Don’t Get Caught in a Service ‘Freeze’

One of the most common statements from Private Label clients is, “But I don’t want my service fee to drive customers away”.   We certainly don’t want your service fee to drive customers away either, but research has shown that service fees are not what will drive away your customers.  Contrary to what many people believe, a service fee at the checkout can actually help you increase sales.

“Many have tried and none have succeeded” are the wise words of our very own Harmon Howe.  Harmon has been a rep here for several years and has seen many clients try to eliminate their service fee by burying it in the price of the ticket.  Unfortunately, this tactic has proven to be unsuccessful because the inflated ticket price is a turn-off to the customer.  They don’t even make it to the checkout to find out there isn’t a service fee!

Competitors to the TicketNetwork Private Label Program have tried the tactic as well, and have also been defeated by those frugal customers.  A recent article published in the Wall Street Journal profiled attempts from some of our competitors trying their hand at “all-in” pricing.  Feel free to read the full article, but the synopsis is that brokers listing their tickets on these exchanges reported significant losses in the first few months that the pricing change took effect!  Years of consumer research led (or mis-led) to these decisions, as it told them that their customers hated seeing their final ticket price jump because of a mysterious service fee.  Unfortunately for them, consumer behavior strays from consumer opinion. 

 At the end of the day, customers expect there to be a service fee when they buy tickets, and as long as it isn’t outrageously high, they’ll ultimately end up paying it.  The lesson to be learned here is to let the events sell themselves; all you need to do is concentrate on driving traffic to your site.  Sure, your Google Analytics may show some customers leaving from the checkout page, but that’s totally normal.  How many times have you been buying something online and had second thoughts at checkout?  If you have any questions about this topic, or would like more information about the TicketNetwork Private Label Program, email us at info@tnprivatelabel.com!