Customer Snapshot
- Spooky Days: 14
- % of Attendees Who Changed Ticket Day/Time: 6%
- % of Purchasers Who Donated to Community Partner: 23%
About Haunted Stage Stop
Haunted Stage Stop is a production of Spookygrass, a Haunted House production company out of Colorado. As a haunt company without a dedicated building, Spookygrass has operated in three different locations over the last four years. In 2023, they returned to Haunted Stage Stop for the second consecutive year. Self-described as “musicians by day…who also like to scare people at night”, Spookygrass brings a unique take to Halloween Haunts. They focus on taking naturally spooky buildings and transforming them into super-spooky attractions. This year’s building, the Haunted Stage Stop, used to be a music venue/restaurant that the Spookygrass organizers had played at prior to it’s abandonment.
The focus of Spookygrass is simple: creating the best, most authentic experience while supporting the local community.
A Free Website -> A Ticketing Platform Switch
The real impetus for Haunted Stage to switch ticketing providers in 2023 was simple: a free website. Their TicketSignup website came with several key benefits:
- No monthly fee to maintain a website – but the website can still be customized and branded to match the event.
- With a custom domain, ticket purchasers are able to buy their tickets right from HauntedStageStop.com, without being taken to an outside ticketing company.
- No accounts required, building trust that purchaser data was safe.
- New feature release! A custom favicon was important to Haunted Stage to make sure their website always looked like their website.
“If you aren’t using a custom favicon, you don’t have a website.”
– Andy Reiner, Haunted Stage Stop
Managing Attendees Before the Event
The Haunted Stage Stop website doesn’t just look cool, though – it’s also functional. In addition to a clutch FAQ page, the website includes a page for Ticket Lookup and Changes. This simple page solves two common attendee problems: locating ticket information lost in email, and allowing for changes to ticket days/times. By adding a button that re-sends the confirmation number, the attendee can either confirm their information or use the Manage Tickets button in the email to update their timeslot. The event enabled self-management of tickets to allow ticket holders to manage their tickets and change their day or timeslot on their own.
There will always be outliers who need additional hand-holding, but providing self-serve options on the website reduces the customer service needs for the Haunted Stage Stop team. With 6% of attendees changing their ticket timeslots, self serve eliminates a lot of email and phone support. And it looks like it kept attendees happy, too: ScarefFactor.com rated their customer service as a 9.94!
Thorough FAQ Page
Ticket Lookup and Changes Page
Haunted Stage Stop tickets are all timed entry to maintain an even and manageable flow of traffic and avoid the dreaded conga line experience. Then, purchasers are asked to confirm that they understand that they should enter the line at that time. This timed-entry approach, combined with the additional reinforcement of a custom question, helped keep attendees on-time. With that, Haunted Stage Stop could maintain ideal spacing in the attraction.
Checking In Attendees – and More
Check-in for the Haunted Stage Stop was relatively seamless with the TicketSignup Tickets App for CheckIn. Team members scanned ticket QR codes as they entered. The only catch: the remote location meant very limited cell service, and trouble for people who hadn’t previously saved the QR code. Haunted Stage Stop got ahead of the issue by using free email to send reminders to have the QR code accessible. For anyone who had not accessed the QR code ahead of time, the on-site team could identify the ticket by searching for the purchasers name.
The TicketSignup Tickets App was for more than just checking in attendees, though. They had two types of store items that needed to be fulfilled: merch, and discounted cocktails/mocktails from their partner Gold Dirt Distillery. The store merch, including shirts and hats with custom artist designs, could be checked in and fulfilled on-site.
Then, when it came time for the attendee to redeem their drink, the distillery could scan the same QR code that the attendee used to enter the haunt. One QR code, three potential uses.
Specific configurations for the CheckIn team and the Gold Dirt Distillery
View of tickets that have been checked in.
View of the drinks sold in the store and checked in by the Gold Dirt Distillery.
“Initially, we thought having a single QR code for both the entrance ticket and drinks might be confusing, but in practice, it’s much simpler. People don’t have to keep track of multiple QR codes to redeem everything on-site.”
– Andy Reiner, Haunted Stage Stop
Being a Good Community Partner
Being a good community partner is important to Spookygrass, especially because they have needed support from several communities over the years. In 2023, they raised money for the Timberline Volunteer Firefighter Foundation. To do so, they gave ticket purchasers an option to donate during the purchase path, with donation funds going directly to the foundation. By event close, 23% of purchasers had added a donation for the foundation.
But the partnership was more than just a donation request. They also had volunteer firefighters on-site selling burgers, brats, and hot chocolate at the Haunted Stage Midway on many of their open nights.
Summary
The Haunted Stage Stop may be a transient haunted house, but the Spookygrass remains focused on experiential excellence. The move to TicketSignup helped Spookygrass to start that experience early with a branded website and improved the on-site flow of traffic. Their 2023 scary season was a resounding success, and they are already looking ahead to whatever spookiness 2024 may bring.
“The point of having a good ticketing system is to be seamless and connected to them throughout the whole event cycle. It was important to us that our branding be highly professional, including our website and emails. TicketSignup makes ticketing simpler so we can focus on delivering the best possible experience to as many people as possible. We scared a lot of people this year! We’ll be back – regardless of what building we’re in next year, Spookygrass and TicketSignup will be back no matter what.”
– Andy Reiner, Haunted Stage Stop