Building Confidence Through Better Ticketing and CRM Software

With 1,200 seats and over 75,000 patrons every year, Fox Tucson Theatre hosts a wide spectrum of events and concerts, from ballets and jazz to contemporary pop, world music, and rock acts.

The team made the switch to Spektrix because they believed ticketing and CRM software could do more to support patrons and team members, and to connect each interaction into a clearer picture of audience engagement over time.

In the first six months after going live, team members focused on learning the new system, revisiting booking fees and donations, and better tracking audience behavior.

Emily Pratt, Director of Audience Services at Fox Tucson, has seen a visible increase in the number of customers purchasing theatre tickets online, buying for multiple events, and making donations along the way since the organization went live with Spektrix in summer 2019.

Even with a split-level auditorium and up to five price bands for some events, it remains easy for patrons to choose seats and find the information they need.

With Spektrix, the entire online purchase pathway stays on the theatre’s own website, with live event information displayed using embedded iframes. That consistency reassures patrons, who know they are sharing their data with an organization they trust, and it means far fewer customers need help from the ticketing and sales team during their transactions, while opening up more opportunities to build loyalty through membership programs and other benefits.

When a call does come through, team members can pick up a live transaction and complete the ticket sale, keeping the experience seamless for patrons.

For development and marketing team members, the onsite purchase pathway makes it easier to track audience behavior all the way from homepage to payment in a single system.

Those insights support more personalized campaigns to drive ticket sales and donations, using automated customer lists and a choice of 45 standard reports to segment audiences, target content, and understand results over time.

“It just always comes back to the extraordinary willingness to problem solve, and problem solve together as a team. It’s not just us that’s ever going through anything, we’re going through it together.”
– Emily Pratt, Director of Audience Services, Fox Tucson Theatre

Six months after go live, many members of Fox Tucson’s casual ticketing and sales team were furloughed because of the Covid-19 pandemic. When they returned after 13 months for the 2022 season launch, they were able to pick up the ticketing and CRM software and begin selling tickets again almost instantly.

There are many reasons an organization might review the ticketing and CRM software it relies on. Often, the clearest is that the current setup no longer feels fit for purpose.

At Fox Tucson, the team was not looking for small improvements to ticketing, marketing, or CRM. They needed modern, robust software designed to support growing patron relationships, stronger audience engagement, and more connected ways of working across the organization.

Buying new ticketing and CRM software is a big decision, and an important one for stakeholders. Emily made sure colleagues who would be using the system day to day were involved in the process from the start.

Emily is equally delighted with how easy it is to use Spektrix day to day, and with the speed of setting up and editing events. By building events in a series of layers, from seat maps to price lists, she can make universal changes to fees, layouts, or seat holds in seconds.

Even when Emily is changing price bands or holds for a single show, she values how the seat selection tools in Spektrix make it easy to “scoop up” rows or blocks and apply changes, rather than clicking seats one by one.

“I’ve definitely been with other customer service opportunities and other ticketing systems, and the customer service was the reason that we were looking for other things, because when you need help, you need help. And you find it at Spektrix, even if it’s not the answer that you thought you were looking for.”
– Emily Pratt, Director of Audience Services, Fox Tucson Theatre

When Fox Tucson gave notice to its previous event ticketing software supplier, the team was allowed only a very small window in which to complete the switch to Spektrix.

“And the entire team at Spektrix just rose to the challenge, and were honest and supportive and determined at every step of the way. It’s very comforting to know that kind of determination is behind you.”

That determination and support has continued since the transition, as team members have moved away from the idea of separate marketing and ticketing systems and learned to work more collaboratively within one connected platform.

Client success, training, and consultancy are included as part of the relationship with Spektrix, and the Spektrix team has worked with Emily and her colleagues to build confidence, improve efficiency, and proactively suggest opportunities to achieve even more with the system.

“They don’t only direct us to certain training resources, but look at the project we’re trying to figure out and suggest what we might need. And when that brings up new questions, the team is constantly there to suggest an answer.”