Hi all-
As I'm sure is the case with the majority of you, we find that approximately 10% of our audience does not actually show up for each performance, leaving many empty seats. This is obviously frustrating for sold-out performances as we have often advertised that the performance has sold-out and have turned away potential additional patrons and revenue. Also, we generally end up with most of the no-shows being patrons (mostly donors) who have purchased the most expensive seats in our 1,400 seat hall, leaving large clumps of empty seats right in the middle of our Main Floor, easily visible to our artists and other patrons.
We've tried a few tactics so far, including offering students free upgrades (we're part of a large university) into these no-show seats and also selling "standby" tickets, where patrons pay a flat price with the understanding that their seat will be assigned minutes before curtain. In both cases, we formed a line at one of our Box Office windows minutes before curtain and, using N-Scan, monitored which patrons had not scanned in - we would then direct these upgraded and/or standby patrons to these empty seats. Obviously this is very stressful as we're trying to fill these seats in 2-3 minutes and still have the performance start on time. We've also then struggled with what to do with the patrons who showed up late and we had given their seat away. Although the back of our tickets does state that “Printed seat location is not guaranteed after published start time”, we find it hard to be this cutthroat with our patrons.
Do any of you have similar issues? Other than driving to these patrons’ houses and making them actually show up to the performance, does anyone have good ideas for how to lower the number of no-shows? We already send pre-performance reminder emails, etc. Is this an issue that any of you or your directors are concerned over or is it just us? Any ideas or help would be much appreciated.
Thank you! Ryan
Hi Ryan, and hello from another performing arts center attached to a college!
We've had similar issues, but mostly with free ticketed performances. Having paid tickets not show up does happen, but it's a rarity. Most of our free performances are general admission, so no-shows and wait list can be handled much easier than a paid/assigned situation like what you seem to be dealing with.
We also have situations where we just have lots of unsold seats, and upgrade people from other parts of the theater when they walk in -- clearing the balconies by moving everyone downstairs and then turning off the lights up there make the downstairs level look like a full house.
If you've got lots of people buying tickets and then not filling the seats, maybe there's an opportunity for a strategic price increase? You've got the money in the bank either way, but I imagine there's a correlation between ticket price and attendance of sold seats. In effect, you'd be trying to be more selective with your audience -- instead of selling to "people who will buy the seats", it's "people who will buy the seats AND sit in them". Perhaps an increase in price for one section would need to be paired with a decrease in another section so that you don't alienate buyers with less means -- likely to require some careful analysis and experimentation.
Anyway, great post/question -- looking forward to hearing other responses.
Hi Ryan,
Great question! My initial thought was to ask about your exchange policy... do you allow your patrons to make exchanges, and if so, how close to the performance? Could that be a factor attributing to the large blocks of empty seats? Second, since you mentioned that the vast majority of these no-call no-show patrons are donors, is this something your Development Office can assist with? Meaning, can they reach out to the donors to inquire about missed performances? Maybe there is some information not being communicated by your donors in terms of programming? Dates/times/locations? That's just my two cents...
I look forward to hearing other's comments or questions about empty seats. :)
Thank you!
Beth Jones
Patron Services Manager
Broadway Rose Theater Company