Blog
Dec 6, 2022
Hosting an event takes a lot of time and dedication. The last thing you want is for no one to show up because you chose the wrong ticketing platform to use to sell tickets. Although there are dozens of ticketing and booking platforms to choose from, ShowClix is a reputable option to sell tickets through.
Before you decide to make ShowClix your primary online box office, let’s take a deeper look into what ShowClix is and how it came about. Read on to discover how to use ShowClix to sell tickets for your events and to learn about similar alternatives.
What is ShowClix?
ShowClix is a full-service ticketing technology solution that’s goal is to provide organizers with a single solution for all of their event needs.
The company was originally founded in 2007 as an event discovery platform. However, they soon discovered a hole in the ticketing market that they wanted to fulfill. Most ticketing companies only allowed customers to sell tickets through their online box office without providing any tools needed to develop branded event pages, collect information about customers, or market events.
By 2011, ShowClix was re-launched as a full-service ticketing solution that provided all those things other companies were missing and more. They now offer robust ticketing, reporting, and marketing tools for a variety of events worldwide.
Selling Tickets With ShowClix
Selling tickets for your events with ShowClix can be a bit complicated to navigate at first. If you are not used to the ticketing platform, it may take some time to learn how to use it before you become proficient. That is why we put together this quick step-by-step guide to help make the process easier for you.
1. Sign up For A ShowClix Account
The first step to creating your virtual box office to sell tickets is to sign up for an account. To do this, you will need to navigate to the ShowClix homepage and select “Get Started Now” at the very bottom of the page. A form will appear asking you to provide basic information such as:
- Your name
- Phone number
- Annual ticket sales
- Your company name
- A short description of your event
After you fill out the form, you will have to wait for one of their event ticketing specialists to call you and go over your needs. Once you complete this call, the event specialist will set up your account for you. This process can take some time and gives you less flexibility controlling your event, so if you do not want to wait and be in control of your event creation, consider reviewing an alternative option below.
2. Sign Into Your New Account
Once your account is created, you can sign in by navigating to the website homepage and selecting “Sign In” and then “Client Login” in the top right-hand corner. Doing so will bring you to your “Dashboard” where you can see a quick overview of your account activity.
From here you can also:
- See your events
- Manage event listings
- Manage marketing campaigns
- View customer information
- Look at your reports
- View your box office
The dashboard can be a bit tricky to understand at first glance. The complex nature of the layout is typically more well-suited for large and experienced event organizers looking to sell tickets. Most medium and small event organizers can find it difficult to navigate, but not impossible if they are willing to put the time in.
3. Start Creating An Event
Once you have successfully signed in, you can navigate to the “Events” tab next to the “Dashboard” tab at the top of your page. Once in the “Events” tab, click “+ Create Event.”
This will bring you to a new page that will ask if you want to create a single event (one-time event) or an event series (recurring event). Click “Create” for the type you want to create and a popup with appear asking for basic details such as:
- Event name
- URL
- Venue
- Date and Time
- Sale Time
- Privacy Settings
Once you have all the fields filled out, select “Save and Continue” at the bottom of the page to move to the next step.
4. Fill Out Your Inventory Settings
Now you will be on the inventory page which will ask you for your venue capacity and the maximum number of tickets per transaction customers can buy for your event.
Below that you will select your price levels by clicking “+ Add Price Level.” A pop-up will appear asking you to provide a ticket name (i.e. general admission), type, and price. Click “Save price level” and that ticket will then appear in your “Price Level” section. You can add as many ticket types as you would like.
Next, you have the option to allow customers to purchase merchandise or other non-ticket items in the “Products” section by selecting “+ Create Product.” You can leave this field blank if you don’t have any products. Once you are done with this step, select “Save and Continue” at the bottom of the page.
5. Fill Out Checkout Settings
In this tab, you will need to determine the delivery options and fees associated with your tickets. Below that section, you can add questions you want to ask your customers by clicking “+ Add Questions.” This is where most people add their terms and conditions and ask about how the customer heard about their event.
Below “Questions” are the “Checkout Settings.” Here you can decide things such as checkout time limit, service fees, custom fees, and whether or not you accept donations.
Once you have filled out everything in this tab, select “Save and Continue” at the bottom.
6. Complete Listing Settings
The “Listing” tab is where you will provide your event description, enter your event website, and upload your event image. You can also select a template for how your event listing will look.
Once you are done, select “Save and Continue.”
7. View Your Event
A new page will appear giving you an overview of the event you just created. To start selling tickets for the event, you need to click “Launch Event” in the top right-hand corner.
Now when you go to the “Events” tab, you will see your newly created event under the “Upcoming Events” section.
8. Start Selling Tickets
Your event is now live and ready for people to start buying tickets to experience it. To boost ticket sales, you can use their various marketing tools under the “Marketing” tab on your dashboard. Their complex marketing tools allow you to launch email campaigns, use tracking tags, and even connect to various social accounts.
