Ticketing & Customer Service - Recent Threads

Self-booking for Groups?

Michelle Ask — Fri, 12 Apr 2024 13:48:29 GMT

We are looking for other high-volume organizations that allow self-guided groups to self-book. Right now our process is very manual for the staff and we are looking for examples of anyone out there who has found a way to make the booking process less labor intensive (i.e Tessitura perf set up or otherwise). Happy to share more details once we connect.

Pay for reservation in TNEW

Brian Woolton — Thu, 11 Apr 2024 10:33:11 GMT

Hi,

Is anyone else using a customisation in TNEW to allow customers to pay off reservations? We have one in V15 and are wondering if there are any alternatives in V16 that people are already using?
Our current customisation works by inserting a link in the order confirmation for any unpaid orders. The link fires a local procedure in TNEW that populates the cart with values from the order (event description, number of tickets, price types and £ values). The customer then checks out that cart and the payment is offset by an On Account balance. We then use that balance to pay off the original order.
Before we commit to paying for this to be re-built in V16, we'd be interested to know if there any similar processes being used in V16?

Thanks

Brian

Subscription Detail by Constituent report

Toni Pittman — Wed, 10 Apr 2024 23:03:51 GMT

Hi,

This year we started selling unseated subscriptions through our TNew site. I noticed a couple of things with this. First, the subscription summary obviously doesn't get filled in until I seat the order. Fees are attached to the order when normally subscribers don't get charged fees - this is a MOS issue that I need to correct. But the biggest thing is that those orders that were placed online are not showing up on my Subscription Detail by Constituent report. I thought it might be related to web MOS, so I went into an order, changed the MOS to Subscription, made sure the Sub Summary was filled in, saved it and then ran the report. The patron is still not showing up. I'm concerned that this will also be the case when I go to do my rollovers. Has anyone else experienced this and found a solution?

Thanks

Pricing Rules and Packages

Joshua Peters — Wed, 10 Apr 2024 21:18:37 GMT

Greetings All,

I am having some trouble with a pricing rule I set up. It is an add-on rule with the goal of discounting specific production tickets when a subscription for next season is purchased. If I add the individual performances that are part of the subscription, the pricing rule kicks in, but when I add the package that contains those same performances, the rule doesn't trigger. Is there some step I am missing that allows performances that are part of a package to trigger a pricing add-on rule?

Thanks!

Preventing Bad Ticket Exchanges

Akil Lyle — Tue, 09 Apr 2024 23:11:24 GMT

Has anyone found a way to prevent the return of tickets in a mode of sale that doesn't match the ticket price type? It's a problem we've been dealing with for many years, and there seems to be no solution, as Tessitura allows any printed ticket to be returned in any mode of sale regardless of price type. It's a major problem with ticket exchanges, specifically for Broadway shows. There's nothing worse than getting halfway through settling a show, only to discover that your numbers are off because someone exchanged a standard ticket in subscription mode of sale. I've created message pricing rules that act as a sort of stop sign whenever a ticket is returned in one of our exchange modes of sale, but after a while, our agents just ignore it and close it when it pops up, so it isn't very effective. Has anyone found a workaround?

There's got to be a better way! LOL

Contact Info Collection for Walk Ins

Sue Llende — Tue, 09 Apr 2024 15:16:33 GMT

Hello! We're looking to see if there are good ideas or best practices out there to collect contact information for walk-in's who do not register ahead of time for an event or admission. We are asking for zip code and email and are recording those as survey responses but are struggling with those who do not want to provide this information. Also, the survey responses are limited in that they give us information, but do not create a constituent record for which we can track future engagement. Anyone out there have ideas on overcoming this challenge?

Limiting Wheelchair Bookings in a GA Facility

Elise Kurvink — Mon, 08 Apr 2024 23:47:40 GMT

Hi all,

Hope you're having a lovely end of your week!

I'm trying to work out the best way to manage having a limited number of wheelchair spaces in a GA facility, sold via TNEW. We need to cap the number of wheelchairs in the space, but would like these to be purchased online.

So far we have:

Created a separate zone for accessible bookings, alternating Wheelchair and Companion seat types. When testing and adding x2 Wheelchair price types to my cart however, this still ticketed over the top of a Companion seat type (not helpful when using seat types to cap the number of Wheelchair spaces)
We also tested displaying the Wheelchair Accessible Option on performances, however this did not correlate with the seat types as above.

