online ticketing

7/29/2019 online ticketing

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Tickeng Soware Sasfacon SurveyMarch 2010

2011Ticketing Software

Satisfaction Survey


2/41

2011 Tickeng Soware Sasfacon Survey

2

Technology in the Arts explores the intersecon of arts management and technology to spark

dialogue around the role of technology in our planning and programming, share best pracces,

and provide training in the use of online tools. Our services include consulng, professional

development training, webinars, an online resource directory, monthly podcasts, and a

discussion-based blog.

Technology in the Arts | www.technologyinthearts.org

Center for Arts Management and Technology | camt.artsnet.org

Technology in the Arts is a series of services from the Center for Arts Management and

Technology (CAMT), an applied research center at Carnegie Mellon University exploring ways

in which arts managers can employ online technologies to more eecvely meet their

organizaonal goals and engage audiences.

This work is licensed under the Creave Commons Aribuon-No Derivave Works 3.0 United

States License by Carnegie Mellon Universitys Center for Arts Management Technology.

2011

Cover photo credit:Gyorgy Kovacs via ickr (hp://www.ickr.com/photos/32050584@N06/2998579599/)

Thanks!CAMT would like to give special thanks to Amelia Northrup, David Dombrosky, Pat Germann,

Tiany Wilhelm, and Shryansh Mehta for their eorts in preparing this report.


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2011 Tickeng Soware Sasfacon Survey3

Contents

Introducon...............................................4

Overview of Results...................................5

Results by Budget Size Category:

Small Organizaons................................12

Mid-sized Organizaons.........................18

Large Organizaons................................24Very Large Organizaons........................30

Choosing a Tickeng System....................36

Appendix:

List of systems included in the survey....41


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4

Introducon

In designing this survey, we thought the following informaon would be useful for other arts and

cultural organizaons seeking a ckeng soluon:

which aributes do arts organizaons consider crical in a ckeng tool

which factors inuence organizaons ckeng soware choices

which tools are arts and cultural organizaons using

how sased are arts and culture organizaons with their current ckeng soluons

The variety of ckeng soware soluons on the market today encompasses a tremendous

range of capabilies, features, and price points. As a service to the arts and culture eld, we

created this survey to learn about organizaonal needs and to gauge how well current ckeng

tools are meeng those needs.

Over 1,000 people started the survey, and a total of 957 evaluated at least one ckeng tool.

The survey included 86 soware tools as well as an other opon for evaluang tools not on the

list. A complete list of programs included in this survey can be found at the end of this reportand online at hp://bit.ly/2011ckeng.

To distribute the survey, we approached arts service organizaons, arts councils, ckeng

associaons, and soware vendors to share the survey with their members and clients. We

found that the number of respondents evaluang a parcular tool depended largely upon

whether or not that vendor parcipated in the survey distribuon. For this reason, the

percentage of respondents using a parcular tool cannot be construed as actual market share.

We changed a few quesons this year, based on feedback from the 2009 survey. We also sought

the opinions of vendors and arts service organizaons on how the survey quesons could be

improved. Changes include:

Added features regarding new technologies, like mobile and social media integraon

Added quesons dierenang web-based vs. desktop soware (hosted on the clients

computer or server)

Added queson about cket consorums and outsourcing

Throughout this report, percentages are rounded to the nearest whole percent. Percentages

may not total exactly 100% due to rounding.

About this survey

Because the 2009 surveys results skewed towards larger organizaons, we examined this years

data in detail through the lens of organizaonal budget size, to keep benchmarks constant. The

rst secon presents an overview of the data from all respondents. In the second secon, we

break out the results by budget size as follows:

Small: less than $500,000

Mid-sized: between $500,000 and $3 million

Large: between $3 million and $5 million

Very Large: greater than $5 million

How this report is structured
http://bit.ly/2011ticketinghttp://bit.ly/2011ticketing


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Overview of Results


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6

Prole of Respondents

Survey respondents were evenly

distributed, with small, mid-sized, and

organizaons with a greater than $3

million budget respecvely comprising

25-30% of respondents each.

Overall, sta sizes correlated

proporonately to respondents

budget sizes. Similarly, organizaons

with larger budgets tended to have

more box oce personnel.

Sector

Annual Operang Budget and

Personnel

What is your organizaons

annual operang budget?

Respondents were primarily from non-prot organizaons. For-prot organizaons comprised

8% of responses. Addionally, 13% classied their organizaon as part of a college or university.

Organizaons were asked about their soware usage for both online cket sales and internal

cket sales, which were dened as sales completed by the organizaons sta in-person, by

phone, or by mail. More than 86% of organizaons use the same tool for both in-house and

online cket sales.

Among all respondents, 9% of organizaons use dierent tools for internal and online sales.

When ltered by budget size, the proporon was highest among small organizaons, 14% of

which used 2 or more ckeng tools.

Tickeng Soware Usage

Geography

Most respondents to this survey were located in the United States,represenng 45 states and

the District of Columbia. States with largest number of responses included California (123),

New York (66), and Pennsylvania (65). Approximately 16% of organizaons in this survey were

located in Canada.

Organizaon Type and Discipline

The most common types of organizaons represented in this survey were performance facilies

(40% of respondents), performing groups (32%), and arts centers (26%). The primary focus for

most organizaons was the performing artsmore than 83% of responses idened one or

more performing arts disciplines as a focus area.

Overview of Results

Small

($5m)

22%

Don'tknow/

notsure

14%

Sample size: 957


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Tickeng Soware Needs

Crical Soware Funcons

When asked to idenfy which soware

funcons are most crical in a ckeng

soluon, the most frequently selected

aribute across budget sizes was

online sales. Credit card processing,

which was the most popular funcon

in the 2009 survey, moved down to the

second most-selected aribute. Other

commonly selected aributes were

similar to the 2009 survey results.

