How to Use Discount Strategies to Boost Event Sales?

Published in

Townscript

11 min readJul 4, 2019

Discount Strategies to increase Event Registrations

Discounting is one of the oldest pricing strategy but yet the most effective one! Discounting has long been used to attract potential buyers. Discount helps in boosting your event sales by attracting more attendees.

Discounts can be an essential component of a successful marketing strategy when used properly. However, if you don’t use discounts correctly, you risk losing revenue and even your brand value. Take advantage of discounts mainly to offset declining sales and strike a balance between when and how often to use them.

We have already mentioned in our previous article about effective event pricing strategy. In this article, we cover the various discounting strategies that an event organizer can use to increase the event registrations.

Why use Discount Strategies?

According to leading research, 83 percent of the audience have made an unplanned purchase based on a promotion or coupon. People are strongly affected by discounts and a limited-time offer, so you should certainly use this strategy to market your event.

As per Billetto, an event ticket sales cycle typically looks like this:

People buy tickets when sales starts and the rest of the tickets will sell within just a few days before the event. In between, there is a sad sales slump. One cannot depend on last-minute ticket sales alone. That’s why every event organizer must apply discount strategy methods to avoid the sales slide.

Discounts are also an effective way to create hype, build a feeling of urgency, and rewarding participant loyalty. Another reason to use discounting strategies: Price informs perceived value or worth. People will assume the full ticket price as the total worth of your event and think that they’re getting a bargain for the discounted rate.

Pros & Cons of Discount Strategy

Offering discounts on your pricing is a strategy that can bring in more revenue to your event and get you new participants. Discounts also reduce the chances of attendees comparing your events with your competition and thus help fresh participants choose your events over others.

Attendees also remain loyal to you if you offer your special discount to them when they return to participate in your next event. Another advantage is that a discount strategy can instill a positive feeling in your attendees about your event. Research indicates that individuals get happier and more comfortable when they receive a coupon or savings offer. If these positive feelings can be associated with your brand, it could be beneficial in the long run.

There are also some potential disadvantages to be conscious of. Be sure to evaluate the danger before you discount your rates. First, there is a chance of your profit margins reducing and the perceived value of your service also decreasing. Then, it can also trigger a price war with your competition thereby cutting into profits across the board. The discounts might attract people who drive a hard bargain and shift the focus from the value you are offering to price.

Set your Goals before applying a Discount Strategy

Before you pick a discount strategy, make sure you have set your goals. Your goals will determine the type of discount you can give. There are many ways to use discounts and to avoid any confusion, get the best results by mapping out a clear approach.

How many registrations or ticket sales do you want to obtain from discounts? Starting with this question can help you then plan for how much period you want your discounts to be available for. Then, decide on how many users can avail the discounts, as well as what times in your sales cycle you want to use them.

Based on our conversation with major event organizers in India, the 3 common goals that you can aim for:

Acquire New Attendees — The goal is to gain new participants by attracting them with suitable offers. Furthermore, in case the discount is a limited period offer, these people will have a reason to register for your event now than later.
Boost Your Sales — The goal is to sell more tickets. This could mean going for bulk discounts or offering combo packages.
Gain Loyal Audience — The goal is to earn repeat customers by delivered via a loyalty program for current customer

Target Audience for Discounts

Discounts are targeted at your attendees and there are three types of people who attend your event:

Enthusiasts: who surely want to come for the event because they are your followers, interested in your event content. These people are your regular customers and you must, by all means, keep a customer happy.
Regulars: who come to know about your event from enthusiasts and your marketing efforts. They come to your event because they like what they have heard about your event. These are the people who are your potential enthusiasts and you must make sure you do everything properly to retain them.
Late Birds: who get to know about the event in the last few days left for your event. They are not worried about the price of the tickets and they usually come because the event is huge and they want to be a part of the event.

Types of Discount Strategy

Now you want to select the right type of discount method to help boost your event. After the goal setting, choose the type of discount pricing model that works best with it. Below are some popular methods. Remember that you can apply multiple types of discounts for the same event marketing plan.

1. Early Bird Discount

In the event industry, early sales have a major impact on your revenue. They help you better prepare for your event. Additionally, these early bird users can spread the word and help increase buzz thereby driving sales.

The early bird discount strategy helps in stimulating early bird purchases. Start with a lower price and gradually increase the price as the day of the event approaches. Harness the FOMO (fear of missing out) mentality when trying to promote early bird pricing.

For example, 10% off for the first 100 people to register after your event goes live or 10% off for the first week/month of sales. You can set a certain time for the discount or limit it to only a certain number of users.

Using Townscript, you can create an early bird discount in minutes by going into your Event dashboard and selecting discounts in the left-side menu. From there:

Select Flat Discount after clicking on the + sign
Enter the discount name and choose the discount rate
Decide the number of users that can avail the discount
Set the discount end date
Apply to all tickets or selected tickets
Save your changes

Townscript allows event organizers to choose early bird discount as per the number of users or by setting the discount end date.

2. Discount Codes

Promo codes have become the most common discount strategy. Using code discount, organizers offer deals to various groups including corporates, students, VIPs, special invitees. The discount codes can be tracked to give you the usage idea as well. These promos can also be used to attract fresh participation.