Has anyone else had any luck with limiting the number of wheelchair price types sold when selling via TNEW? I found this thread which was incredibly similar to this, however there wasn’t a resolution here: https://community.tessitura.com/topical_groups/tn_express_web_user_group/f/tn_express_web_user_group-forum/32744/limited-number-of-wheelchair-spaces-in-a-general-admission-facility---tnew - I also started a discussion in the TN Express Web Forum but wanted to see if anyone else had any ideas?

Thank you!

Elise :)

Fixed package sales on TNEW and Price Types

Vannesa Hamilton — Mon, 08 Apr 2024 21:29:24 GMT

We recently went onsale with our new subscriptions. Renewals have been live for sometime. We came across an issue with the new subscriptions sales online. While we have a new subscription price type created for these sales, the online sales are applying the renew price type instead. I've double checked the following: MOS is associated with the price type, the packages are associated with the new price type, the user group is associated with the price type, individual performances are associated with the price type, and that the start and end dates are correct. Any suggestions would be appreciated.

Parking via TNEW

Mark Levine — Wed, 03 Apr 2024 16:32:57 GMT

We're looking to add parking as an add-on when purchasing online. I'm wondering if anyone out there sells parking online. We would like to integrate the tickets with our SKIDATA parking system so that guests can have a seamless experience when they purchase as well as when they visit the museum.

If you do it, how does the process work for the guest as well as your team? Is it an API is it a manual upload of barcodes?

VIP Add-Ons

Alan Strange — Wed, 03 Apr 2024 03:18:34 GMT

I'm trying to set up a VIP add-on for a run of performances.

The performances are fixed seat, with 3 price zones, 300 seats.

The VIP add on is not tied to a specific zone, and is limited to 35 people per event.

So the desire is for people to only be able to add on the VIP experience IF they buy a ticket for the event.

They should only be able to buy the VIP experience that correlates to the day they are attending.

And they shouldn't be able to buy more VIP passes than they have tickets for that performance.

So I'm thinking a pricing rule that makes the VIP experience available as an add-on once a ticket has been purchased to X-event is the way to go.

Has anyone done anything like this? I've looked through the documentation, but figured I'd ask before diving in.

Join the Ticketing & Admissions Community Group!

Jeffrey Mason — Fri, 29 Mar 2024 16:31:31 GMT

Hello fellow Tessitura folks!

Did you know that in addition to the Forums, there are community groups you can join? Were you aware that there is a topic adjacent community group called Ticketing & Admissions that would LOVE you to join?

Good news! I have a link to that group right here: https://community.tessitura.com/topical_groups/ticketing-admissions-tessitura-community/

We are 240 members strong currently and us co-chairs would love to grow that number this year! We are hoping to engage as many members of the overall Tessitura community when it comes to topics that surround the Ticketing & Admissions realm.

We anticipate hosting quarterly lean coffee meetings along with other opportunities for learning and growth within our specializations.

Our next Lean Coffee meeting will be on Tuesday, May 21st @ 3pm EST and you can RSVP here: community.tessitura.com/.../1545

Come hang out with us, share your story, allow us to crowd source ideas for upcoming projects or troubleshoot why that pricing rule just won't fire.

-Jeff-

Different pricing for aisle seats

Jesse Dillman — Thu, 28 Mar 2024 18:15:58 GMT

I'm not getting my hopes up, but I am wondering if anyone has had any luck in doing special pricing for aisle seats without simply adding new price zones to the map just to rezone those seats into? We just had a rental a few weeks ago that requested this at show build. They had 9 price zones so we had to have 18 price zones setup for the show; it was a rental so we just had to go along with it. And now another show is requesting this. This new show is a co promotion and will appear as part of our main season, so we get a say, but our leadership team thinks its a good idea. Our season shows usually use a 5 price map, that has 10 zones, 5 for the main floor and 5 for balcony to allow for easy discounts and repricing based on section. This is definitely the kind of show to want to increase prices on the floor, or do balcony only discounts, but I really don't want to have to create 20 price zones for a 5 price show. And it seems like this might be happening more often from now on. But if that is the only solution, then it is what it is.

New Subscribers for next day triggered email

Christopher Cuhel — Wed, 27 Mar 2024 17:53:56 GMT

Hello friends,

I am trying to make a list of new subscribers who ordered the day before. I have literally tried every permutation of package history package and ticket history package with price types and order date that is relative to run date. I have tried in, has, not in, and does not have, every way possible, and cannot get new subs. I've even tried in Extractions just to see if I could get it to work there. I could not.

We are on V15. Any advice?

