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What’s Your Conversion Rate? Turning single ticket buyers into members/subscribers

PRESENTED BY ROSITA BRADHAM AND JEFFREY LEIB

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COMMON OBSTACLES

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• Lack of necessary information

• Non-integrated databases

• Lack of staff technical skills

• Uncooperative staff

• Lack of institutional support/mandate for promoting membership to

different kinds of visitors

COMMON OBSTACLES

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ARE YOU COLLECTING THE RIGHT INFORMATION?

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INFORMATION IS POWER

WHAT SHOULD YOU COLLECT?

• Name and address

• Name and email

• What other information can you collect?

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• Lack of necessary information

• Non-integrated databases

• Lack of staff technical skills

• Uncooperative staff

• Lack of institutional support/mandate for promoting membership to

different kinds of visitors

COMMON OBSTACLES

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• Can be inefficient

• Data sharing can be a problem

• Technical issues caused by network bandwidth

TALE OF TWO DATABASES

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• Lack of necessary information

• Non-integrated databases

• Lack of staff technical skills

• Uncooperative staff

• Lack of institutional support/mandate for promoting membership to

different kinds of visitors

COMMON OBSTACLES

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• Lack skill for pulling data from disparate systems

• Database management skills

• Computer skills

STAFF TECHNICAL SKILLS

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• Lack of necessary information

• Non-integrated databases

• Lack of staff technical skills

• Uncooperative staff

• Lack of institutional support/mandate for promoting membership to

different kinds of visitors

COMMON OBSTACLES

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• Lack of communication between departments

• Personalities resistant to change

• “This is not my job” attitude

UNCOOPERATIVE STAFF

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• Lack of necessary information

• Non-integrated databases

• Lack of staff technical skills

• Uncooperative staff

• Lack of institutional support/mandate for

promoting membership to different kinds of

visitors

COMMON OBSTACLES

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• Unwilling to change current program

• “It’s what we always do” attitude

LACK OF INSTITUTIONAL SUPPORT

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DO YOU KNOW WHO’S VISITING?

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Do you know your current attendance?

KNOW WHAT YOU HAVE

23%

18% 38%

10%

8%

3% Total Attendance

Paid Admission

Free Admission

Members/Donors

Groups

Programs

Special Events

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Paid Admission

23%

Fee Admission

18%

Target Attendance

IDENTIFY YOUR TARGET GROUP

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TAKE A FRESH LOOK AT YOUR CURRENT

MEMBERSHIP PROGRAM

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• What’s unique about your membership program?

• Does it promote loyalty?

• What would you change about it?

• What are other organizations offering?

QUESTION TO ASK YOURSELF…

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STRATEGIES FOR TURNING TICKET BUYERS INTO

MEMBERS/SUBSCRIBERS

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MAKE AN OFFER THEY CAN’T REFUSE

• Day of purchase discounts

• Giveaways and swag

• Design programs that gets your audience engaged

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COST EFFICIENT STRATEGIES

• Increase presence on website

• Follow up with program attendees via email or letter. Inform them of

upcoming programs that are similar to the one they attended and

member benefits

• Social media outlets

• Word of Mouth (guest services staff, volunteers, etc)

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HAVE A LITTLE MONEY TO SPEND

• Invest in marketing!

• Canvas your facility – signs and banners in high traffic areas

• Don’t forget the gift shop or secondary shops for marketing

opportunities

• Bigger presence online by hiring someone to design it

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HAVE A BLANK CHECK

• Hire 3rd party company to provide sales team to promote program

• Kiosks

• Comprehensive survey sent to target audience resulting in an ask

• Hire more people

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HOW AND WHEN DO YOU MAKE THE ASK?

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• Don’t ask too fast

• Don’t ask first time buyers

• Don’t seem too needy

WHAT NOT TO DO…

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• Treat this like a courtship

• First impressions are lasting impressions

• Make the process easy for the customer

WHAT TO DO…

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FINAL THOUGHTS AND QUESTIONS

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TWEET ABOUT YOUR SESSION

#WHATSYOURCONVERSIONRATE

#ARTSANDCULTURE

#ROSITABRADHM #JEFFREYLEIB