If you were asked, "when does the customer experience for your event, start?" What would be your reply?
Many people would answer, "as soon as they walk in the gate at your event!" And an argument could certainly be made for that.
One could also make the case that the customer experience starts, once someone buys a ticket to your event. That ticket purchase could be days, weeks, or months, before your actual event.
A person just spent their hard-earned money to purchase a ticket to your event. What are you doing to facilitate the best customer experience possible?
On the plus side of technology (when it isn't rotting our brains) it gives us the ability to communicate with people in a multitude of inexpensive ways. You could email, voice (telephone) broadcast, or SMS Text your event attendees.
One year a military client used SMS text messages sent to VIP customers and made sure they knew exactly how to get to the VIP parking area. For the most part, it worked tremendously well. There were a few hiccups for people without mobile phones. But even then, a backup message was sent to customers via email broadcast, the day before. As a result, most of the VIP ticket holders showed up happy.
Another place to improve the customer experience is on the actual ticket itself. Many people still print their event tickets. Most online ticketing companies allow you to reserve a space on printed tickets to put a custom message.
A client from Texas used their printed ticket area to send people to a customer only web site link. And a backup customer only message was sent via email. The customer only web site link was a mobile responsive design that gave timely show and performer updates. And the total cost to implement was zero dollars and about 20 minutes of time!
Is there a process you have in place to facilitate the customer experience before, during, and after your event?
If you wait until they're in your front gate, it's too late!
My "go to" customer event experience mantra goes like this, "don't let them show up to your event upset and never allow them to get home angry." Use technology, even in its simplest form and make people happy!
Looking for more event promotion advice? Check out the articles below: