In the competitive world of event planning, maximizing revenue while providing exceptional value to your attendees is crucial. One effective strategy for achieving this is by leveraging add-on items to boost your customers’ cart size. Add-ons not only enhance the overall experience for your attendees but also provide a significant revenue opportunity for event organizers. Here’s how you can use add-on items to increase customer cart size and ultimately drive more revenue.
In this article we will walk you through some key information surrounding add on items and how to effectively use them. We will also highlight one of our event organizers that makes great use of Add-On items for their events.
1. Understanding the Power of Add-On Items
Add-on items are additional products or services that complement the main event offering. They provide extra value to your customers and can be tailored to fit various aspects of your event. By strategically integrating these items into your sales process, you create opportunities for attendees to enhance their experience, which in turn, boosts your revenue.
To show how powerful add-on items can be please see the below stat that shows a client that increased sales by 33% by simply adding drink tokens to their events. By doing this they gained an extra $313,868.33 in revenue for the year.
2. Identify High-Value Add-Ons
The first step in implementing add-on items is identifying what will provide the most value to your attendees. Consider the following:
- Exclusive Access: VIP passes or early access tickets can make your event more appealing. This could include special seating areas, meet-and-greet opportunities, or backstage passes. (With Afton Tickets you can easily update your custom scan in times for certain tickets classes so that they are able to be scanned in before the general admission tickets for the event.)
- Enhanced Comfort: Offering add-ons like premium seating, parking passes, or lounge access can improve the attendee experience and make their event day more enjoyable.
- Merchandise: Branded merchandise such as t-shirts, hats, or commemorative items can be a hit with attendees who want to remember their experience. (A common question from our clients is what about adding an image to the purchase page? This can be added with some simple HTML code. Just reach out to your account manager if you want help with adding an image to your add-on item)
- Food and Beverage: Pre-purchased meal plans, drink packages, or exclusive dining experiences can add convenience and luxury for your guests. This is also a great way for you to pre sale items so that you have a better idea of how much to order prior to the event and will save costs from over ordering)
- Experiential Add-Ons: Think of unique experiences like workshops, photo booths, or interactive activities that complement the main event.
3. Integrate Add-Ons Seamlessly
To effectively increase cart size, make sure your add-on options are integrated seamlessly into the purchasing process. Here are some tips:
- Bundling: Offer bundles that combine event tickets with popular add-ons at a discounted rate. This not only increases cart size but also provides value to your customers. For more exclusivity you can also hide certain add-on’s from your page and then only make them available in certain bundles that are purchased.
- Upsell Opportunities: During the checkout process, present add-ons as “recommended” or “popular choices” based on the customer’s initial selection. Highlighting how these add-ons enhance their experience can drive additional purchases. You can do this using our ‘Conditional Unlock’ feature.
- Exclusive Online Offers: Create limited-time add-on offers available only during the online purchase process. Scarcity can encourage customers to make impulse purchases.
4. Market Your Add-Ons Effectively
Effective marketing is crucial to ensure that your add-ons are noticed and valued by potential buyers:
- Email Campaigns: Use targeted email marketing to inform potential and existing attendees about available add-ons. Highlight benefits and exclusive offers to drive interest.
- Social Media Promotion: Share engaging posts about your add-ons on social media. Use visuals and testimonials to showcase the added value they bring.
- Event Website Integration: Ensure that your event website prominently features add-on options. Use clear, compelling language and images to entice customers.
5. Track and Optimize
To ensure that your add-on strategy is working, it’s important to track performance and make adjustments as needed:
- Analyze Sales Data: Monitor which add-ons are most popular and which are under performing. Use this data to adjust pricing, bundling options, or promotional tactics.
- Customer Feedback: Solicit feedback from attendees about the add-ons they purchased. This can provide valuable insights into what’s working and what could be improved. You can always do this with either checkout questions at the time of purchase or via an email campaign after the purchase.
- Test Different Strategies: Experiment with various add-on offers and marketing tactics to see what resonates best with your audience.
Event Organizer Highlight: FloydFest
Bundles
Floyd Fest is a great example of a client that makes great use of bundles to drive more sales. They also create a much more seamless purchase process for customers because of how they combine their items together.
Some of the bundles are simply a GA pass and a parking pass for the specific day. You don’t event have to always lower the price customers will just by this for a faster checkout so they don’t have to add multiple things to their cart.
They also make great use of bundles by combining various camping options to make their Glamp-Camp package. And finally they have various VIP bundles.
Add-Ons (Non Admission Items)
Floyd Fest also makes GREAT use of add-on items with all of the various types of camping items that they offer. They have everything from Canopy camping to Van-Life camping. They also offer things like GA Parking and Motorcycle parking. Year after year they show that they know what they are doing when it comes to Add- Ons. As you could see from the previous images and the below ones most of their items completely sell out.
Conclusion
Integrating add-on items into your event strategy is a powerful way to boost customer cart size and increase revenue. By offering valuable enhancements, bundling options, and effective marketing, you can create a more engaging experience for your attendees while maximizing your event’s financial success. Remember, the goal is to provide exceptional value and convenience, which in turn, will drive higher sales and greater satisfaction among your customers.
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