As budget size increased, all aributes

seemed to become more crical

to survey respondents. For small

organizaons, the least selected

aribute was chosen by 18% of those

organizaons. In contrast, the least

selected aribute among very large

organizaons was selected by over 28%

of those respondents.

Overview of Results

Most frequently selected aributes:1. Online sales (91%)

2. Credit card processing (90%)

3. Seat mapping/reserved ckeng (82%)

4. Custom reporng (78%)

5. Mul-user (mulple sellers logged in at once)

(77%)

5. Customer support / tech support (77%)

Least selected aributes:1. Mobile integraon (24%)

2. Demand-based pricing capability (37%)

3. Barcodes/gate control (38%)

3. Ability to print images or logo on cket (38%)

4. Social media integraon (40%)

5. Security features/cket forgery prevenon (41%)

Sharing/Outsourcing Which of the following ckeng compo-nents does your organizaon outsource or

share with other organizaons?About 30% of organizaons outsourced

at least one aspect of their box oce

operaons. Sharing opons included: Online using a shared online ckeng

portal

Phone orders using a group call center

with our own online program

Walk Up using a shared walkup box

oce

Discounts using a discount/half-price

cket program

Sharing and outsourcing varied byorganizaonal size. The most striking

dierence was the use of shared online

services by small organizaons.

Six percent of organizaons who did not

outsource or share said that they might

consider outsourcing or funcons of their box

oce if the right opportunity came along.

0%

5%

10%

15%

20%

25%

30%

35%

40%

45%

Online Phone

orders

WalkUp Discount

Sample size: 279/957

Small

Midsized

Large

VeryLarge


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8

Survey respondents were asked which types of ckeng are available to them with their

current system.Responses were largely dependent on budget size, as shown below. Very large

organizaons were most likely to oer both reserved-seat and general admission ckeng, and

small organizaons were least likely. Out of small organizaons that oered only one type ofckeng, more oered general admission than reserved-seat.

Which types of ckeng are available to you with your current system?

Reserved Seat vs. General Admission

Survey respondents were asked how they pay or paid for their internal and online ckeng

system. Internal sales were dened as sales completed by the organizaons sta in-person, by

phone, or by mail. The majority of respondents paid a one-me fee, pay a monthly or annual

fee, and/or add service charges to customers cket purchases for the system that they use

internally. Approximately 2% dont pay for their system, either by receiving services in-kind or

building their own system.

As menoned previously, 9% of organizaons use dierent tools for internal and online sales.

Of organizaons that use a separate online ckeng system, the majority (52%) have customers

pay for it through fees added to their cket purchases.

How do you pay for your primary INTERNAL ckeng system? (Check all that apply.)

Pricing


0%

10%

20%

small midsized large verylarge

ReservedseatOnly

Generaladmissionticketing

60%

65%

70%

75%

80%

85%

90%

small

midsized

large

verylarge

0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

70%

Wepaidaonetime

software

purchase/licensefee.

Wepayongoing

softwareasaservice

charges(annual,monthly,

etc)

Customerspayservice

feesaddedtotheirticket

purchases.

Small

Midsized

Large

VeryLarge

Organizaons that can oer a combinaon of both

reserved-seat ckeng and general admission ckeng


9/41


Survey respondents were asked which factors contributed to their soware choice. Reasons

varied widely across budget sizes, as shown below. This chart compares the two most common

reasons among small organizaons (price and user-friendliness) with those most common

among the very large organizaons(customizaon and specic funcons and features).

What were the most important aspects that led to your decision

to use this soware? (Choose up to 3)

Reasons for Soware Choice

Approximately one third of respondents inherited their ckeng system. In each category 1/4

to 1/3 of respondents indicated that they had not chosen the system that they are using now.

0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

70%

Easytouse Price Levelof

customization

Specificfunctions

andfeatures

Small

Midsized

Large

VeryLarge

System Inheritance

28.45%

33.11%30.49%

25.93%

Ididn'tassistinchoosingit Iinheritedthesystem

Small Midsized Large VeryLarge



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10

Soware Usage

Soware Toolused by respondent as either a

primary or secondary system)

Number

of users*

Admission - a division of Ticket-

master

3

Agile Tickeng 3

AstorStreet Smartware 2

AudienceView Tickeng 21

BOW and/or BOW-net by

Canadian Theatre Soware

1

Box Oce Tickets 3

Boxxo 1

Brown Paper Tickets 16

Choice Tickeng 28

Click4Tix 1

Enta 1

eTix 1

Eventbrite 64

Evenm InHouse / ShowSo 1

EZTicketLive 1

Folio Box Oce by Martech

Systems

4

Front Gate Soluons 3

Galaxy by Gateway Tickeng

Systems

4

Gate 13 4

HandyTix 1

nstantSeats 1

Lexi 1

MIVA 1New Concept Soware 3

OmniTicket 2

OvaonTix by TheaterMania 10

Soware Tool(used by respondent as either a


Number

of users*

Paciolan 10

Patron Technology 19

PatronEdge by Blackbaud 19

Prinx USA 11

ProVenue or ProVenueMax

by Tickets.com

39

Radiant 4

Reservatech 1

RTS - Ready Theater Systems 1

SABO by Seat Advisor 86

SeatYourself 1

SellingTickets 1

ShoWare by VisionOne, Inc. 6

ShowClix 4

Siriusware 4

Smarx 1

Spektrix 5

Tessitura 262

Theatre Manager

by Arts Management Systems

148

Thunderx 3

Ticket Force 4

Ticket Turtle: Basic, Premier, or

Pro

8

TicketBiscuit 1

TicketFusion 1

TicketGuys 1

TicketLeap 7

TicketmakerVanx (ATMS) 3

Ticketmaster Classic 23

The following table displays the number of survey respondents using each soware system, either as a primary

or a secondary ckeng tool. (Systems with no responses are not included below, but they are included in

the full list of ckeng systems at the end of the report). Though a few systems comprise a large number of

survey responses, the data sll suggests a wide range of systems in use by the eld. Other systems included

ckeng systems not on our list, soware systems not designed specically for ckeng (such as PayPal and

Microso Excel), and custom systems.

