Customer Snapshot
- Events per Year: 48
- Average Attendees per Flagship Event: 700-800
- Staff: 2 (and one part-time)
- Location: Statesville, North Carolina
Bringing Events and Community to Downtown Statesville
Downtown Statesville is a 501c3 nonprofit organization that administers the Main Street program for Statesville, North Carolina. They focus on four main goals within the district: Organization and forging partnerships across sectors, design with a focus on public art, economic vitality, and promotion. One of the key components to transform Statesville is putting on events that promote local businesses and bring the community together.
In 2023, Downtown Statesville will put on 48 events. While not all events are ticketed, there are several flagship events that Downtown Statesville used TicketSignup to sell tickets, market events, and manage on site check-ins and sales. In 2023, these events included the Hops & Harmony Brewfest, the Downtown Statesville Wine Walk, Haunted Statesville Ghost Tours, and Carriage Rides.
Why TicketSignup?
Previously, Downtown Statesville used Shopify to sell tickets for flagship events. Liz Petree, Main Street Community Engagement Manager, said there were several pain points. “It was a very manual process. We had to pull reports and individually email each attendee their tickets.” TicketSignup eliminates manual work, enabling Liz to focus on what’s important: putting on great events for her community.
Moreover, the Downtown Statesville team liked TicketSignup’s pricing. It was cheaper than Shopify and Eventbrite, another ticket platform Liz previously used. TicketSignup’s per cart pricing with no hidden fees lowered the fees that attendees pay. Plus the Downtown Statesville team is able to take advantage of free TicketSignup features like integrated Email Marketing. “I love the automated emails, I used them to automatically send out an email 2 hours after someone buys tickets as well as schedule a pre-event email to send before the event.”
Most importantly, Liz values TicketSignup’s customer service. She’s able to get in touch with a person via phone or email when she has a question or needs help. “Jake has been amazing getting us onboarded and most recently making sure we set up our complex carriage ride time slot pricing up correctly.” In addition, TicketSignup’s robust support library of articles and videos helps quickly understand features.
Multi-Date Carriage Rides with Time Slots
One of Downtown Statesville’s popular winter events are weekly carriage rides on Main Street. Held 3 nights each December, there are 3 carriages with 9 time slots. Each night opens sales on a different date. TicketSignup is purpose-built for multi-day, timed entry events. Downtown Statesville was able to set up pricing and caps to make ticket options clear and easy for attendees to purchase.
Just how easy is it for attendees to buy tickets? Several purchasers selected their tickets and paid in under a minute once tickets opened for sale! Dynamic event tiles on the website show which dates are on sale, sold out, or not open for sales yet. Downtown Statesville highlights sold out time slots and includes descriptions of each carriage in the purchase path. Fast checkout makes it easy to pay on a desktop; Apple Pay makes mobile checkout even faster. Liz said last year’s final date sold out in 16 minutes – we expect it will be even quicker this year!
Coming Soon in 2024
TicketSignup has been working hard on a next-generation timed entry ticketing solution. Events like Downtown Statesville’s Winter Carriage Rides will have an even easier way to set up complex time slots, pricing, and caps on the dashboard. And attendees will have an even simpler purchase experience.
Easy Event Days
Downtown Statesville relies on a fantastic group of volunteers to help at events. TicketSignup’s CheckIn App makes it really easy for volunteers to scan and check-in tickets. Liz said, “Volunteers use their own phones to download the TicketSignup App. It takes less than 10 minutes to do that and train them how to use it!”
Downtown Statesville uses TicketSignup’s QR codes to post signs that people can scan on site to buy tickets. “We noticed it got even easier for people to buy tickets on site when TicketSignup added Apple Pay this year!”
Accountants Love TicketSignup
It’s not just event staff members who benefit from using TicketSignup. Liz said that Downtown Statesville’s accountant loves TicketSignup for more than the cost savings. Automated sales tax calculation, collection, and remittance alleviates significant accounting work. Moreover, it ensures compliance with all current sales tax rules thanks to TicketSignup’s real-time sales tax system.
TicketSignup also makes it seamless to view and control financials, track upcoming and past payments, and export financials across all events from a single financial dashboard. This makes post-event financial reconciliation easy, even with many events each year.