Greetings, all!
As thoughts turn to our eventual reopening, we are trying to implement lower-contact strategies for ticket sales. For several of our discounts, we have traditionally required the guest to present ID/document of eligibility in person at the Box Office:
We would like to move as many of these online as possible, but the verification can be tricky. Does anyone have an existing online verification method you would recommend?
We are currently exploring VerifyPass for the Military, 1st Responder, Educator discounts. Has anyone already tried them out?
Thank you!
Jennifer
Hi Jennifer! This is a very old post but this is something we're pondering as well. Have you found an option for this?
Hello, Jean!
We ended up developing a custom verification portal where guests can submit documentation of their eligibility. Documents are saved onto the account, and a CSI is opened to alert staff.
We use the entitlement customization. When a guest submits the documentation, a custom script automatically loads entitlements onto their account, so they can get their discounted tickets right away.
It is a "trust but verify" system -- Staff manually review the documentation, delete them, and close the CSI if they look good. If the documentation is not valid, they will deactivate the entitlements. I have a scheduled job that automatically deletes documents if left on the account more than 60 days, in case staff miss any.
It was a bit of a lift to get started, and requires staff attention to maintain. But it seems to be mostly working...
Jennifer, do you have any plan for people whose status changes, i.e. they are no longer a first responder? Or are all of these statuses considered "lifetime"?
The entitlements are associated with dummy memberships on the account. So when the membership expires, the entitlements expire. I have the Educator, First Responder, and EBT discounts set up to expire after one year. After that point, they can submit documentation again to renew. We also offer a Military discount, which lasts for the lifetime, since it applies to veterans. We don't accept the document verification for those online, due to concerns about copying military documentation. But if a military guest shows their ID at the box office, a staff member can manually put the membership onto the account.
Dummy memberships to limit time: I like that idea! Putting it my pocket for later.