booking can be a hassle. Firstly tickets are hard to find; if you get lucky and find the one you are looking for, price will surprise you. This is what entrepreneurs are trying to change with ticket search and buying platforms. The hottest ones specialize in sports, concert, theater, and also all of them.
Online ticket booking platforms like SeatGeek and Ticketlisters have gained huge popularity in recent years. This motivated FATbit technologies to conduct in-depth analysis of the growing industry, its business model, and unique site features. First, let’s take a look at the business model in order to learn how service is rendered and money is made.
Business Model
A ticket search engine aggregates ticket listings for sports, concerts, and theater events. Fitted with powerful search functionality, such sites fetch tickets on sales from multiple sellers, and make them available to buyers. The ticket processing and buying can be handled by the aggregator itself or visitor can be directed to the chosen vendor for completing the transaction.
While the earlier is favored for better UX, prefer latter if you don’t want to meddle with payment gateways and related functionality.
How ticket search engines make money?
Ticket search engines aggregate tickets from all major primary ticket selling websites rather than selling tickets themselves. Money is made through commission on every sold ticket. In addition to it, advertising can also help generate additional revenue. Earnings can be substantial if you target multiple ticket segments rather than focusing on one.
Leading players
While there are hundreds of ticket brokers and marketplaces active in the market, the competition in the aggregator sector in limited. Here are the top industry players:
- TicketMaster
- SeatGeek
- TicketStumbler
- TicketWood
- ConcertBoom
Must-have Website Features
Leading ticket aggregators focus on user experience, powerful search, and various other factors to entice users. And this is evident from their homepage which mostly focus only on Search and usability. Here are site features and areas which you cannot afford to ignore to build the perfect ticket search platform:
Homepage
Plan a sharp tagline stating the prominence of your ticket search engine to search and buy tickets. The page can be divided into different sections with top banner housing links to important categories like sports, music, theater etc (if targeting multiple segments). It should also have a login/ signup button. On the page, add links to popular search items which make it easy for users to find relevant search queries.
The second fold of the homepage can be designed to entice users into using the service. It can put forward unique advantages of using the platform like:
- Sturdy search
- Seat selection
- Deal discovery
FATbit researchers recommend a similar approach while developing a ticket search clone website.
Popular Events
It has been seen time and again that most websites tend to put their services on a dedicated page, keeping homepage minimal. But try to pull off something different by displaying popular events on homepage itself. This will make users familiar with upcoming events. Offer different categories to streamline the list of popular events. For example, a user interested only in NBA events can select the category to view all the popular events related to the given category.
Upcoming Events
One of the essential aspects can be personalization of offers. Build a dedicated section on the homepage to display upcoming events. It will make it easy for people who are just looking for something fun. This section can turn out to be real ticker seller; so, spend your time to perfect its visual appeal and functionality.
Signup
Offer multiple signup options on the homepage, and provide a dedicated signup option for users who have a promo code. The signup options should be smooth, adding flow to the overall process without driving away the visitor from the current page. Also offer the option to signup via social media. Ticketwood and EventChimp has executed this smartly.
FATbit analysts advise a one-click registration approach for enhanced user experience for your ticketing platform.
Optimize Ticket Discovery
Add an optimization tool to your ticket search engine. The main focus of this tool is to understand the preference of the users in order to offer customized results. Users should be allowed to select preferred artists, sports teams and theater professional to get notification of upcoming events. Also, provide them with the option to import events from Facebook or other social media sites.
Dashboard
Interface of user dashboard needs to be highly intuitive. Rather than focusing on the events itself, your site should provide a well-detailed calendar housing all the upcoming events. Scrolling over a particular date should help users view the events scheduled for that day. Moreover, they should also be allowed to track an event or straightaway book tickets.
Provide an option to change location as well as customize the calendar to show events based on preference. If going for a clone script, try demo to check this feature.
Track performers
Your ticket search platform must offer its users to favorite or bookmark artists, performers or teams. The listed performers must be sorted based on name, upcoming events, price as well as date added. The user should be able to track performers or sports teams to see aggregated events. Almost all the big ticketing players score in this area.
Track Events
Like performers, users must also have the option to track individual events. The listed events should be nicely sorted on the basis of date, event name, and ticket price. Provide an option to search through the list to find a particular event.
Pro tip – Pick a Ticket Search script that offers such tracking and sorting features.
Purchases
If your ticket search platform will be based on an affiliate model, make Purchase option available to the users in order to make it easy to track all the purchases made. This is highly vital as it will diminish the need to visit each and every website separately.
Account settings
Users must be able to review and update their account settings which can include basic information like name, email and location. Also include an option to select email preferences and change password.
Also focus on the ease of making such changes. While this may not be the reason why registered users leave your ticketing site, it surely can lead to user dissatisfaction.
Payments and Shipping
If you opt for on-site ticketing purchase, your online ticket booking site must simplify tickets management and payment easy. Moreover, it should also handle the ticket delivery information seamlessly, allowing users to add payments options as well as shipping details.
Connected Services
In the current age of cross-platform services, it is vital to have a connected community where users find it easy to share information. Capitalizing on the essence of social platforms, offer users to option to connect their accounts with Facebook, Spotify and other social networking sites. This is how users will be able to import their favorite artists to get personalized recommendations.
FATbit analysts believe that an ambitious online ticketing clone needs to have a similar social integration in order to attain success.
Search
Ticket search is the core of a Ticket Search Engine. The autocomplete feature on your search platform should automatically trigger after two characters. In addition to that, it must offer results based on different categories like major events, performers, and artists. Users can either select a particular result or select all results to get advanced options.
Search Listing
Service listing is one of the most important pages on any website based on product discovery platform. The search listing page should be simple with added filters, making it easy for users to streamline the results. The design of the webpage should be kept minimal and clutter-free. Too many ads will only ruin the experience
Event Seating
Provide a unique and intuitive tool to users for buying tickets to a particular event. Like SeatGeek, you can opt to add a pictorial diagram of the event location along with seating arrangements. Users should be able to scroll/zoom in on the location to get a better understanding of the rows of the seating.
Event Page
Make it easy for users to find events related to a particular artists, performer or team. The event page should be exquisitely designed keeping in mind user engagement.
- The top fold must house a banner image related to the artists along with artist’s name.
- Vital information related to the artists can be categorized under different tabs like events, bio, ticket prices and tour dates.
- Make a latest news section pertaining to the artists or team.
If integrated with robust search and intuitive ticket selection tools, your ticket search engine will carry the potential to revolutionize online ticket booking. However, you will still need to nail the design and marketing part. Join hands with experienced team of designers and developers for UX and conversion enhancements if going for a clone script to compete with the likes of TicketListers and ConcertBoom.
FATbit team with its in-depth knowledge of leading online ticket aggregators and their clones can help you come up with a superior Ticket Search platform.
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