*Because respondents do not represent a true cross-secon of the arts and culture community, this data

cannot be used to infer market share.

Overview of Results

Soware Tool(used by respondent as either a


Num

of us

Ticketmaster: Archcs 9

Ticketmaster: Vista 4

TicketMeister Pro 1

TicketOps 1

Ticketpro 1

TicketReturn 1

TICKETsage 2

TicketScene 1

TicketSolve 1

TicketsWest 2

Ticketweb 2

Tick-It! Trak Pro and/or Tick-It!

2K+

2

x.com 19

TixHub 3

Topx 1

Total Info by Easy-Ware 12

TyTix 4

University Tickets 9

Vendini: TicketAgent or Ticket-

Line

20

WebTix and/or WinTix

by Center Stage Soware

75

Custom-built systems 41


11/41


Soware Sasfacon

This soware meets our organizaons needs.

I would recommend this soware to other organizaons.

This soware is easy to use.

Organizaons were asked how much they agreed or disagreed with a series of qualitave

statements about their in-house and/or online ckeng system. A majority of respondents

in this survey agreed that their systems were easy to use and met their needs. Over 2/3 of

respondents agreed that they would recommend their systems to other organizaons, a slight

increase from the 2009 survey.

Willingness to recommend

Meeng organizaonal needs

User-friendliness

Overview of Results

Stronglyagree34%

Somewhatagree41%

Neitheragreenordisagree

9%

Somewhatdisagree

11%

Stronglydisagree3%

N/A

2%

Stronglyagree35%

Somewhatagree36%


9%

Somewhatdisagree

13%

Stronglydisagree

5%

N/A

2%

Stronglyagree40%

Somewhatagree25%


13%

Somewhatdisagree

11%

Stronglydisagree9%

N/A

2%


12/41


12

Small Organizaons

Annual Budget Size less than $500,000Sample Size: 238


13/41



More than 1/3 of respondents fromsmall organizaons were Execuve

Directors, and about 1/3 from

small organizaons were Box Oce

Managers. Common other job

tles included Board Member, Arsc

Director, Treasurer, and roles that were

composites of several posions.

Which of the following most accurately

describes your posion?

How many full-me sta members are employed

by your organizaon?

How many people work in your box oce(s)?(Includes full-me employees, part-me employees,

and volunteers)

Most small organizaons in this survey

operate with a small sta. Over half of

these organizaons had 2 or fewer full-

me sta members and nearly 1/3 had 3

to 5 sta members.

Job Title

Full-Time Sta Size

Box Oce Sta Size

Nearly 3/4 of small organizaons had

5 or fewer people working in theirbox oce. Seven percent reported no

one working in their box oce. It is

possible these organizaons have no

physical box oce, or they have sta in

other departments who handle cket

sales.

Small Organizaons

Boxofficemanager

31%

Boxofficestaff3%

Housemanagement

staff

0%ITStaff3%

ExecutiveorManagingDirector

39%

BusinessorOperationsstaff

4%

FundraisingorDevelopment

staff

2%

MarketingorCommunications

staff

8%

Other

10%

None

24%

1or230%

3to529%

6to1511%

16to303%

morethan752%

Don'tknow/notsure

1%

None

7%

1or2

36%

3to5

30%

6to15

22%

16to

30

4%

Don'tknow/not

sure

1%

Sample size: 238


14/41


14


Which of the following best describes your organizaon?

(Choose all that apply)

Which of the following disciplines represents yourorganizaons focus area? (Choose all that apply)

Type(s) of Organizaon

Organizaon Discipline(s)

Performing groups were the mostcommon type of small organizaon

in this survey, with 67% idenfying

themselves as either a performance

facility or performing groups. Only

ve of these respondents categorized

their organizaons as museums.

Small organizaons were the most

likely to rent performance space and

the least likely to own their own space

when compared to organizaons with

larger budgets.

Among those who chose other, most

described a combinaon of disciplines.

Addional focus areas menoned were

athlecs, heritage, and comedy.

Small organizaons were the most

likely to idenfy themselves as for-

prot or as part of a university/college

operaon.

Small Organizaons

81

80

26

3

2

8

4

32

0

42

4

12

14

7

48

0 20 40 60 80 100

Performinggroup

Performancefacility

Other

Museum Other

Museum Art

Gallery/ExhibitionSpace

Festival/Fair

ArtsPresenter

Conservation

College/University

Cinema

ArtsServiceOrganization

ArtsEducationFacility

ArtsCouncil/Agency

ArtsCenter

22

32

17

13

7

6

42

80

88

41

77

55

63

92

79

158

0 100 200

Other

MediaArts(film/video)

LiteraryArts

Photography

Crafts

DesignArts

VisualArts

Dance

MusicOther

MusicOpera

MusicChoral

MusicChamberEnsemble

usicSymphony/Orchestra

TheaterMusicalTheater

TheaterYouth

TheaterGeneral

Sample size: 238


15/41


Most frequently selected aributes:1. Credit card processing (84%)

2. Online sales (84%)

3. Customer support / tech support (73%)

4. Seat mapping/reserved ckeng (72%)

5. General admission ckeng (72%)

Least selected aributes:1. Demand-based pricing capability (18%)

2. Mobile integraon (21%)

3. Barcodes/gate control (29%)

4. Integrates with our exisng customer

relaonship/donor management system (32%)

5. Security features (cket forgery prevenon

(32%)

Which of the following funcons does your organizaon consider crical in a

box oce management system? (select all that apply)

Tickeng Needs

Respondents from small organizaons

most oen selected credit cardprocessing, online sales, and customer

support. Other responses included

customizable online point of sale,

handle mulple venues, prinng

receipts, mulple discount codes,

user friendly, and ability to integrate

email markeng.

