Building engagement with your audience isn’t just about sales, it’s about creating relationships. Your customers want to feel connected your organization as whole, making a connection to your company mission and your community. Engaging with them between events, and beyond just sales, is a great way to foster a stronger relationship.
Customer relationship management, or CRM, involves engagement tools to help make those connections. They let you understand who your audience is and what they find exciting, and then helps you reach out to them in meaningful ways. Tools within the BookTix system such as email marketing and tags support your ability to make your interactions with your customers into opportunities to connect.
What are engagement tools, and why do they matter?
Engagement tools are strategies and systems that you use to keep your customers invested in your organization, not just for an event where they have tickets, but all year long. Emails, surveys, offers and incentives all make great tools to help you stay visible to your audience members.
Engagement is the way you can turn a single ticket buyer into a long-time fan. By encouraging participation and excitement, you’re able to build a sense of community that lasts beyond curtain call. Having your customers feel like they are a part of your organization is a sure fire way to make sure they come back time and time again.
ACTION STEP: Consider when you communicate with your audience currently. Then, think about adding at least one more touch point to keep them connected.
How can Email Marketing help?
Email is one of the most powerful engagement tools you can use. Booktix has an integrated email marketing tool that allows you to send tailored updates to your customers. In this you can include things like behind the scenes content or make exclusive announcements, or simply use it for event reminders and personal thank you notes. The tool includes templates you can follow, and powerful customization within the email body to fit your organization’s own branding.
Emails like these can go beyond just selling tickets, as they build anticipation for what is upcoming for your organization. A sneak peak of your next event, early access offers, or interviews with your team make your readers feel like insiders which creates buzz for what’s coming up next.
ACTION STEP: Send a teaser email for you upcoming event featuring a special surprise inside – a photo or video preview, a hint about a theme, or a special guest reveal.
How can I use incentives to bring in an audience?
People love getting a little treat, and incentives do just that. Offering things like a meet and greet, signed merchandise, cocktail hours, or other premium experiences make customers feel like they are a part of your organization. This extra step of appreciation can motivate them to engage with you time and time again.
Incentives don’t need to be extravagant or costly, either. The important element is making them feel appreciated, and small gestures can have a big impact. Exclusive early access, behind the scenes tours, or personalized thank you notes can make a casual customer into a devoted fan.
ACTION STEP: Plan one new incentive for your next event, and see how that affects your audience’s appreciation of your organization.
How can I create and use a customer database?
Creating a strong customer base starts by understanding who they are, and that starts with data. CRM tools automatically will store and organize every ticket purchase, every donation, every repeat vs. new customer – everything you might need to follow their trends. Over time, you’ll build a database full of your customers, and you can see their details individually or run lists to see groups of customers and their interests.
Things like the customer tag tool can help you do just that – add descriptive tags to customers based on their demographics and interests, so you can create custom lists for contacting them or even just know details about your customers at a quick glance when they contact you.
Ultimately, this data helps you personalize your communication – sending messages to the person behind the phone or computer.
ACTION STEP: Create a tag for your customers who have also made a donation, then send a thank you email or offer them an incentive for your upcoming event.
How does this help my organization?
By using your CRM tools to foster engagement, you’re getting a better picture of your audience, and using the tools at your disposal to keep them involved. Tags, custom lists and emails, personalised invitations and thank yous, updates and incentives – all of these are ways to go beyond just selling. These create relationships, and relationships create community, which is the ultimate goal to ensure long term success for your organization.
ACTION STEP: Offer a community building incentive to your audience members, like a meet and greet or a pre-show cocktail hour.
Engagement is right at your fingertips – it just takes the right tools and a personal touch. By using the tracking and communication features available, you’ll be able to create relationships with your customers beyond just buying and selling.