9. Track Your Sales
Once you start to sell tickets, you can track your performance with detailed order reports under the “Reports” tab. This will give you a detailed overview of how your event is performing and help you determine where you can make improvements.
Common ShowClix Questions
When it comes to using ShowClix to sell tickets, many individuals have a lot of questions. Here are answers to some of the most common ones.
Can I Have Reserved Seating?
With their reserved seating venue builder, you can create a replica of your venue that allows customers to select their seats when purchasing tickets. You can edit price levels per seat, create holds, and edit inventory from the main dashboard. This is a great advantage this platform offers over other digital box office solutions.
What Are ShowClix’s Fees?
This ticketing solution offers you the ability to either absorb or pass on your fees to your customers. You can also absorb just a portion of your fees and pass the rest on.
The big problem is that they do not disclose their fees to the public on their website. They keep this information hidden because they do not charge everyone the same price. Your fee is negotiated depending on your event size and frequency.
Although there is no way to be sure what the fees you will pay when making ticket sales are, many event organizers have reported paying around 15% per transaction. That is a big chunk of your box office sales. Even if you pass them on to customers, you are risking losing ticket sales due to higher-than-expected prices when they go to check out.
Is The Checkout Experience User-Friendly?
The platform does not offer a widget for you to install on your own website. Therefore, your online ticket sales are all made through the box office on their website. Meaning, when people go to checkout, they are redirected to the ShowClix website. Being redirected adds an unnecessary step to the process and makes the checkout experience harder than it needs to be.
Is There A ShowClix Official Tutorial?
ShowClix itself does not offer support pages or video tutorials on how to use its services. However, you can contact their support to talk to someone on the phone for guidance on how to use their platform. If you are a visual learner, this can make the process more complicated for you when trying to make online ticket sales since the dashboard itself is not super user-friendly.
Is There A Ticket Scanner App?
You can scan tickets with their iOS app, laser scanning attachments, or netbooks that you can lease or purchase. They also offer thermal ticket printing to print tickets that are sold at the door.
Is There a Better ShowClix Alternative?
There are a lot of options when it comes to selling tickets for your events through an online box office. Some of the most popular ticketing platforms such as Ticketmaster, Eventbrite, and Stubhub can be quite expensive for small and medium-sized events. However, there is a solution that is free, comprehensive, and easy to use.
TicketsCandy is a free online ticketing solution for events of all sizes that offers a robust set of tools just like ShowClix. Its easy-to-use interface and marketing features makes it s strong alternative you should take a deeper look into.
What is TicketsCandy?
TicketsCandy is an intuitive ticketing platform that helps you make ticket sales through an online box office. It has a toolkit of ticketing features to help you market, run, and analyze your event. Event promoters love using TicketsCandy because it’s convenient, has a dedicated support team, and is free for event organizers.
TicketsCandy features
TicketsCandy makes your ticketing experience painless with valuable tools designed to improve your marketing efforts and help you monitor your events in real-time.
Free For Event Organizers
By default, TicketsCandy is free for event organizers. They do this by passing their small fee of 0.9% onto customers when they are purchasing their tickets.
Since the service fee is so small, it is closer to the original price of the ticket. As a result, it does not dissuade customers from purchasing tickets to your event. Plus, there are no hidden fees or contracts for wanting to sell more tickets or use all the tools. Everything is free for you to use from the start.
If you so choose, you can change your settings to absorb the small fee without having to worry about it eating too much of your profits.
Revenue control
Get paid quickly every time you sell tickets by having your revenue transferred directly to your bank account. Funds from your event sales are often available within the same day you make them thanks to TicketsCandy’s partnership with Square.
Square is a reputable merchant service provider with low fees and secure processing capabilities. You can accept a variety of payment types for your event to increase the number of tickets you sell.
Real-time analytics and Metrics
Always know how your event is performing with real-time analytics. You will have instant insights into things such as:
- Ticket sales
- Gross and net income
- Discounts
- How many customers have checked-in
Plus, you can easily view and edit attendee information from your dashboard. This gives you the ability to manage appointments, create custom attendees, and so much more.
The more information you have, the easier it will be for you to optimize your marketing strategy to sell more tickets.
Other Features
There are several incredible features and tools this platform has to offer. You can sell tickets to as many events as you want with the ability to create multiple event calendars within the same account. There is also an easy-to-use ticket scanner app that you can download to any mobile device to instantly check customers into their event.
A huge advantage is their partnership with Atavion to provide you with a 25% discount for a custom website for your TicketsCandy widget to be embedded within. That way you can have a premium, SEO-friendly site that attracts users to your easy-to-use checkout platform.
Maximize Ticket Sales With The Right Platform
ShowClix is a great online box office option to sell tickets on if you don’t mind the inconsistent pricing. The platform can be complicated to navigate, but it does offer several beneficial features for creating tickets for your events.
If you are looking for a free ticketing option that has an easy-to-use interface, TicketsCandy may be a better option for you to consider. They can help you sell more tickets while keeping more profits in your pockets.
