York Theatre Royal online ticketing system

York Theatre Royal develops online ticketing system for use in the city

In existence since 1744, York Theatre Royal (YTR) is one of the city's leading arts venues. The theatre relies on selling tickets to survive and they knew that in order to offer the best service for their customers they needed to provide an online buying option. Their old system was very basic and didn’t have a facility for online ticketing.

YTR brought together a group of people from within the organisation to review the old system and oversee the process of deciding what functionality they needed. The internal management group included the CEO, General Manager, Head of Marketing, Box Office Manager & IT and Facilities Manager and an external consultant and between them they decided which product best suited their needs.

For YTR the best option was Blackbaud's The Patron Edge. Some of the particular benefits of a dedicated ticketing product include:

Offering a smoother service for customers

• Being able to add multiple events, donations, subscription renewals, and merchandise to a virtual shopping basket.
• Setting up personal profiles to save preferences.
• Being able to choose seats and rooms from visual hall layouts.
• Personalised acknowledgements, letters and emails.

Easier internal management

• Allowing staff access to details about customers, as well as purchase and payment histories.
• Managing multiple venues and events, including different ways to package events.
• Save money on direct mail by targeting promotions more effectively.

Fundraising

• Promoting other events or services on tickets.
• Targeting specific events at customers using their personal information and past purchase history.
• Produce reports quickly to see what’s working.

Over the course of a week the new system was installed and staff were trained, customers had to make do with a manual box office until it all went live but the subsequent cost savings have made up for the disruption.

48% of the YTR’s ticket sales are now done online, offering customers a much smoother and more personalised experience. They have even opened up the system to other organisations and events with a commission charge of 10% of sales plus set up costs.

You can find out more about York Theatre Royal at http://www.yorktheatreroyal.co.uk/.