Customer service was selected more

frequently in small organizaons

than any other budget size. Larger

organizaons also tended to select

mul-user capabilies and customizable

sales reports more frequently than small

organizaons.

Crical Aributes

Small Organizaons

10

44

50

68

77

77

87

88

105

111

116

122

134

134

135

141

151

161

172

173

174

200

200

0 50 100 150 200 250

Other

Demandbasedpricingcapability

Mobileintegration

Barcodes/gatecontrol

Securityfeatures(ticketforgeryprevention)

Integrateswithourexistingcustomer

Includesamembershipmanagementmodule

Abilitytoprintimagesorlogoonticket

Socialmediaintegration

Customerrelationship/donormanagement

Athometicketprintingforcustomers

Groupsales

Multiuser(multipleuserscanloginatonce)

Automatedsalesreports

Abilitytoaddasuggesteddonation

Subscriptionsales/discount packages

Customizable salesreports

Subscriptions/seasonticketcapability


Seatmapping/reserved ticketing

Customersupport/tech

support

for

our

staff

Creditcardprocessing

Onlinesales

50%


16/41


16

Criteria for Soware Choice:

Internal System

1. Easy to use (58%)

2. Price (46%)

3. Inherited the system (28%)

4. Specic funcons and features (25%)

5. Easy to train sta (24%)

Soware Usage

Small organizaons used a broad range of ckeng systems. Only two systems, WebTix/WinTix

and SABOs Seat Advisor were used by more than 15% of small organizaons in this survey.

Several organizaons sold ckets through their online store or through services such as PayPal

or eTapestry. Three organizaons described using a custom system for online sales.

Small organizaons were the most likely of any budget category to access their internal system

(system used by your sta to complete sales in person, by phone, or by mail) through an online

system, rather than through soware hosted on the organizaons computers/servers.

This year Easy to use surpassed Price asthe top criteria for choosing the soware

system. Recommendaon from a colleague

dropped from a reason cited by 16%

respondents to 5% this year.

Addional Tickeng Systems

Of small organizaons, 6% reported using

one or more addional ckeng systems for

online cket sales or other funcons. Other

was the most common secondary system,

which included programs like PayPal. Several

organizaons described capturing informaon

online and re-entering it into their primary

ckeng system or a database system likeeTapestry.

Small Organizaons



Which system do you use for internal, online or secondary cket sales?(Internal sales are cket sales completed by your sta in person, by phone, or by mail.)

4%

5%

7%

8%

8%

9%

13%

23%

23%

0% 5% 10% 15% 20% 25%

ProVenueorProvenueMax(Tickets.com)

Tix.com

TicketAgent/TicketLine(Vendini)

BrownPaperTicketsPatronTechnology

Wehavedevelopedourowncustomsystem.

TheatreManager(ArtsManagementSystems)

SABO(SeatAdvisor)

WebTix/WinTix(CenterStageSoftware)


17/41


Soware Sasfacon

Small Organizaons




Three-quarters of small organizaons responding to this survey agreed that their system is easy

to use. Over half agreed that the system meets their organizaons needs. Small organizaons

were the most likely of any budget category to agree that their soware system was easy to

use.



User-friendliness

Stronglyagree43%

Somewhatagree35%


10%

Somewhatdisagree

8%

Stronglydisagree3%

N/A

1%

Stronglyagree38%

Somewhatagree35%


9%

Somewhatdisagree

15%

Stronglydisagree2%

N/A

1%

Stronglyagree40%

Somewhatagree24%


14%

Somewhatdisagree

10%

Stronglydisagree10%

N/A

2%


18/41


18

Mid-Sized OrganizaonsAnnual Budget Size $500,000 to $3 million

Sample Size: 302


19/41



About 1/3 of surveys from these

organizaons were completed by a Box

Oce Manager, and 1/3 by Execuve

Directors. Other job tles included

Operaons Manager, Events Manager,

Patron services manager, androles that

were composites of several posions.

Most mid-sized organizaons responding to

this survey had at least one full-me sta

member. About 1/2 of these organizaons

had 6 to 15 full-me sta members,

and about 35% had 1 to 5 full-me sta

members.

Job Title

Full-Time Sta Size

Box Oce Sta Size




by your organizaon?

How many people work in your box oce(s)?(Includes full-me employees, part-me employee

and volunteers)

Mid-sized Organizaons

Boxofficemanager28%

Boxofficestaff3%

Housemanagementsta

2%

ITStaff5%


30%


8%

FundraisingorDevelopmentstaff

5%

MarketingorCommunicationsstaff

11%

Other(pleasespecify)

8%

None1%

1or27%

3to528%

6to1547%

16to3010%

31to502%

51to753%

Morethan752%

Don'tknow/notsure

0%

None

2%

1or2

18%

3to5

45%

6to15

29%

16to30

4%

Morethan30

1%Don'tknow/not

sure

1%

The majority of mid-sized organizaons

(63%) had 1 to 5 people who worked

in their box oce and 34% had 6 or

more workers. Only 2% reported no

one working in their box oce. It is

possible these organizaons have no

physical box oce, or they have sta in

other departments who handle cket

sales.

Sample size: 302


20/41


20






Which of the following disciplines represents your

organizaons focus area? (Choose all that apply)

Other types of organizaons

in the mid-sized budget category

included sports teams, dinner

theaters, circuses, arena/trade

centers, and cross-disciplinary

organizaons.

About 2/3 of mid-sized

organizaons owned their own

performance space and 1/3

rented their performance space.

Theatre, dance, and various

musical disciplines were chosen

most oen in the mid-sized

budget category. Of organizaons

that chose other focus areas,

12 described programming in

mulple disciplines. Addionally,

organizaons idened focusareas such as athlecs, educaon,

community events, lectures, race

track, and road house.

The majority (about 80%) of mid-

sized organizaons described

themselves as non-prot, with 12%

idenfying themselves as part of a

university/college.


