The events you purchase corporate tickets to are fun, but at the end of the day, they’re just another business purchase you make with the expectation of a return.
Though your employees and clients may request to see the hottest concerts and games, sending your sales team to the Eras Tour may not yield the highest ROI. If your company wants to use live events to achieve its goals this year, it’s helpful to have as clear an understanding of your ROI as possible.
How Are Corporate Tickets Like Other Expenses?
Unlike other corporate expenses, ticket ROI is seldom tracked.
For instance, consider how you monitor an email marketing strategy. For sales emails, you carefully check open rates and click-through rates. You might track new contacts you receive through the campaign or evaluate purchases and conversions. If any aspect of the email strategy isn’t meeting the original goal, you make adjustments.
Unfortunately, the same level of tracking isn’t as common for event ticket usage. Late-season tickets worth thousands of dollars easily go to waste. Clients might forget to attend an event, or employees might decide to “try again next year” if a team isn’t performing well.
Some companies spend close to $30,000 a year on tickets. That’s no arbitrary expense.
It’s never too late to start tracking ROI to better understand how that investment is paying off.
Ticket Utilization: The Metric That Matters Most
You may have purchased corporate tickets to boost employee engagement or to strengthen relationships with new or long-time clients.
There are some ways you can attribute a dollar amount to these goals (signing a new client a few days after the networking event you took them to, etc.), but on the whole, the best way to measure ticket ROI is utilization.
Other intangible metrics are harder to define. For instance, did an employee stay in their role longer because they attended a baseball game? Did your new client sign a deal because of a networking event? It’s difficult to say for sure.
Even if you can ballpark a monetary return (e.g., a new contract following a big event), the result isn’t universal. That’s why measuring ticket utilization is crucial for understanding ROI.
How to Measure Ticket Utilization
The simplest way to measure ticket utilization is by confirming that the tickets have been sent and accepted. It’s really that simple!
In the absence of scan data or attendance reports from venues, rely on what you can control. For ROI, that means knowing you’ve successfully shared tickets and the recipient (whether a customer, a prospect, or an employee) has claimed them.
There are a few caveats, of course. You might send an employee to an event with a client, which adds accountability and validates ticket usage.
Regardless of other event details, utilization is the most critical metric in any ROI conversation.
Common Mistakes When Tracking Ticket ROI
At Ticketnology, we reduce workplace stress by helping you avoid common tracking problems. Without meaning to, companies might limit their understanding of ticket ROI by falling into these traps:
- Only investing in sporting events and concerts. Although concerts and sporting events are generally easy to track, they’re not the only way to achieve high ROI with corporate tickets. Networking and charity events might promote better attendance, stronger business opportunities, and lower price points.
- Omitting add-on event elements. Seat value is only one part of the total cost of a ticket. Most venues charge extra fees for parking, merchandise credits, pre-season passes, and add-ons. For an accurate assessment, include all these components in your ticket utilization assessment.
- Not accounting for nuances. For example, sponsoring a luncheon or happy hour isn’t as straightforward as buying a single-game ticket. As long as unique events are part of your event budget, they must be tracked. Factor in the total cost, frequency of the investment, and how many people show up.
The more ticket purchases you track, the better your understanding of ROI will be. Tracking ticket usage at NFL playoff games is just as important as tracking ticket usage at small-town charity festivals. Whatever you invest in, keep close tabs on ticket use — a habit that will inform future business decisions.
Get Clarity on ROI
Developing a system and sticking to it is the best way to understand the impact of your ticket investment. Reliable ticket utilization data makes this possible. With solid data, companies can avoid low ticket usage and ineffective strategies.
Ensure that your ticket plan delivers impressive ROI year-round. Start with a free Ticketnology consultation to visualize the impact of your events.