Buying your next system

Understand what you really need, and discover what's possible

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Organisations which build really great relationships with their audiences know that their box office software does far more than just sell tickets.

Beyond being the first step in a customer journey, ticketing technology can

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Increase overall spend on tickets, merchandise, catering and more

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Boost donations and promote memberships or subscriptions

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Help departments work together and understand overall customer behaviour

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Encourage everyone in your organisation to measure impact and make decisions based on accurate audience data

What do you need from your system?

What opportunities exist for improvement, and what specific challenges do you need to overcome?

Writing a simple list of functions or features that you want is tempting, but it’s not a useful tool for evaluating potential supplier systems. You’re much more likely to get a rounded view of how a potential supplier can meet your requirements if you ask them how they'll address your business goals, not whether they have a specific feature. 

So, whilst you might have a short list of ‘must have’ features that are essential, you should also consider requirements that are goal oriented and focussed on the needs of your audiences and events. This is a much more effective way to evaluate the suitability, skill and performance of a new supplier.

What's possible with a modern software solution?

Carry out some simple research to arm yourself with the latest information about the systems on the market, and what they could help you achieve; or join us for our upcoming Online System Demo to see what Spektrix can offer.

Talk to us about Spektrix

Speak to your peers
Identify organisations with similar audiences, programmes or priorities to yours. Pick up the phone and ask how their systems work for them: what they value, and what could be improved.

Meet vendors and their customers through conferences and networks
Throughout the year, there are great events and opportunities to meet potential suppliers and hear directly from their customers. Start with:

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Arts Marketing Association

An annual conference, year-round events programme and online resources including a Service Provider Hub, all focussed on the business of engaging, cultivating and retaining audiences. 

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Ticketing Professionals

A two-day event with a strong focus on ticketing, technology and user success stories. 

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International Ticketing Association

A US-based, global ticketing conference and supplier trade show is the main event, but INTIX share content and news from the sector throughout the year too. 

Questions for software suppliers

Use these examples to frame your conversation and effectively evaluate which solution best meets your needs

Internal challenge/problem What you need from a new system Challenge expressed as a question to potential suppliers
We’re not making enough money on secondary spend when customers book tickets.
Tools that put secondary spend options in front of the customer and encourage them to buy when making a booking.
“Please demonstrate how your product can help us to drive secondary spend on advance sales, and provide examples of existing users who are successfully doing this that we can look at”
Our fundraising database is separate to the ticketing system and we don’t really know what donors book tickets for without manual work.
Ideally, a single system that means our fundraisers can easily research what events existing and potential donors are booking tickets for.
“Demonstrate how your system provides a single overview of how existing and potential donors interact with our organisation and how this can be used to drive revenue”
We have to pay a chunk of money every 18 months to upgrade the system or we lose support for it. There’s often a day or so of downtime.
Upgrades should not be so expensive and we don’t want the hassle of implementing them. We’re a venue, not an IT business.
“Describe how you maintain your users’ systems and apply upgrades on their behalf. Please explain if there are costs for these and if so, why?”

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