100

129

21

3

4

18

24

55

0

32

5

18

29

3

79

0 50 100 150

Performinggroup

Performancefacility

Other

Museum Other

Museum Art


Festival/Fair

ArtsPresenter

Conservation

College/University

Cinema



ArtsCouncil/Agency

ArtsCenter

36

35

14

13

7

3

46

106

92

37

55

61

73

116

119

181

0 100 200



LiteraryArts

Photography

Crafts

DesignArts

VisualArts

Dance

MusicOther

MusicOpera

MusicChoral


MusicSymphony/Orchestra


TheaterYouth

TheaterGeneral

Sample size: 302


21/41


Most frequently selected aributes:1. Online sales (95%)

2. Credit card processing (91%)3. Seat mapping / reserved ckeng (85%)

4. Mul-user (mulple sellers can be logged in at

once) (83%)

5. Customizable sales reports (82%)

Least selected aributes:1. Barcodes / gate control (26%)

2. Mobile integraon (27%)

3. Demand-based pricing capability (33%)

4. Security features (cket forgery prevenon)

(39%)


Tickeng Needs



For mid-sized organizaons, online sales

surpassed credit card processing as the

most selected aribute.Other responses

also included integraon with website

and database systems, class enrollment

capacity, and interacve seang map.

As with the other budget categories, online

sales and credit card processing were the

top two aributes.


18

79

81

98

117

121

125

131

136

145

191

203

203

210

224

229

232

240

246

252

258

274

286

0 50 100 150 200 250 300 350



Mobileintegration

Demandbasedpricingcapability






Integrateswithourexistingsystem


Groupsales

Includesacustomerrelationshipmodule



Subscriptionsales/discountpackages


Customersupport/techsupportforourstaff

Customizablesales

reports

Multiuser(multiplesellerscanloginatonce)

Seatmapping/reservedticketing


Onlinesales

50%

Crical Aributes


22/41


22

Primary Criteria for Soware Choice:

Internal System

Respondents from mid-sized organizaonswere the most likely (33%) of any budget

category to say that they inherited the system,

rather than choosing it themselves.

1. Price (45%)



4. Level of customizaon (23%)

5. Customer service (18%)

Soware Usage


Nearly 25% of mid-sized organizaons responding to this survey used Theater Manager as their

primary internal ckeng tool. Approximately 4% listed other systems. Most common among

these was Box Oce Tickets.

Of mid-sized organizaons, about 10% of

respondents used dierent systems for

internal and online cket sales. This is a

decline from 17% in the 2009 survey.

Of those who described an addional online

system, most (22%) described a custom-built

system or PrintTix USA (14%).





3%

3%

4%

6%

6%

12%

14%

19%

33%

0% 5% 10% 15% 20% 25% 30% 35% 40%

PatronEdge(Blackbaud)

TotalInfobyEasyWare

Vendini:TicketAgentorTicketLine

ChoiceTicketing

ProVenueorProvenueMaxby

Tickets.com

WebTixand/orWinTixbyCenter

StageSoftware

SABObySeatAdvisor

Tessitura

TheatreManagerbyArts

ManagementSystems


23/41


Soware Sasfacon





Though over half of mid-sized organizaons responding to this survey agreed with the

qualitave statements below, these organizaons were the least likely of any budget category

to agree that they would recommend their system to other organizaons.



User-friendliness

Stronglyagree27%

Somewhatagree37%


11%

Somewhatdisagree

18%

Stronglydisagree5%

N/A

2%

Stronglyagree30%

Somewhatagree26%


18%

Somewhatdisagree

13%

Stronglydisagree12%

N/A

1%

Stronglyagree29%

Somewhatagree43%


8%

Somewhatdisagree

15%

Stronglydisagree3%

N/A

2%


24/41


24

Large OrganizaonsAnnual Budget Size $3 million to $5 million

Sample Size: 81


25/41



Box Oce Managers made up

nearly 1/3 of respondents from

large organizaons, with Markeng/

Communicaon sta and Execuve or

Managing Director each comprising

over 1/5 of respondents. Common

other job tles included patron or

audience services manager posions or

roles that were composites of several

posions.




by your organizaon?


and volunteers)

Job Title

Full-Time Sta Size

Box Oce Sta Size

Approximately 1/3 of large

organizaons employed 6 to

15 full-me sta members, 1/3

employed 16 to 30, and 1/3

employed over 30.

The majority of large organizaons

responding to this survey had 3 to

15 employees working in their box

oce(s).

Large Organizaons

Boxofficemanager29%

Boxofficestaff1%

ITStaff8%


21%


6%


9%


staff

22%

Other

4%

None0% 1or21%3to51%

6to1534%

16to3034%

31to5016%

51to756%

morethan758%

None

1%

1or2

17%

3to5

26%

6to15

39%

16to30

9%

Morethan30

7%

Don'tknow/not

sure

1%

Sample size: 81


26/41


26




Which of the following disciplines represents yourorganizaons focus area? (Choose all that apply)



Other respondents primarily

described muldisciplinary arts

presenters.

In this survey, large organizaons

(36%) were slightly more likely than

mid-sized organizaons (31%) to rent

their performance space rather than

own it.

Theater was the primary focus are

for large organizaons in this survey.

Other disciplines menoned were

comedians/lecture series, athlecs,

and conservaon organizaons like

public gardens and horcultural

organizaons.

Respondents in this category were

primarily non-prot organizaons.