- Chris

Printing Mobile Tickets Emails

Gawain Lavers — Tue, 26 Mar 2024 18:39:53 GMT

I'm not finding this in the docs or forums, save an Idea: when you try to print a mobile tickets email, the QR codes don't come through. Maybe this is "clever" and on purpose, but I note that I can print the mobile Tickets from my TNEW account pages just fine. Does anyone know if this is non-negotiable design, if there's a workaround, whether I ought to enter a support ticket, etc.?

Thanks,

Gawain

(X-posted in Online & Mobile and Administration & IT)

We're Hiring! Head of Ticketing and Customer Experience | The Australian Ballet

Emma Fisk — Mon, 25 Mar 2024 04:11:51 GMT

Hello Wonderful Tessitura Community,

It is with equal excitement and sadness that in a couple of months I will be finishing up my role at The Australian Ballet. After 8 years in Australia, I have decided to head back home to the UK to be close to family and seek out my next adventure. I can honestly say that TAB is such an incredible place to work and it will be very difficult for me when the time comes to part ways with my team and this amazing national organisation.

If you are passionate about performing arts ticketing, have experience in customer service delivery and enhancement, and enjoy managing a team of talented and exceptional people, then being The Australian Ballet's next Head of Ticketing and Customer Experience may be your next adventure.

You can view the job ad on our website Careers | The Australian Ballet
or on LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/jobs/view/3858150722

Combo Maps - General Admission and Reserved Seating

Eric Dunlap — Fri, 22 Mar 2024 19:53:42 GMT

Hello!

We have been asked to set up a VIP reserved seating zone (they pick their seats) in our facility map with all other seats being general admission (they don't select their seats). Is this possible in Tessitura?

Recouping Credit Card Fees

Toni Pittman — Thu, 21 Mar 2024 21:29:11 GMT

I've been tasked with finding out if there is a way to encourage patrons to donate 3% of their ticket order to cover the expense of credit card fees.

Has anyone done this? Is there a way to set it up with the 3% suggested fee donation automatically calculated for them? Do you treat it as a donation or a voluntary add-on fee?

Thanks for feedback on this

Toni

staff tickets online

Kathleen Smith — Thu, 21 Mar 2024 19:44:41 GMT

I am investigating how we can have our staff book their comps and staff rate tickets through tnew. In testing, I’ve created a “staff tickets” mos, and was going to use an offer to open that mos and limit the number of staff rate tickets (understanding that it’s per order and trusting the honor system). Then I was going to use a pricing rule based on staff constituency and an exclusion list for the comps- because I can have that exclusion list generate every so often and more tightly control the comp limit per customer.

BUT, here’s the stumbling block I have. Full time staff get 4 comps and 4 staff rate tickets, and part time staff get 2 comps and 2 staff rate. Am I correct in thinking that I would need to have two MOS - one for the full time staff, and one for the part time staff (and yes, two constituencies as well). Because if I have two similar offers on one mos (“get 4 staff rate tickets; get 2 staff rate tickets”), it’s going to apply the top one.

Or, if anyone has any better ideas, I’m all ears!

(Cross posting to the web forum too)

List Criteria - Paid Tickets versus Reserved Tickets

Allison Frost — Tue, 19 Mar 2024 19:40:05 GMT

We went live in January, and I'm still getting my feet wet w/r/t List Manager. I'm trying to set up our Pre-Show Reminder lists to work with WordFly and automatically send x number of days before the performance, depending on type. All well and good, until I start setting up the reminders for our School Day program, which is more of a group sales kind of situation. Due to the way some of the schools pay, we may not get paid until a month after the performance.

If I just use the following criteria, I only get paid orders:

Ideally, I'd like to set up two lists, one for paid and one for unpaid, so I can change the wording on the unpaid email and remind them they still owe us money. It's also way more important to remind the schools that haven't paid that they have a performance coming up, as the number of no-shows has skyrocketed since 2020.

It would be good to use on our Mainstage shows as well, since sometimes we reserve tickets for members and I'd love to send them an automatic message a week or two before the show reminding them of an outstanding balance.

However, I suspect this is not currently possible as things are set up. Has anyone managed to do this?

Price Types, Pricing Rules, and Modes of Sale

Virginia Carter — Tue, 19 Mar 2024 18:01:17 GMT

Hi all -

We are new users of Tessitura (how long can I say this??), and I am still trying desperately to wrap my head around how Pricing Rules and Price Types work in conjunction with Modes of Sale and TNEW limitations. There are a couple scenarios that are confusing to me - I'll list them both here.