Using Townscript, you can create a code discount in minutes by going into your Event dashboard and selecting discounts in the left-side menu. From there:

Select Code Discount after clicking on the + sign
Enter the code name and choose the discount rate
Decide the number of discount codes that can be availed
Set the discount end date
Apply to all tickets or selected tickets
Save your changes

2.1 Personal Referral Codes

According to ReferralCandy, 83% of satisfied customers are willing to refer to products and services. Yet, only 29% actually do. Therefore, Referral Code Discounts can be an effective motive for inviting customers to pass on to loved ones. Create and give personal-referral codes to attendees to encourage them to invite people in their network.

For example, marathon organizers invite pacers. They create discount codes for pacers which is then used by these special invitees to promote the said marathon.

2.2 Access Codes

Use Access codes to enable a hidden ticket. Apply this promo code to win over VIPs or influencers by creating hidden tickets that they only can access. Simply give them a code that unlocks an invisible ticket on your booking page.

For example, a concert event organizer can use this discount strategy to give tickets that have access to backstage.

In case you are using the Townscript platform, the procedure to create access code discount is the same as the one to create a code discount with some changes:

Create a hidden ticket first
Select access code discount instead of code discount
Then follow the same procedure

2.3 Codes for Corporate Registration

Corporate registrations are those where employees from a single company register in bulk for an event. Event organizers create a single code or multiple codes for employees of a company to register.

For example, a charitable trust in their event had offered a 30% discount promo to corporates by creating code CORP30.

2.4 Codes for Special Participants

Create a promo code for a special group of participants. This special group can vary for the event type.

For example, in a marathon race, you can offer discounts to armed forces. A conference event can provide promo codes to college students.

3. Group Discount

One type of discount that you can give is a group discount, also known as the bulk discount or volume discount. This discount encourages people to purchase multiple tickets or registrations at once. This type of discount strategy is helpful for motivating people to buy for adventure trips, marathons, and networking events.

For example, if an attendee can get three-four more participants on board for your event, all five get a discounted group rate of 10% for their event tickets.

Using Townscript, you can create a group discount in minutes by going into your Event dashboard and selecting discounts in the left-side menu. From there:

Select Group Discount after clicking on the + sign
Enter the discount name and choose the discount rate
Decide the number of groups (users) that can avail the discount
Set the maximum and minimum number of tickets to support your discount as well as the discount end date
Apply to all tickets or selected tickets
Save your changes

4. Loyalty Discount

Also known as early access discount. This discount is available exclusively to past attendees or your subscribers. Increase loyalty among your past attendees by giving early access to ticket sales.

Using Townscript, you can create a loyalty discount in minutes by going into your Event dashboard and selecting discounts in the left-side menu. From there:

Select Loyalty Discount after clicking on the + sign
Enter the discount name and choose the discount rate
Set the discount end date
Apply to all tickets or selected tickets
Select the past event(s) whose attendees will get the discount
Save your changes

Other Types of Discount Strategies

We covered the 4 major discount strategies followed by event organizers. That said, there are some other unique discount strategies which can be capitalized by you and increase your event sales.

1.Bundled Discounts

For this discount, rather than lowering the selling price of one ticket category, you lower the price of tickets from different categories bought together or you offer a discount on combo package. Another way is to club a ticket with extra perks that are of little value to you but valuable to the participant.

For example, a new year event organizer can provide a bundle discount on food and drinks combo.

2. Flash Sales

Also known as time-limited discounts. Use this discount for the time period when you could use a boost in attendance. Flash sales strategy helps in creating urgency and hype around your event. Use this strategy only during a lull in sales. Similar to early bird discounts, flash sales give potential attendees a motive to buy now rather than later.

For example, you could give 10% off to anyone who registers by 11 pm today. Using Townscript, create flash sales discount with the help of Flat Discount option

3. Seasonal/Festival discounts

Offer discounts on occasions of festivals and holidays. During specific holidays, many attendees go online to search for events. Capitalize on this and offer festival based discounts.

Event-based discounts tend to happen around a specific date or season, and they are often recurring. This includes discounts that take place during holidays, such as promos for the New Year or Valentine’s Day. You can also offer discounts during your own special days like Anniversary or Foundation Day.

4. Deal-of-the-day

This discount strategy enables special giveaways and promotions throughout the sales period. Not often used by event organizers as this strategy requires more effort.

5. Last call/Late Bird

Send out a last call email or social media post with slightly discounted prices right before your event — “Last 1 day left to register! Hurry! Book Now”.

Ticket Sales Strategy

As per Event Manager Blog, Early bird is the most commonly used tactic, used by over 51% of event organizers.

Based on extensive research and feedbacks from event industry experts, we propose a generic ticket sales strategy:

Start with early access to past attendees by offering a loyalty discount.
Open discounts for the public by offering early bird.
Then cater discounts to groups and use promo codes to attract different type of registrations.
Offer discounts like bundle or flash sales to keep the sales momentum.
Lastly, close with the last mail or late bird discount.

In Conclusion

A discount strategy that worked wonders for one event might not work for another, but one thing that always works well is a good discount strategy coupled with an effective pricing strategy. We at Townscript have covered various discount pricing models that can make your event a huge success. It is also wise to fine-tune prices as per the demand of tickets and popularity of the event.

Adding value to your registration options by giving discounts always puts you in a win-win situation. Event organizers get the numbers they are looking for and attendees get value for the money they spend. Use these discount strategies to drive registrations and sales efficiently.

Once you have decided upon your discount strategy, you can use your event ticketing partner to manage your sales and registrations. Sign in or sign up on Townscript to start using discounts today!

Originally published at https://blog.townscript.com on July 4, 2019.