Large Organizaons

34

34

8

0

1

4

5

14

2

4

1

2

10

0

22

0 10 20 30 40

Performinggroup

Performancefacility

Other

Museum Other

Museum Art


Festival/Fair

ArtsPresenter

Conservation

College/University

Cinema

ArtsService


ArtsCouncil/Agency

ArtsCenter

9

6

5

3

1

1

10

29

27

16

17

19

24

21

24

43

0 20 40 60

Other


LiteraryArts

Photography

Crafts

DesignArts

VisualArts

Dance

MusicOther

MusicOpera

MusicChoral




TheaterYouth

TheaterGeneral

Sample size: 81


27/41


Most frequently selected aributes:

Least selected aributes:



3. Customizable sales reports (87%)

4. Mul-user (86%)

5. Seat mapping / reserved ckeng (85%)

1. Mobile Integraon (25%)

2. Ability to print logo or images on cket (28%)


4. Security features / cket forgery prevenon

(46%)

5. Integrates with our exisng customer relaonship

management system (47%)



Tickeng Needs

For large organizaons, demand-

based pricing was more important

than for mid-sized or small

organizaons, both of which had this

aribute in their boom ve.

As with the other budget

categories, online sales and credit

card processing were the top two

aributes.

Large Organizaons

2

20

23

30

37

38

38

41

43

43

57

58

59

60

61

65

67

68

69

70

71

74

79

0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90

Other

Mobileintegration





Integrateswithourexistingsystem

Demandbased

pricing

capability






Groupsales


Subscriptionsales/discountpackages

IncludesacustomerrelationshipmoduleSubscriptions/season

ticket

capability


Multiuser(multiplesellerscanloginatonce)

Customizablesalesreports


Onlinesales

50%

Crical Aributes


28/41


28

Primary Criteria for Soware Choice:Internal System



3. Price (30%)


5. Recommendaon from colleague (16%)

Soware Usage

Large organizaons were the most likely of all

budget categories to cite a recommendaon

from a colleague as a criterion for soware

choice and least likely to cite integraon with

exisng systems.

As in the 2009 survey, users of Tessitura and Theatre Manager comprised just over half of the

large organizaons in this survey. Three large organizaons in this survey described using a

custom system.


About 5% of large organizaons reported

using a dierent system than their internal

systems for online sales, most oen

describing a custom-built system.

Large Organizaons




4%

4%

6%

6%

9%

21%

50%

0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60%

Wehavedevelopedourowncustomsystem.

TicketmasterClassicAudienceViewTicketing

ChoiceTicketing

ProVenue/ProvenueMax(Tickets.com)

TheatreManagerbyArtsManagementSystems

Tessitura


29/41


Soware Sasfacon

Large Organizaons




Though over half of large organizaons responding to this survey agreed with the qualitave

statements below, these organizaons were the least likely of any budget category to agree

that their system is user friendly or meets their organizaonal needs.



User-friendliness

Stronglyagree24%

Somewhatagree40%


8%

Somewhatdisagree

17%

Stronglydisagree4%

N/A

7%

Stronglyagree32%

Somewhatagree30%


11%

Somewhatdisagree

17%

Stronglydisagree9%

N/A

1%

Stronglyagree40%

Somewhatagree22%


9%

Somewhatdisagree

18%

Stronglydisagree10%

N/A

1%


30/41


30

Very Large OrganizaonsAnnual Budget Size greater than $5 million

Sample Size: 216


31/41



Respondents from very large

organizaons had a broad range of

job tles, with IT sta and Box OceManager each compromising about

1/4 of respondents. Markeng/

Communicaon sta and Execuve/

Managing Director each comprising

about 15% of respondents.

Other included posions such as

CFO, CIO, General Manager, audience

services coordinator, and educaon

program manager.




by your organizaon?


and volunteers)

Job Title

Full-Time Sta Size

Box Oce Sta Size

Over half of very large organizaons had 75

or more full-me sta.

Approximately 4/5 of very large

organizaons had at least 6 people

working in their box oce.

Very Large Organizaons

Boxoffice

manager

23%

Boxofficestaff1%

Housemanagementsta

1%

ITStaff28%


14%


5%


5%


staff

15%

Other

8%

None

0%

1or20%

3to50%

6to151%

16to3011%

31to5012%

51to7515%

morethan7560%

Don'tknow/notsure

1%

None

0%1or2

3%

3

to

511%

6to15

44%

16to30

17%

Morethan30

19%

Don'tknow/not

sure

6%

Sample size: 216


32/41


32


Which of the following best describes your organizaon?(Choose all that apply)

Which of the following disciplines represents your

organizaons focus area? (Choose all that apply)



Other disciplines included science,

jazz, history, circus/puppetry,

educaon, sports/horse racing,

lectures and a combinaon of

disciplines.

Very large organizaons were most

likely to idenfy themselves as a non-

prot organizaon, as opposed to afor-prot, government or college/

university organizaon.

Very large organizaons idened

themselves as many other types

of organizaons, including science

centers, athlecs, educaon and

tourism.

Very large organizaons were most

likely of any budget category to

own their own performance space.


75

90

21

8

7

15

15

42

2

15

8

14

30

1

62

0 20 40 60 80 100

Performinggroup

Performancefacility

Other

Museum Other

Museum Art


Festival/Fair

ArtsPresenter

Conservation

College/University

Cinema



ArtsCouncil/Agency

ArtsCenter

26

27

17

15

8

6

32

83

60

61

38

39

70

72

52

114

0 50 100 150

Other


LiteraryArts

Photography

Crafts

DesignArts

VisualArts

Dance

Music

Other

MusicOpera

MusicChoral




TheaterYouth

TheaterGeneral

Sample size: 216


33/41


Most frequently selected aributes:

Least selected aributes:



3. Seat mapping / reserved ckeng (88%)4. Customizable sales reports (87%)

5. Mul-user (86%)

1. Mobile Integraon (29%)

2. Social Media Integraon (40%)

3. Integrates with our exisng customer relaonship

management system (43%)

4. Ability to print logo or images on cket (43%)

5. Security features / cket forgery prevenon (57%)



Tickeng Needs

Respondents from very large

organizaons selected, on average,

more crical funcons than any other

category. The most oen indicated

other aributes included as email

automaon and complete donaon

management rather than simple

membership management.

As with the other budget categories,

credit card processing and online sales

were the top two aributes.


