How Events Can Benefit From a ‘Name On Ticket’ Policy, and How To Do It Well

Traditionally when event tickets have been sold, it hasn’t made much difference to organisers who bought them and if it’s the same people attending on the day. But in the face of COVID safe requirements and a global rise in online ticket fraud, now is the perfect time to assess if your upcoming events need policies to ensure that you have accurate information on all your attendees.

One such measure that can instantly improve your COVID compliance and reduce ticket fraud is a Name on Ticket Policy.

What is a ‘Name on Ticket’ Policy?

A Name on Ticket Policy means your event will insist that all attendees must have a name on their ticket that matches their ID.

What are the benefits for event organisers?

A Name on Ticket Policy can:

Ensure you collect accurate information for everyone in attendance, making it easier to get in touch with all ticket holders when you need to (especially if you need to reschedule dates)
Complete your data, ensuring it’s not mixed with people who are no longer attending your event
Reduce fraud, because most scammers will be unable to issue a ticket with the person’s name on it and fans will be able to weed out people unwilling to transfer tickets securely
End attempts at double-scanning because a person can only check-in to an event with their own ticket
Speed up box office operations by enabling support staff to lookup an individual’s details more easily, avoiding the security risk of fans claiming someone else purchased the ticket for them.
Support compliance for COVID safe contact tracing

3 tips for making sure the policy works for your event

To ensure the policy works for your event, it’s important that your Name on Ticket Policy goes beyond putting names on tickets alone. There should be a strong policy and processes to support it — this can help to alleviate the workload for your customer support team and provide the best experience for fans.

Our three tips for rolling out an effective Name on Ticket policy are:

Develop a strong policy and communicate it well to fans
Be clear in your communication that you have a Name on Ticket Policy. That means having the information upfront on your sales page, in confirmation emails, and as part of your ticketing FAQs. Let people know how they can transfer the names on tickets and what to do if purchasing a group of tickets.
Prepare your gate staff and box office
With a strong policy in place, establishing smooth gate and box office operations can be simple and fan expectations will be clear. Lock in who in your staff will be checking, and how you will handle fans whose ID doesn’t match their ticket on entry. We recommend discussing with your team in advance how strictly you will be enforcing the policy, to ensure all fans have a positive experience and are treated fairly on the day.

Have a secure way to transfer tickets
Some primary ticketing companies will offer self-service name changes to make the process easier for fans. However, this also allows people to change the name multiple times without altering the barcode on the ticket. This allows scammers to issue the same tickets to several people — creating chaos on entry, and fans left without valid tickets. By using an honest fan exchange platform such as Tixel, you can reissue a ticket with a new name, preventing fraud and ensuring tickets can only be transferred in a valid, secure way.

Access audience insights that were once invisible

When tickets change hands, these new fans never make it to your audience database. With complete oversight over both primary and secondary ticket markets, Tixel gives you powerful, more accurate insights. Not only will this support your compliance with COVID safe regulations, but it will also boost your data by up to 50% and allow you to create exportable campaigns to help you sell out sooner.

To learn more about how Tixel supports event partners, or to join the lineup of great events already using Tixel, sign up for a free account here.

Sylvie