THE DIGITAL LIFE

WITH CASSIE DISPENZA

DRIVING EVENT REVENUE THROUGH YOUR WEBSITE

An enticing, beautiful website that drives revenue for your organization is rarely “free”. At a minimum, you’re probably required to pay for hosting, software licensing, support and more. So how do you get the most bang for your marketing buck? The good news is if you’re using your website correctly, it can earn you more than it costs. Let’s discuss a few things you can implement to make sure you’re getting your money’s worth!

Your website is your virtual “front door”, providing the only space online where you completely control your messaging and the order in which it’s received. Social media is great, but unfortunately, external platforms get to choose how much we have to pay in order to get eyeballs on our messaging and who exactly sees it. They can (and do!) change the rules any time they feel like it, which makes it difficult to count on as the primary way to get the word out about your events. Make sure your tickets buttons are in highly prominent locations on your website, above the “scroll” on the screen—even on mobile. Don’t assume that it’s “obvious” where to go to buy tickets. A quick story—I was just perusing a festival website the other day that had the option to “choose a date” that you wanted to attend, and THEN it showed buy buttons once you picked your preferred day to visit. I had to look twice before I figured out that I had to select my preferred date prior to being offered a chance to buy! I bet many patrons turn away before finding the festival tickets!

If you aren’t sure if your customers are getting to the right place, check your Google Analytics. You may be able to find a “bottleneck” in your traffic. For instance, if customers get to the tickets page, but then drop off at the cart, check to see if you can eliminate any required form fields or barriers to purchase. Forcing account creation is one thing that we see deter purchases. Many customers want the chance to check out as a guest, with an oversaturated market of accounts required to complete online transactions.

Even if you don’t sell tickets to events, you can use the above principles to drive the things that do earn you revenue from your website—donations, registrations, sponsorship signups, etc. should all follow the same rules. The more earned revenue you have, the easier it is to justify the costs associated with having a great website! That being said, we’re coming to a day and age where it’s going to be hard for many events to remain completely “free”. Rising costs have all organizations scrambling to make ends meet. If you can, start thinking of ways your event could charge for SOME tickets, even if it’s just at a VIP or exclusive level. Chances are you have patrons willing to pay for a bigger and better experience, even if the rest of the event remains free admission. Offer exclusive bathrooms, places to sit, included drink tickets—whatever you have to sweeten the deal. Don’t leave this money on the table!

In addition to direct sales, never underestimate the marketing value your website can provide in generating email lists! In addition to a basic sign-up field, you can use your website to conduct surveys, contests or other data collecting mechanisms. The exact value of a marketable email address for your organization varies based on how many emails you send and the cost of your products, just to name a few factors. However, we do know that timely marketing emails lead to the highest propensity of a sale and deliver the fastest results, meaning most purchases happen within 2 hours after a send. These two components alone should get you excited about the value of email marketing and the important role your website plays in collecting those addresses!

Finally, your website offers passive revenue streams that are worth looking in to if you haven’t already. Sponsorship logos, advertisements and partner promotions are just a few of the things you could offer. Often, these things are tied into bigger sponsorship packages, but advertisements can leave the door open for a business who may otherwise not want to do a larger sponsorship. For an event, think about related services your patrons may need—hotels, rideshares, specific food vendors, etc. Reach out and ask if they’d like to see their logo and link on a prominent page on your website!

These and more revenue-generating ideas are just the beginning—as we enter an era where more and more customers are used to buying online, we must adapt and grow our online presence to match consumer expectations. Don’t leave your customers wanting more when they visit your website, or they may choose to spend their dollars elsewhere!

Cassie Dispenza is the Vice President of Strategic Partnerships at Saffire and the 2023 IFEA Foundation Board Chair. She has extensive experience with online marketing and event planning and has planned strategic events with many companies including the Austin Sports Commission and the United States Olympic Committee. She started working with Saffire in 2011 and since then, the company has grown from supporting a few great organizations in Texas to partnering with hundreds of unique events, venues and destinations across the country. Cassie loves traveling to conferences to share strategic online planning tactics and doesn’t mind getting her boots dirty if you see her and need an extra volunteer.

www.kaliff.com