8

62

86

92

92

122

132

134

141

142

143

167

168

174

175

177

177

178

186

187

190

205

206

0 50 100 150 200 250


Mobileintegration



Integrateswithourexistingcustomer



Demandbased

pricing

capability







Includesacustomerrelationship/donor


Subscriptionsales/discountpackagesGroup

sales

Multiuser(multiplesellerscanbeloggedinat

Customizablesalesreports


Onlinesales


50%

Crical Aributes


34/41


34

1. Specic funcons & features (52%)



4. Customer service (27%)

5. Price (19%)

Primary Criteria for Soware Choice:

Internal System

Soware Usage

Very large organizaons were most likely ofany budget category to select customizaon,

features and funcons, customer service, and

integraon with exisng systems.

Organizaons in this budget category were

least likely to cite price as a criterion for

soware choice.


A vast majority of very large organizaons in this survey used Tessitura as their primary internal

ckeng tool. Two Ticketmaster products were among the ten most frequently reviewed

systems, as well as Paciolan which Ticketmaster recently divested; about 4% of very large

organizaons in this survey used a Ticketmaster system as their primary system for internal sales.

Very large organizaons were the most likely of any budget category to access their internal

system (system used by your sta to complete sales in person, by phone, or by mail) through

soware hosted on the organizaons computers/servers, rather than through an online system.

About 2% of very large organizaons used a

dierent system than their internal system for

online sales, a drop from 7% of respondents

last year.





3%

3%

3%

4%

4%

4%

6%

74%

0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80%

PatronEdgebyBlackbaud

ProVenueorProvenueMaxbyTickets.com

Ticketmaster:ArchticsPaciolan

TicketmasterClassicAudienceViewTicketing

TheatreManagerbyArtsManagementSystems

Tessitura


35/41


Soware Sasfacon





Very large organizaons were the most likely of all budget categories to agree that their system

met their organizaonal needs (81%) or that they would recommend their system to other

organizaons (74%).



User-friendliness

Stronglyagree32%

Somewhatagree42%


10%

Somewhatdisagree

9%

Stronglydisagree4%

N/A

3%

Stronglyagree51%

Somewhatagree33%


3%

Somewhatdisagree

6%

Stronglydisagree4%

N A

3%

Stronglyagree58%

Somewhatagree20%


7%

Somewhatdisagree

7%

Stronglydisagree6%

N/A

2%


36/41


36

Choosing A Tickeng System


37/41


Once you have narrowed your list to a few possible systems, begin to gather rst-hand

informaon from the service providers. In addion to asking some of the quesons in the next

two pages, you might do the following:

Ask if there are any hands-on demonstraons that let you experience the system

for yourself.

Request a list of client references in your discipline and budget size, and ask those

references about their experiences.

Request a list of client websites to get an idea of the customers experience of

cket purchasing and other transacons, such as donang online.

Choosing a Tickeng System in 5 Easy Steps

1 Determine needs and prioriesBecause of the wide range of ckeng soluons available, determining your organizaonsneeds and priories is the rst step to choosing an appropriate soware system. In the

following pages, we have included a list of subject areas to consider as well as sample

quesons to ask. It is a good idea to seek input from every department you expect to usethe systemnot just cket agents. The following is a list of common needs and priories:

Credit card processing

Online sales

Seat mapping/reserved ckeng

General admission ckeng

Subscripons/season cket capability

Mul-user (mulple sellers can be logged in at

once)

At-home cket prinng for customers

Security features (cket forgery prevenon)

Barcodes/gate control

Customer support/tech support for our sta

Subscripon sales/discount packages

Group sales

Automated sales reports

Customizable sales reports

Ability to print images or logo on cket

Ability to add a suggested donaon

Integrates with our exisng customer

relaonship/donor management system

Includes a membership management module

Includes a customer relaonship/donor

management module Mobile integraon

Social media integraon

Demand-based pricing capability

2 Idenfy vendors

Specic Needs Organizaonal Priories

Easy to use

Easy to train sta

Price

Level of customizaon

Specic funcons and features

Brand recognion

Recommendaon from colleague

Customer service

Integraon with exisng systems

Required by a venue agreement

3Contact vendors

Your priorized list of needs will help you begin to idenfy systems that are more likely to

be a good t your organizaon. You might start by looking at the systems commonly used by

organizaons in your budget category. A list of vendors included in this survey is also available on

page 41. Visit their websites and research them to help you narrow your list to a few possibilies.


38/41


38

Areas to Consider Sample quesons to ask

Customer/Tech Support What type of support is available? (e.g. online, phone, etc)

Is there 24-hour support? If not, what opons are available in

the event of an aer-hours emergency?

What is the average response me to support requests?

Is there a support fee? If so, how much does it cost, and whatexactly does it cover?

Data Integraon Can the system handle both online and internal sales? If

not, does the vendor partner with another ckeng soware

vendor to provide complementary services?

What soware does your organizaon currently use, and what

capacity does the ckeng soware have to integrate with

your current soware?

What is the me frame for migrang data from the current

system to the new system?

What is the capacity to export data from the system, and inwhat format can it be exported? (e.g. Excel le, CSV, etc)

Does this system include integrated funcons (i.e. donor

management, class registraon, etc.) that could replace any of

your current soware?

Does this system have a plug-in to sell ckets on a mobile

device or smartphone?

Will this system have the capability to integrate e-mail delivery

or social media data?

Data Security Aer a transacon, what data remains in the system, and forhow long does it remain?

Are online transacons protected with a data encrypon

layer?

Is the data being stored with the vendor or with a third-party

system like PayPal?

If the data is being stored with the vendor, do you have SAS 70

Compliance/European Safe Compliance?

Infrastructure Is the soware hosted online, or will your organizaon need a

server to host it?

Is the soware compable with your operang system? (i.e.Windows, MacOS, etc)

Does the system include credit card processing, or will your

organizaon need your own credit card processing soware/

equipment?

Will the system require your organizaon to rent or purchase

cket-prinng equipment?

