Establishing event ticket pricing is a delicate business. Price your tickets too high and they won’t sell. Too low and you could diminish your event’s perceived value. To get the balance right, you need to understand what your audience values in an event experience and how much they’ll pay for it.
That’s the foundation of a value-based ticket pricing strategy. And it’s the ticket to earning your share of the $21.4 billion trade show and conference planning revenue in the US.
Creating a value-based ticket pricing strategy
Successful event ticket pricing is aligning what your event offers with what attendees value and how much they think that experience is worth.
To get in alignment, you need to understand why your prospective attendees go to trade shows and expos, conferences and corporate events. What do they expect to get out of being there? What do they want to leave with?
Whether it’s education, connections, or entertainment, if they see value in the experience, they’ll buy a ticket. So, find out what your audience values by surveying past and prospective attendees. You can reach out directly via email or phone or post questions and polls on social media and your website.
When you know what your audience values, look at the event landscape to see if other gatherings offer what they value and compete for their budget and time.
Ensuring competitive event pricing
A competitive ticket pricing strategy reflects the going rate and demand for similar events. It requires analysis to help you ballpark your price and identify ways to increase your event’s perceived value. You’ll want to consider:
- Same-size events in your region to get a general sense of ticket pricing and popularity
- Competitive events to assess the value they offer attendees, including schedule of events, speakers and session leaders, networking opportunities, entertainment and hospitality
- Demand for the type of event in your industry and location at the time of year
The goal of your analysis is to see how you can differentiate your event from other events competing for the same audience.
One approach is to create a higher-quality experience for a competitive or higher price, which elevates the event’s perceived value. A higher price may also allow you to sell fewer tickets, adding exclusivity that further justifies the price.
This limited ticket approach is more likely to strengthen your brand image over the long term than lower prices that undercut the competition. But either way, you’ll want to charge more than your break-even ticket price.
How to calculate break-even ticket price
To ensure a profitable event, you need to know your break-event ticket price, which is the lowest amount you can charge to cover your expenses at your estimated number of attendees. Anything greater than that is profit. Here’s how to calculate your break-even price:
Add up your fixed and variable costs.
- Fixed: Expenses that don’t fluctuate based on the number of attendees, like venue rental, speaker fees, insurance and employee salaries.
- Variable: Costs that vary depending on the number of attendees, like food, welcome kits, security and supplies.
Estimate number of attendees.
- Review previous years’ registrations.
- Poll prospects to gauge their likelihood of attending.
- Look at attendance at similar events.
- Check the venue’s capacity.
- Consider the economy and cultural trends.
- Factor in competing events at the same time.
Divide your costs by your projected attendance.
- If your expenses and overhead total $50,000 and you expect 500 attendees, your break-even price is $100 per ticket.
- If you charged $125 per ticket, your revenue from ticket sales would be $62,500, and you would net a $12,500 profit.
In simplest terms then, your ticket pricing strategy is to charge more than your break-even price so you earn a profit and return on investment (ROI).
But determining that markup amount isn’t so simple. Your audience likely includes attendees with different backgrounds, expectations, budgets, availability and interests, which is where a tiered ticket pricing strategy comes in.
Creating a tiered ticket pricing structure
Tiered ticket pricing makes it easy for attendees to understand and compare their options. It also reinforces the value of your offerings and encourages people to upgrade, especially if you order the tiers from highest to lowest price. For example:
- Tier 1 is a VIP package including premium elements like early access on-site, priority seating, backstage access, luxury accommodations, ground transportation and exclusive networking opportunities.
- Tier 2 includes luxury accommodations, meet-and greets and pre-event activities.
- Tier 3 includes on-demand recordings of all speakers and sessions.
- Tier 4 is a standard general admission ticket.
To streamline the process of creating and selling ticket tiers, consider using an event registration tool like A2Z Events. The platform makes it easy to customize registration forms and workflows and its mobile app simplifies the ticket buying experience for attendees.
Seven proven ticket pricing incentives
An effective event pricing strategy includes tactics that nudge people to upgrade or buy tickets soon. Here are some incentives proven to speed up and increase event registrations — and profits.
1. Early bird ticket pricing: Create a sense of urgency in your email subject lines, advertising and social media event marketing with messages like “last chance to save,” “beat the price increase,” and “don’t miss out.” Here are two approaches:
Limited ticket offer
- $75 for the first 75 tickets
- $100 for the next 100
- $125 for the rest
Limited time offer
- $75 until January 15
- $100 from January 15 – 31
- $125 after January 31
2. Group discounts: Bulk ticket pricing can help boost event attendance, exposure and goodwill for your event and sponsors. Consider offering a discount on groups of six or more passes and include bulk purchases in your early bird promotions to boost numbers upfront.
3. Bundled ticket packages: Everyone loves a bundle, so consider packaging tickets with additional amenities, entertainment or content. You might also partner with related businesses or collaborate on cross-promotions to enhance your marketing efforts.
4. Subscription ticket pricing: If you host frequent or recurring events and have regular customers, members or subscribers, think about selling subscriptions to annual events or an event series. By charging a monthly or annual fee for unlimited event access, you create a steady revenue stream while building relationships and brand loyalty.
5. Flash ticket sales: Last-minute discounts can help keep you on track to meet your ticket sales goals. Send discounts and promotional offers to your email and newsletter subscribers and post them on social media. For the greatest impact, make the savings significant and the time frame short, like 25% off for 48 hours or a free premium event when you purchase a ticket that day.
6. Dynamic ticket pricing: Today’s event management technology allows you to incorporate dynamic ticket pricing into your strategy, adjusting prices based on demand and market conditions. With registration management tools providing insight into registration trends, attendee demographics and promotional ROI, you can make data-driven decisions to optimize pricing in real time.
7. Promo codes: To kickstart word-of-mouth advertising, ask people in your network to share a promo code with their followers. Reach out to industry influencers, high-profile customers and vendors, and your event’s speakers, entertainers and exhibitors. Make it easy for them to promote your event with branded content they can post on social media.
Conclusion
Pricing event tickets isn’t a perfect science. It’s an experiment you get better at conducting over time and one that will always remain dependent on your audience’s perception. So, to keep improving, you need to stay connected with your attendees before, during and after each event.
Event management technology can help. A2Z Events lets you monitor registration form visits, starts, stops and finishes. You can track where registrations come from and the total revenue from each promotion. And the platform’s mobile app includes polling and survey and communication tools to keep you in touch with attendee sentiment in real time and after the fact.
Schedule a demo today to power more strategic ticket pricing tomorrow.
