The History
The first recorded live-event “tickets” appeared in Greece and Rome, sometime between 500 BC and 100 AD. The Greeks used clay shards stamped with seating details, the Romans used clay tokens called tessera.
2000 years ago, were fraudsters creating counterfeit tokens and selling them? Were ingress times and front-of-house operations big concerns? What happened when an event-goer forgot their token at home? Only a time-machine could give us answers – but what we do know is that innovation in ticketing took off thousands of years ago, and has shown no signs of stopping since.
In slightly more recent history, modern live-event organizations have been delivering tickets through email to be printed at home or pulled up on a smartphone, and in the past few years, forward looking venues have introduced QR-code based digital tickets.
The introduction of PDF tickets meant patrons no longer had to line up in droves at the box-office to buy and receive their paper ticket, but it also meant that bad-actors could buy one ticket and resell it online as many times as their law-breaking hearts desired.
The Digital Ticket
QR-code enabled digital tickets close the curtain on fraudsters by layering on security features like moving elements that visually cue ticket-buyers if a ticket is a screenshot, delayed delivery that makes it impossible to view a ticket barcode until hours before the event, and secure ticket transfer that ensures a single ticket is only held by a single event-goer at any one time.
The Phoenix Symphony, always looking for new ways to improve their attendee experience, on-site operations, and fraud prevention measures, recently launched AudienceView Unlimited’s new digital tickets. Our digital tickets are delivered through our own proprietary web-app, included and available for all our Unlimited clients.
A web-app isn’t just a digital ticket, it’s the most modern technology a mobile-experience can be built on. So what is it? It’s a little bit app and a little bit website, but what’s most important is that live-event goers don’t need know they’re using it. There’s no app-store download required, tickets are accessed through a web-browser, displayed through QR-codes, and the entire experience is integrated seamlessly with our clients existing online consumer experience. Web-apps also provide many of the benefits you’d expect with a downloaded app, like push-notifications and the ability to be added to home-screens (with your custom logos, colours, and name of course).
The Launch & The Results
When The Phoenix Symphony launched their branded web-app, the reception was positive both internally and with patrons. Ignacia Conchas, Assistant Director of Patron Services at The Phoenix Symphony, said “The staff really liked it… It’s clean. It’s easy. It’s very modern. [Which is] what everyone’s used to at this point.”
Bobby Jiminez, Database Manager at The Phoenix Symphony, described her experience on the first weekend they were delivering digital tickets instead of PDF tickets, “That first weekend we used it, there were really no issues when I talked with patrons…they absolutely loved it.”
One of the primary benefits of adopting digital tickets is to see a significant reduction in fraudulent ticket sales. Ignacia explained the issues they faced with third-party sellers and fraudulent tickets before implementing the web app, “Third party sellers would go through our website, buy tickets and then put them somewhere else and resell them for a higher price. Sometimes up to 400% of our price. And because they had the PDF attachment, they could easily download it and they would go so far as to erasing the pricing on the ticket and just sending it over.”
The introduction of dynamic digital tickets makes it much harder for third-party sellers to manipulate and resell tickets. Ignacia highlighted how digital tickets help prevent against this type of fraud, “[Resellers] no longer have any accessible PDF file for them to edit, so that’s really comforting for me.”
As most live-event organization will know, however, fraudsters will always do their best to exploit eager live-event goers, swindling them out of hundreds of dollars on average. In this case, The Phoenix Symphony was still seeing fraudsters take screenshots of digital tickets and resell them to unwitting patrons who didn’t notice the moving elements were now static. In addition to the dynamic-elements, Ignacia explained that AudienceView addressed this issue by adding attributes such as customer number, order number, and price type to the web app, making it easier for staff to verify and reprint tickets if necessary. Phoenix Symphony can also use delayed barcode delivery, to cutting-down instances of fraudulent ticket resale but up to 90%.
The transition to digital tickets has been smooth for patrons, with most adapting well to the new system. Ignacia and Bobby noted that tech-savvy patrons found the process easy, while older patrons who were accustomed to PDF tickets needed a bit more supported understanding the new process for accessing their tickets, but are generally very happy and well-versed in the new process.
Event-day has been smoother, and lines at the box-office have been smaller since adoption digital tickets, as Ignacia explains, “It’s working! I mean, when we average about 3,000 to 6,000 patrons a weekend and only having around 15 of them come to the window either saying they don’t remember how to login or having a screenshot of the digital ticket, it’s a good ratio.”
The implementation of AudienceView’s digital web app at The Phoenix Symphony has led to significant improvements in patron experience and security. By adopting dynamic digital tickets, The Phoenix Symphony has reduced the risk of fraudulent ticket sales and streamlined the entry process for both patrons and on-site staff.
As Ignacia aptly summarized, “It’s a great delivery method. It helps our Ticketing and Finance departments with ticket third party sellers and fraudulent tickets, because they no longer have a PDF accessible to them.”
The End
AudienceView’s digital web app is a powerful tool that can enhance patron experience, reduce wait times, and mitigate the impacts of fraud, making it an invaluable asset for live-event organizations. We look forward to continuing to be at the forefront of innovation in live-event technology, making our clay-token-pioneering colleagues from thousands of years ago proud as we continue to support venues in growing their audience, and enhancing the live-event experience for all.