Your Christmas and New Year FAQs answered

It’s the most wonderful and, in many cases, the most stressful time of the year for event organisers. The rush is on to attract those vital last-minute sales ahead of your fast-approaching festive events. Your marketing efforts will have no doubt intensified, with paid ads, email campaigns and social media posts working overtime to captivate potential attendees, while you check and double-check that the necessary logistics are in place to ensure your event can go ahead.

At Skiddle, we understand the unique challenges that come with the holiday season’s hustle and bustle. So, for the benefit of promoters navigating the Christmas and New Year period, we’ve compiled a list of answers to some of your most frequently asked questions.

Tackling this task head-on, our Account Support Team Leader, Jonny Dickin will provide valuable insights and solutions to ensure your events run as smoothly and as successfully as possible. Covering everything from improving the visibility of your events to our most advantageous features, relevant to the time of year, continue reading to unwrap the answers to your Christmas and New Year FAQs and make this festive season a little less difficult.

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How will Skiddle ensure seamless ticketing processes during the high demand of the festive season?

“Our RapidScan ticket service makes ticketing an absolute breeze and is perfect for this time of year; minimising queue times, allowing promoters to scan tickets, check details and update lists in real-time, meaning they can leave tickets on sale even after the doors open. Our Account Support team is also available to chat with during the festive season online and over the phone. Our opening times over the festive period can be found below:

“Being a self-service ticketing platform, we also offer a full library of articles to help promoters as much as possible during the times that the office is closed. For the visual learners, we also have our recently launched “How to” video series on Youtube, which includes guides on how to use the RapidScan app, how to set up Re:Sell and more. Not only this, but we have a playlist of videos to help customers with their queries, too. If a customer gets in touch asking, for example, how to locate their tickets, you can easily direct them to one of said videos to assist them.

“Needless to say, we’ve plenty in place to help out and ensure that your events run smoothly at this time of year!”

Can you provide insight into the Skiddle features which may be advantageous to event organisers during the holiday period?

“As previously mentioned, RapidScan is key for Christmas and the New Year, so we highly recommend you download the app, get logged in and familiarise yourself with how the service works. Not only that, but we have a whole host of other features that can help!

“Re:Sell – If you’ve sold out your event, that’s great! However, plans change, and some people may find themselves in a situation where they can no longer attend. Thankfully, with Re:Sell, your customers can relist their tickets via your event listing, making the ticket(s) available to another potential customer who would like to attend. This means your attendance rate will be higher, your bar sales won’t suffer from drop off and your event can truly be the sell out it should be! Find more on Re:Sell here or watch our ‘how-to’ video tutorial on Re:Sell below.

“Discount Codes – A long-awaited and highly requested feature that we launched this year, with discount codes, you can run bespoke deals and offers to give your customers savings and make your ticket campaigns a big success! The tools on offer are very versatile and could really help boost your sales. Find more on Discount Codes here or watchour ‘how-to’ video tutorial below.

“Reps – Allow your customers to earn a bit of extra Christmas cash by selling tickets for your events. Our fully integrated reps system allows you to set up commissions and manage who earns what from sharing your events with friends and family – a win-win for all involved!Find more on Reps here.”

What measures do we have in place to handle increased promoter inquiries and support requests during peak times?

“A dedicated and prepared team! Our Account Support team knows the Promotion Centre inside out, so if you’re having concerns or last-minute worries about your events, then we’re the people to speak to. Not only that but the aforementioned articles and videos are an excellent source of information to assist you outside of office hours.”

How is the Account Support team helping to improve the visibility of events on Skiddle over Christmas and the New Year?

“Over the festive season, we make calls to many of our promoters to check in, ensure they’re all set for their events and that they’re aware of any optimisation they can do to get their events viewed by as many people as possible.

“But our Customer Support team are the real heroes here – they take the time to check over all listings taking place over New Year’s to ensure they have suitable images and that the event descriptions contain all relevant information that your ticket buyers could possibly need to know. Not only does this ensure that your nights run smoothly, but they’re also making sure that you have the criteria in place to get your event pushed out far and wide.”

Are there any specific tools or resources available to promoters for analysing their ticket sales or optimising their event pages?

“When promoters log into the Promotion Centre, the first thing they are greeted with is a graph that allows them to track and compare views and sales, within tools to customise the time frame displayed. This allows promoters to see what days and times are most effective and can even help them plan future announcements and social media posts to drive more views and sales.

“Not only this but within the “Analytics” tab on the left, promoters can get a more in-depth breakdown of ticket sales. They will also find the “RapidScan entry stats”, a useful tool for in-depth analysis of how many tickets were scanned following the event.

“In terms of optimising their event pages, promoters want to bear in mind the following:

“Short description – Make sure that your short description of your events is over 100 characters. The cap is 150 characters, so make sure to get it within that range. You can repeat dates and venues within the description if you need to – this will also help with SEO.

“Relevant image – Make sure to use an image with less than 20% text – a logo, a crowd shot, a press image of a headliner. Avoid using a flyer image, a lineup poster or something similar.

“Tagging artists – Ensure that any artists performing are tagged to your events, but ensure to only tag them if they are actually performing at the event.

“With these bits in place, your events will get Facebook retargeting and inclusion within our weekly newsletters at no extra cost and will also feature in our app.”

Can you tell us about the benefits and availability of the RapidScan App for smooth entry management during Christmas and the New Year

“Of course! RapidScan is free and available to all promoters who list on Skiddle. By having a promoter account and selling tickets with us, you are automatically eligible to use the app for scanning your tickets. Simply head to the App Store or the Google Play store and search “Rapidscan” to download it and get started. Log in using your Promoter account details where you will find your events. Simply click on the relevant event and get cracking! Don’t forget to check out our helpful ‘How-to’ video for a demo on how to use the app.

“We also have a super easy-to-use system for logging in guest users so that you can use multiple devices on the day without having to dish out your account email address and password. Head here for a video to help with this too, so make sure to check that out if you’re having multiple people scanning on the door.

“As I mentioned earlier, with RapidScan, queue times are massively reduced; simply scan a barcode and the customer is in, no more pen and paper required. The app will automatically keep your lists up to date, too, as it automatically syncs and updates with new sales, so there is no need to cut off sales early (providing that WiFi is available) and will also allow you to monitor capacity live with the admin tools. The app will also inform you if a ticket has already been scanned, meaning you can easily avoid people trying to re-use tickets.”