Ok - I need some help! Believe it or not we're still using paper forms for staff to request their comps (ACK!) and I'm trying to shift it all online. The catch is that we have some restrictions that need to be respected like a max of 2 seats per person and no seats in prime areas, so here's what I've set up so far:
- a Product Only Pricing Rule that changes the standard Adult Price to Online Comp based on our Staff Constituency.
- Used a ranking to shift the Mode of Sale from standard Web to "Online Comp" within the Pricing Rule because I need an allocation to limit access to certain seats.
- We only allow two comps to be booked, so I've set up a constituency that will be added to each account once two comp tickets have been booked, then set up an exclusion for that Constituency within the Pricing Rule.
My problem is that even though I've set 2 as the maximum number of seats in the Pricing Rule, I am able to book more than two seats in one order, perhaps because of the MOS shift? Should I forget the ranking and use a promo code instead to shift the mode of sale or is there something I'm missing?
Another question - at the moment, this set up means that staff cannot access full priced tickets online because they're being forced into the Online Comp MOS. Is there someway around that, I don't think it happens very often so it might not be a big issue.
Thank you TessBrains...I'm hopeful that someone has some words of wisdom on this!
Cheers,
Tal
Hi Tal!
We have our comps set up online a bit differently, but great idea for this! Could you add a promo code for staff that would limit the ticket amounts they can receive, and make it so only the people with that source code promoted to their constituent record are eligible for the pricing rule? Does that make sense?
Hi Jordan!
Yes, that's a great idea. Rather than using their staff constituency, we could promote a specific source with a promo code added as a way to limit access to just staff. I think I might try it that way and see how it works. Thank you!
that what we did this season. We give the staff a promo code- which switches them to a Web Staff Ticketing MOS. I put an offer on the MOS on the performance(s) with a limit of 2, 4, etc.
Do you have a way of making sure staff only book one order? That's what I'm struggling with right now - we have a big staff (~200 including our orchestra and dancers) and we can't monitor each account to ensure no one over-books. I've got the constituency but my Pricing Rule Constituent criteria isn't working properly - so it's not limited to only people who have the promoted source, nor is it excluding people to have the constituency which indicates they already have their comps? I'm SO close to having this working perfectly....I just need this last piece to work!
IT's not perfect, but I create 2 lists.
One that Identifies Staff, and one that identifies staff that have purchased their comps for a show.
Then, in the price rule, use the general staff list as the include, and the staff comp purchase list as the exclude.
I have Single sales order listing report scheduled daily to give me a list of staff that have purchased their comps. this helps update the Staff Comp Purchase list daily.
The reason it's not perfect is; a staff member can purchase their comps in multiple transactions until the comp purchase list is updated. I'm toying with the idea of scheduling the staff purchase list to update every 2-3 hours during the comp purchase window.
No. It's more of the honor system. We have about 60 FT staff to deal with. Not 200. And I actually monitor the web batches to spot check activity. We have had no one abuse it.
Agreed, We don't have any abuse. But I do review and check.
We also have Pricing rules for staff comps, but since it's for about a dozen shows and 200+ people every year, and since different groups have different access, there's not a good way for me to add exclusion lists to the pricing rules. I haven't experienced much abuse, and when it is it's usually unintentional. I monitor it by running ticket sales reports in the days leading up to each show.
For our rules, limiting the rule to specific zones in the venue has worked well, and it only triggers 2 tickets at a time per show so any extras are paid. I like the idea of layering it with a promo to limit it even more to specific allocations, but it was hard enough to get them used to logging in so asking them to type in a promo code might be crossing the line, lol!
Thank you everyone for the input! This is so interesting to me! I've set up a promoted source rather than a list as my inclusion list because we have some part time or casual staff (extra orchestra musicians for example) who don't get our staff constituency and they're in some shows but not all, so this way I can be precise about which shows they get access to. I've also set up an exclusion list for those who have already bought. My problem is that neither is being respected - so basically anyone can buy and they can buy as often as they want. I don't know if it's because I've used a promo code as well and I've shifted the Mode of Sale - I'm not sure why the pricing rule isn't functioning properly?? It was such a delicate thing to set up and I feel SO close to having it do everything I need it to do - it's just this last step has got me stumped.
BTW Anna Simmons I'm using a link with the promo code embedded (partly because I don't want the promo code to be share-able) but mostly because I know that most people here won't remember the code or even figure out how to enter it!! oy! LOL!
Lol, embedded promo links are the best!! Although I've learned the hard way that they don't always clear out the promo a patron might already have unlocked, so I always include the premove=Y in the link prior to adding the new one. It loads more slowly but has solved some issues.
That's a pain that your rule isn't functioning right yet - I have a few thoughts if you haven't tried these yet:
1) Your comp pricetype should be affiliated with the comp MOS online, but should NOT be affiliated with the web user. This prevents them from seeing the pricetype online until the rule triggers. If the users are able to see and select the comp pricetype without needing the pricing rule to trigger, your pricing rule is moot.
2) Double check whichever pricetype is default on your online comp MOS. If your default pricetype is full price, your offer should not have the "override default" box checked (or vise versa). Your goal should be to force the users to select non-comp seats before their comps trigger.
3) Pricing rules don't generate dynamic lists, so you need to schedule them to generate separately, probably a few times per day. I would also recommend including the household and all primary affiliates in your exclusion list, just in case anyone shares their login with their spouse.
4) Is your pricing rule set to exclude general public? That would prevent the rule from triggering until after they have logged in, which then ensured it checks them against the exclusion list.
5) Is the rule set affiliated with your new web Comp MOS? Especially if you just made that MOS for this purpose, that is an easy step to forget.
I hope this is helpful!
We use a staff constituency, shift the MOS to staff comp once they log in, using the "checkout" item type in validate_cart to count the number of tickets in the pending order and check if they have any other orders containing the performance too. If there is an additional tickets up for grabs; we add a max override content type with the new max comp value.
We setup this up years ago and have had no issues since.
Travis
Thank you Anna Simmons - those are all excellent suggestions/ideas and I know for example No. 4 hasn't been set up, so that might help but I'll check them all. Thank you - very much appreciated!
Thanks Travis Armbuster - I've never used that feature so I'll see if that would help. Sounds really useful!