Customer Snapshot
- Tickets Sold: 13,000+
- Overall Ticket Sales Growth: 8%
- Referral Rewards ROI: 3,000%
Making the Switch from Eventbrite to TicketSignup
Harpoon Brewery in Boston, Massachusetts has used RunSignup since 2018 for their sell-out Harpoon 5 Miler and Dogtoberfest races. They used Eventbrite for their three large festivals and free events. Harpoon was looking for a more modern platform that could help them lower customer service and increase ticket sales. While Harpoon had some concerns about losing visibility by leaving Eventbrite, they decided to try TicketSignup for the 2024 Octoberfest.
Your Brand > Eventbrite Marketing
Harpoon’s brand drives ticket sales, not Eventbrite
Making the switch to TicketSignup quickly dispelled Harpoon’s concern that attendees only found their events through Eventbrite. Harpoon Brewery has a nationally recognized and beloved brand, ranked 18th in the top 50 craft brewing companies in the US. Their brand – not Eventbrite’s – drives ticket sales. TicketSignup’s free and automated marketing tools transformed Harpoon’s loyal customers into powerful brand ambassadors.
Get $20 When You Refer 4 Friends
Harpoon used TicketSignup to set up an automated Referral Rewards program that offered a $20 refund to attendees who referred 4 or more friends via unique referral links. These links were featured on confirmation pages, emails, and ticket management pages. The results were impressive: 1,799 tickets, generating nearly $100,000 in revenue, were sold through referrals. With refunds totaling just $3,220, that’s $31 in ticket sales for every $1 spent.
Unlike Eventbrite’s Marketplace Myth, where ticket sales are supposedly driven by platform ads, Harpoon’s organic growth came from attendees who love the brand. Only 38% of referrers reached the 4-ticket threshold, but top ambassadors went beyond without additional incentive, with one referring 21 tickets. The $20 refund not only incentivized sharing but also deepened attendee loyalty (and perhaps some encouragement to treat friends to an extra round!), creating a far stronger impact than traditional digital ads.
Free Email Marketing Built for Events
TicketSignup’s free and unlimited Email Marketing is purpose-built for events. Harpoon’s Marketing team scheduled and sent two emails promoting their Referral Rewards program to all ticket purchasers. In addition to creating a sense of urgency, there are 4 best practices that made these emails so effective.
- Highlight the Reward: The $20 refund and 4 referred tickets thresholds are clearly stated and highlighted in the email. Using theme colors, two sections, and dividers make the Referral Rewards text pop even more.
- Include Unique Referral Link: Make it easy for attendees to share the link by providing it in the email. TicketSignup’s Email Marketing makes it seamless to integrate event and attendee data into your emails with replacement tags.
- Feature Photos: Harpoon strategically chose a photo from their event that features 4 friends having fun. Images can emphasize that events are more fun with friends. Don’t have any photos on hand? Search TicketSignup’s system images to find a good one!
- Cross-Promote Other Events: The focus of the email is Referral Rewards for Octoberfest. Harpoon maximizes the send by cross-promoting Dogtoberfest in a separate section at the bottom of the email.
Elevating the Attendee Experience
Fast purchases and easy ticket management for a seamless event experience
Over one third of Octoberest tickets were sold on site using signage with QR codes – no cash or cards accepted. Apple Pay and no passwords/account logins make mobile purchase fast. Unlike Eventbrite, there isn’t a prompt to download an app to access tickets. Attendees can add tickets to Apple Wallet or Google Wallet from the confirmation page. They can also access tickets via the confirmation email (no attachments). Fast purchase and easy access to tickets kept lines moving at the entrance.
Harpoon leveraged TicketSignup’s free Websites to host all of their event information in one place. Countdown clocks, slideshows, and event info (including contests, food truck details, and band lineups) made it easy to buy tickets and answer any questions about the event in one place.
TicketSignup’s self-serve ticket management reduced customer service. It’s easy for attendees to access their tickets and resend their confirmation email via email verification (no logins required). Harpoon also upsold over $11,000 of beer hall admission passes via self-serve ticket management. Furthermore, attendees could easily track their referrals progress, with gamified statuses and easy access to share their referral links via social media and text.
Scalable and Reliable
TicketSignup’s scalability ensured smooth operations for Harpoon’s largest events.
With TicketSignup, Harpoon had a platform that could handle the demands of their large-scale events. Prior to 2018, their sell-out Harpoon 5 Miler would crash various registration platforms with the rush of participants trying to sign up. TicketSignup’s normal infrastructure easily handled the load, with a peak of 1,142 transactions processed in a single minute. Check-ins at Harpoon Fest ran equally smoothly, with 1,397 attendees checked in during a 30-minute peak.
The switch to TicketSignup helped Harpoon make more money, accelerate organic marketing efforts, and improve the overall attendee ticketing experience. Next up – Harpoon’s St Patrick’s Festival.