Marketing Season Tickets to Build Theatre Reattendance
Switched to Ticket Subscriptions in Spektrix to support audience loyalty
The Royal Exchange Theatre uses season ticket sales to build audience loyalty and encourage cross-genre attendance.
One of the UK’s leading producing theatres, the Royal Exchange stages four shows each season in its theatre-in-the-round performance space. Season tickets have been a core part of its audience loyalty model for decades, with subscriber numbers reaching 2,000 over that time.
In the last year, the team moved to Ticket Subscriptions in Spektrix, making it possible to sell season tickets online for the first time and giving audience members more flexibility to buy passes in advance and redeem them later, once they know their schedule.
Rachel Davies, Visitor Experience Lead, and Rosie Bingham, Development Coordinator, share how the Royal Exchange has marketed season tickets and memberships side by side, and how that approach supports both audience loyalty and philanthropic support.
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2,000
subscribers in the theatre’s long-running season ticket model
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25%
Saving available when audience members book all four mainstage plays
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4
Mainstage plays included in the season ticket offer
Marketing season tickets and memberships side by side
This season, the Royal Exchange is selling both season tickets and memberships.
Season tickets enable audience members to save 25% when they book all four mainstage plays, with four price tiers based on seating area. Memberships range from £48 per year to £5,000, bringing priority booking, members-only events and communications, and – at higher tiers – a 10% discount on selected tickets.
Both options are listed clearly on the theatre’s website and in its season brochure, making it easy for audience members to choose the option that fits their relationship with the organization.
While season ticket purchases are largely transactional, memberships are more philanthropic – part of the overall cost is a donation to the theatre, the financial value of the benefits is limited, and the motivation to join is more about identity and belonging than cost savings.
That distinction in purpose has made it easier to market season tickets and memberships side by side.
Before the summer season launch, targeted emails went to audience members with a high propensity to join or donate, and membership numbers grew as a result. Now that the season is on sale, there is a wider push to promote season tickets.
Messaging focuses on the 25% discount and the strength of the programming, and a coordinated effort across the marketing team has helped season ticket numbers steadily rebuild since the pandemic.
"When audiences choose to join as members they are engaging in a more philanthropic relationship with the theatre, as opposed to transactional benefits that come through buying a season ticket. This means that season tickets and memberships aren't competing against each other. They are very different things."Rosie Bingham, Development Coordinator
Marketing season tickets to cross-genre reattendance
The Royal Exchange prides itself on the quality and diversity of its programming, from popular classics like Brief Encounter to award-winning debuts.
It is central to the organization’s mission to create space for new writing and bring new voices into the theatre.
This season is likely to be strong for regaining lapsed bookers, from audience members who stopped attending during Covid to school groups. But with Dickens, Shakespeare, and Noël Coward in the line-up, January’s production, Shed: Exploded View, winner of the 2019 Bruntwood Prize for Playwriting, carries the opportunity to introduce audience members to newer and more diverse writing talent.
A new play with an unfamiliar title is naturally a greater marketing challenge than a production with instant recognition, like Romeo & Juliet. Season tickets give audience members a reason to take a chance on an unfamiliar play by making it part of a broader theatre-going commitment.
"If we did a 3-part season ticket we know fewer people would buy the unknown show. In the past season tickets have allowed people to take a gamble on a title they don't recognize. With a 25% discount you're pretty much getting that last show free, but they don't see it as free, they don't say, 'Oh this is the free one, I might not go.' They come to it because they're invested."Rachel Davies, Visitor Experience Lead
By closing the upper gallery levels and reallocating price bands across the remaining seating areas, the team can create an intimate, positive experience for performers and audience members alike.
In future, the marketing team may include events in the smaller Studio theater within season ticket subscriptions, promote half-season passes as a festive gift, or adapt the range of options available. Using Ticket Subscriptions in Spektrix, the team has the tools, connected data, and support to keep experimenting, strengthen audience relationships, and build on that success over time.
Flexibility and ease of use for audiences and teams
Rachel found it straightforward to introduce season ticket functionality to the theatre’s Welcome team, whose roles span front of house and ticketing and sales.
That structure means some users only process season ticket sales occasionally, but they picked it up quickly and felt confident selling and redeeming vouchers within a short space of time. It has worked well for audience members, too.
Although many were used to purchasing season tickets by phone, in person, or via paper form, the majority have quickly engaged with the option to buy and redeem tickets online.
The biggest operational benefit is for the teams responsible for setting up and marketing season tickets. For the ticketing and sales team, Ticket Subscriptions in Spektrix makes season tickets quick and intuitive to set up, adapt, and sell.
Even though this may only happen twice a year, the simple interface and guidance included as part of the Spektrix solution make it easy to clone and adapt offers from previous seasons.
"In a lot of systems, the backend that box office teams see is very basic, not very readable. In Spektrix what the team sees is just as good as the interface that customers see elsewhere. It's very logical, it does a lot of the work for you – coming in and taking over a box office, I've found it easy to pick up."Rachel Davies, Visitor Experience Lead
Development teams can sell and manage subscriptions for high-level members who opt into both schemes, while learning teams can support participatory groups such as Young Company and Elders in accessing lower-priced tickets without affecting other departments’ work.
As sales increase, the team can draw on connected data and audience insights to understand what audience members want from memberships and season tickets, how those offers can be packaged and promoted throughout the year, and how they can support attendance across the full program.
Season ticket sales in Spektrix
By combining memberships and season tickets, the Royal Exchange Theatre is starting to rebuild audience loyalty and increase reattendance.
The simplicity of setup and sales, for both the team and audience members, has given the organization room to test different approaches and learn what works. As it builds a deeper understanding of audience behavior, the team will be able to market and refine its loyalty models more effectively over time.
Ticket Subscriptions is one of many tools in Spektrix that help arts, culture, and live experience organizations build flexible loyalty offers around audience engagement.
From simple mainstage season tickets like those offered by the Royal Exchange to more complex offers across multiple venues and price points, Spektrix gives teams the flexibility to create a reattendance model that works for their audience and their organization.
If you already work with Spektrix, learn how to set up and sell Ticket Subscriptions.
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Online sales unlocked
after moving to Ticket Subscriptions in Spektrix
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Membership growth
through targeted emails to audience members
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More flexibility
allowing passes to be bought in advance and redeemed later