If the system uses barcodes, will your organizaon need to

rent or purchase barcode scanners?


39/41


Areas to Consider Sample quesons to ask

Reports What transaconal data do you want to be able to analyze?

What automated reports come with the system?

Can you create custom reports on the y?

If the vendor will build custom reports for your organizaon,

what is the customizaon rate and turnaround me?

How does the system track the source of the sale?

Specic Funcons What specic funcons are crical to each user of your

ckeng system? (e.g. fast general admission sales, demandpricing, etc.)

What unique aspects of your organizaon will the system need

to handle? (e.g. subscripons for events in mulple venues,

passes for mul-day events, etc)

What are your priories for online sales? (e.g. at-home cket

prinng, customer seat selecon, online subscripon renewal,

etc.)

Sta Access How many user accounts do you need? (i.e. How many people

should be able to log in to the system at the same me?)

How many user accounts come with the system? Is it easy to add user accounts if your organizaon grows?

How much do addional accounts cost?

Can you customize the informaon or funcons that individual

users are able to access?

What informaon can you draw from each user account? (e.g.

daily sales acvity, etc.)

If the soware is web-based, can the sta access it from the

browsers (and browser versions) currently installed on their

computers?

User-Friendliness Are there hands-on demonstraons available online? Are demos available once your data is in the new system in

order to train new employees?

How much sta me can you expect to spend seng up

events? Selling season ckets? Pulling reports?

How easy is this system for online customers to navigate?

For online purchases, is the system compable with the

last three versions of common Internet browsers (Internet

Explorer, Firefox, Safari, Chrome, etc.)?

Price What is the set-up fee?

Is there an annual license or maintenance fee?

Are there any addional fees for your organizaon? (e.g.

credit card processing fees, per-cket fees, customer service

etc.)

What fees are charged to the customer? How much control

will your organizaon have over seng those fees?


40/41


40

Changing a cket system is a major organizaonal change, but

it doesnt have to be dicult. Timelines for implemenng the

new system will vary from organizaon to organizaon, but

here are some things to consider:

4 Weighing Your Opons andMaking a Decision

5Prepare for installaon

Revisit your list of priories and, based on your ndings from

talking to vendors and organizaons who use your system,

rank your top choices. You might also seek input again at thispoint from people who will be using the system to see if your

priories are sll in line with theirs.

Keep in mind that price is not always the best indicator of

quality. Even if price is your organizaons primary concern, it

is sll worth researching and evaluang other aspects of the

system before making your nal decision.

From these quesons, you can determine the best me in

your season to install your new system, migrate any data

from your current system, and start to train employees.

Remember to inform your patrons of any new features that

may interest them, like online subscripon sales, choose-your-

own-seat funcons, or mobile integraon.

How long will it take to transfer your data from the

current system to the new system?

How many years of data do you want to migrate

from your current system to the new system?

Will the data need to be cleaned or modied

in any way before transferring it? How long will it take to install any soware on sta

computers?

How much me will it take to create usernames for

sta and adjust their proles so that they have access

to the proper data?

How long will it take to fully train sta on business-

crical funcons?

How close are you to the starng a new season and

how long will it take to build a season with the new

soware?

Can this system be ulized for

consorum ckeng?

What would the structure look

like for consorum ckeng?

(e.g. sales and data from mulple

ckeng clients live in one central

database that may be paroned

for privacy purposes OR each

ckeng client has their own

unique account and the system

has added funconality that

allows a consorum coordinator

to easily access each account)

Are basic changes of contact

informaon (e.g. address

updates) immediately available

to all ckeng clients in the

consorum?

What types of global reports are

available to view acvity across

the consorum?

Consorum Tickeng:Quesons to ask

Consorum ckeng refers to

a system where an umbrellaorganizaon manages the

system for a number of

ckeng clients. Before you

choose a ckeng system for a

consorum or an organizaon

that may be used in a

consorum seng, consider,

the following:


41/41

Soware Systems Included in this Survey

Admission - a division of Ticketmaster

ADVANTAGE by Pathnder

Agile Tickeng

AstorStreet SmartwareAudienceView Tickeng

AuthenGate

BOW and/or BOW-net by Canadian Theatre So-

ware

BOX, BOX Jr., or Admix by Box Oce Xpress

Boxxo

Brown Paper Tickets

CenterEdge

Choice Tickeng

Click4Tix

ClicknPrint Tickets by Extremex

Concerto

Enta

eTix

Eventbrite

Evenm InHouse / ShowSo

Folio Box Oce by Martech Systems

Front Gate Soluons

Galaxy by Gateway Tickeng Systems

Glitner Tickeng

HandyTixIn Tickeng

InstantSeats

InterTicket

iseats

JetTicket Professional

La Billeerie

MidWestTIX

MIVA

New Concept Soware

New Era Tickets

OmnicketOvaonTix by TheaterMania

Paciolan

Patron Technology

PatronBase

PatronEdge by Blackbaud

Radiant

Red Truck Tickets

Rseau Ovaon

RTS - Ready Theater SystemsSABO by Seat Advisor

Savoy Systems

ShoWare by VisionOne, Inc

ShowClix

Shubert Tickeng

Siriusware

Smart Tickeng Soluons

Smarx

Spektrix

Tessitura

Theatre Manager by Arts Management Systems

Thunderx

Ticket Force

Ticket Turtle: Basic, Premier, or Pro

TicketBiscuit

TicketFusion

TicketLeap

TicketmakerVanx (ATMS)

Ticketmaster Classic

Ticketmaster: Archcs

Ticketmaster: VistaTICKETsage

TicketSo

TicketSolve

TicketsWest

TicketU

Ticketweb

Tick-It! Trak Pro and/or Tick-It! 2K+

Titan Technology Group

Tix.com

x/SYS

TixHubTopx

Total Info by Easy-Ware

TyTix

UniversityTickets

Vendini: TicketAgent or TicketLine

online ticketing

Documents