1) I have price types that are set up with Product Only Pricing Rules that function through Constituency (attribute) restrictions. How do I set things up so that this specific price type ("Benefit", for instance) is ONLY available as a "flip" price type that cannot be explicitly selected by someone on TNEW or by specific local user groups?

2) Similarly, how would I set it up so that this price type CAN be selected on TNEW or locally, but ONLY if the constituent record has the specific attribute? (Or better, it only shows as an available price type on an event.)

I know (or think) this has something to do with Modes of Sale and/or User Groups, but I haven't quite grasped the concept. Any assistance will be greatly appreciated!

Thanks in advance.

Virginia

"Things to do" on Google

Alice Northover — Tue, 19 Mar 2024 16:31:11 GMT

Does anyone have experience with the Google ‘Things to do’ program?

Are there any plans for Tessitura to become one of their Connectivity partners?

Google ‘Things to do’ allows attractions and tour operators to display their products to the millions of people who come to Google every day for their travel needs. With Things to do, partners can surface their inventory via free listings and through a dynamic ad format. We encourage attractions, tour operators, and activity providers to work directly with their restech provider to take part. https://support.google.com/google-ads/answer/10723429?hl=en&ref_topic=12852463&sjid=13616554549777461630-NA

Recently, a new self-editor tool was added to the Google ‘Things to do’ program, as an addition to connectivity partner options. https://blooloop.com/technology/in-depth/google-things-to-do/?source=newsletter

Approved "Things to do" connectivity partners: https://support.google.com/google-ads/answer/13189190?hl=en&ref_topic=12852463&sjid=13616554549777461630-NA

Limit Ticket Selection to One Price Type

Michael Dorsey — Tue, 19 Mar 2024 12:30:10 GMT

Hello,

Can anyone think of a way to limit ticket buyers to one price type for their whole selection? We're trying to do a fundraising event as a ticketed performance and offer tables, but we don't want folks to be able to mix/match price types when buying the table. We want to sell the tables as seats to keep capacity in check (buying 1 table represents 10 sold, but only 1 seat from the seat map). If we have three different price levels, then people can buy 6 seats at one level and 4 at another and effectively buy a table, but not at the full table purchase price.

Also--is there any control aside from using flex packages that will hide a zone with less than X seats available?

Appreciate any ideas. Thanks!

Michael

New Staff Training

Crichton Hogg — Thu, 14 Mar 2024 14:55:34 GMT

Hi,

We're looking to improve the training we provide our new starts to get them ready for working on our ticket desk. Our front of house team volunteer to work on the ticket desk and the training we currently provide is generally very slow paced, bite size chunks, to make sure we don't overwhelm them with information and scare them. The issue we find is they also work 5 over 7, so they're potentially on the desk 1 day, then off for 2 consecutive days and then due to rotations etc they might be on the galleries for a couple of days resulting in a loss of knowledge or lack of confidence in putting the theory into practice the next time they are on the desk.

Does anybody have a similar scenario with the VEAs volunteering to work on the desk, and do you have any tips on how to approach the training?. We might just have to live and learn so to speak, and tweak the training as we go. But we've recently moved to V16 and have a pretty big summer exhibition coming up so it would be good to get as many of them up to speed as quickly as possible.

Thanks

Crichton

Non-Package Items on TNEW Package Page

Rashida Asante-Eccleston — Thu, 14 Mar 2024 14:04:00 GMT

Hello all! My team has just started selling subscription packages for our 24/25 season. I wanted to know if it would be possible to have non-package items display on the packages page. For example, we have some optional recitals patrons can add-on to their package purchase that we would like to add to this page if it is possible. I tried toying with applying the "Packages" keywords to the performances but this didn't seem to work. To work around this so that patrons can add these additional items to their cart, we currently have a pricing rule that links to these items.

NScan 'Group Entry by Order' not functioning properly on Zebra TC22?

Corvin Mecklenburger — Wed, 13 Mar 2024 18:29:55 GMT

We recently updated our NScan devices from Zebra TC200J to TC22, and are encountering a strange issue.

We use the 'Group Entry by Order' to enter our School/Tour Groups, our front facing staff often need to edit the quantity to accurately reflect how many folks are in attendance. For some reason, whenever we try to click the field to change the quantity we're unable to edit it? We didn't encounter this issue on the TC200Js.

(Circled the field we're no longer able to edit on our new scanners)

I'm curious if this is an issue anyone else has encountered! I'll also add that we're still using v15.

It's got my organization's IT Team stumped. Any insight or workarounds are deeply appreciated!