Tixel release guide for promoters on how to keep gigs ‘COVID-flexible’

As venues around the country have gradually started to reopen, ticket resale platform Tixel has released its guide to running ‘COVID-flexible’ events.

Even though venue bookers are keen to get the music playing again, hurdles, both positive and negative, are still a possibility. The short e-book offers tips on how venues can use the service to prepare themselves when eventually reopening to the public, including suggestions for handling pricing, refunds and fan confidence.

If a venue is suddenly able to sell more tickets for a show, Tixel’s waitlist feature can be used to alert eager fans that extra tickets are available to purchase. Additionally, making a resale platform available could lead to fewer no-shows.

“No-shows don’t spend money. If you give fans the opportunity to safely sell their ticket to someone else, you can ensure that your tickets are in the hands of people who are going to show up to your event,” the e-book reads.

Businesses are still required to keep the contact details of their patrons, and might need to do so for quite some time. Tixel makes the point that if tickets were to be resold through other platforms such as Gumtree, updating customer data becomes more difficult. In fact, the platform claims as many as 20% of contacts will be inaccurate.

In the unfortunate event that a gig has to be cancelled or postponed, Tixel suggests using its Refund Relief tool, which allows punters to claim a voucher or credit, or donate the ticket price.

“In the past we’ve seen legitimate resale provide a big boost in early ticket sales for our event partners and we expect this kind of flexibility and protection to be a key consideration for fans choosing whether to commit to ticket purchases as events start to return,” Tixel co-founder Jason Webb said in the book.