Getting tickets in the hands of attendees is always the first priority for event organisers. But, a successful on-sale strategy doesn’t begin and end when tickets are released. Some of the world’s most successful event professionals are taking charge of their entire fan experience from start to finish, including what happens in between on-sale and entry. They do this by taking control of both their primary and secondary ticket market — providing a safe and approved way for fans to sell tickets they don’t need.

Why fan exchange is an important piece of your ticketing experience

It used to be that once a ticket was sold, what happened to it next was out of your control. With as many as 30% of all tickets exchanged before event day, this left a big blindspot in an organiser’s ticketing strategy. Not only was there no visibility on who was really showing up, but there was also no insight on true demand for tickets and fans were left at the mercy of scalpers and touts for sold-out events.

Taking control of your fan exchange and secondary ticketing marketing changes that. By setting up an authorised ticket exchange (such as Tixel) when you go on sale, you can get x-ray vision of your audience and rescue fans from potential scams and fraudulent behaviour from day dot.

How an authorised fan exchange works:

To establish an authorised fan exchange from the start, events can partner with Tixel and promote to fans that this option is the only acceptable way for fans to buy, sell or transfer tickets outside of your official sales channel. With Tixel, fans can’t sell tickets for more than 10% above face value — protecting your on-sale from scalpers. If fans missed out on your first release, they can use Tixel and be prevented from online ticketing scams. This is because Tixel takes all reasonable steps to ensure tickets are valid, with the additional protection of our money back guarantee.

Setting up an authorised fan exchange option prior to your on-sale will put you on the front foot, ensuring that fans have a clear and safe way to resell tickets if they genuinely can’t use them any more.

Events who launch their on-sale with Tixel in place as a resale partner can benefit from:

Earlier sales, less refund requests: Fans can feel confident in purchasing tickets knowing there is a safe and fair alternative to asking for a refund if they can no longer make the event.
Reduction in scalping and scams: There is no way for scalpers to profit from your event using Tixel, stopping them before they start. And if your Facebook Page starts to fill with unsolicited ticket sales, you can put a stop to it quickly by referring to your resale policy — before it harms your brand or becomes an issue on event day.
Waitlists that work: Using Tixel’s dynamic waitlists, you can gather valuable data on the real-time demand for your event and fans benefit from being able to snap up tickets the moment they become available.
Less no-shows: People who don’t show up to your event, don’t spend money. By giving ticket holders the option to resell their ticket safely, you can make sure it’s in the hands of someone who will attend on the day.
Postponement, without the pain: Reschedule event dates knowing that people can sell their tickets if the new dates don’t suit — and eager fans can instantly snap up any tickets that become available rather than starting on-sale again.

How the experts are using fan exchange to their advantage

We’ve partnered with loads of successful events throughout the UK & Europe, Australia, New Zealand and the US. Here are just a few examples of how event organisers and artists are using Tixel as part of their on-sale strategy.

Keeping rescheduling events sold-out

Brisbane-based artist Skin on Skin was supposed to launch 2020 with a sold-out tour but was quickly hit with lockdowns and travel restrictions. By partnering with Tixel, Skin on Skin gave ticket holders a simple and effective alternative to asking for a refund once the request window had closed — keeping tickets in the hands of fans who could make the event.

Using Tixel’s dynamic waitlist feature, eager fans could register their details and snap up tickets the moment a ticket holder could no longer attend. As a result, Skin on Skin managed to keep all shows sold out, reduce their customer support load, and saved money that would have otherwise been returned via refunds.

Reducing ticketing enquiries and no-shows

Melbourne’s iconic Corner Hotel is a landmark live music venue that has seen some of the world’s hottest acts take the stage. But like all venues, they rely on how many people come through the door not just for gigs but for revenue across their bar and pub. When ticket holders had a change of plans, many were asking for refunds or simply not showing up on the night.

To reduce the rate of no-shows and ticketing enquiries, Corner Hotel partnered with Tixel to offer authorised fan exchange. By giving fans a convenient way to on-sell their tickets in a secure way, the average percentage of no-shows has halved.

Using their audience insights to sell out sooner

In 2019, Australian NYE Festival, Beyond The Valley, sold out in under an hour by combining an irresistible lineup and event experience with clever data. By using the data collected by Tixel’s waitlists, they know every fan that has an intention to buy a ticket, which they remarket to in future campaigns.

BTV’s organisers can also use waitlist insights to make smarter decisions on their future events and capacity. In 2019 they had more than 15,000 fans on their waitlist, giving them the confidence to explore larger sites if they want to grow in future.

Join the lineup of events using Tixel

While it can be tempting to put fan exchange ‘out of sight and out of mind’, taking control over your secondary ticket market could be the missing piece of your next successful on-sale strategy.
To learn more about how Tixel supports event partners, or to join the lineup of great events using Tixel, sign up for a free account here.