On a cold November morning, hopeful festival goers tried to secure tickets for the five-day Glastonbury event. While many would grumble about this kind of activity before 9:00 am on a Sunday – for those yearning for tickets to one of the most sought-after music events, the early morning seemed a small price to pay.
By 09:57 GMT, tickets to Glastonbury Festival had sold out. When we consider the 2.5 million who vied for the 200,000 tickets within the hour, the strain that Glastonbury’s website felt becomes clear. However, in these highly anticipated moments, seconds really do matter.
Festival organisers and any organisations selling something in high demand online, must be well prepared to alleviate any delays, glitches, or cumbersome processes that could quickly lead to frustration for hopeful attendees. Therefore, they must gear up for the sale launch period by allocating resources toward reliable, scalable and agile hosting systems, all while upholding peak speed and functionality standards.
Offer personalised experiences
Research from EE finds that at peak sales times like Black Friday or Glastonbury Ticket sales, 40% of consumers feel stressed or burnt out.
Organisations can alleviate this stress by investing in advanced analytics and data-driven insights to make well-informed decisions and offer personalised experiences that resonate with individual customers. By analysing customer behaviours, preferences, and past purchase history, businesses can craft tailored recommendations that cater to each customer’s distinct needs. This elevated level of personalisation can boost customer satisfaction, making fans feel valued, ultimately contributing to increased sales.
Bolstering bandwidth to boost performance
Glastonbury ticket sales, Black Friday deals, January Sales – these are all examples of highly anticipated sales periods that occur annually. Consumers are thinking about these sales periods’ months in advance: businesses must do the same.
One of the core strategies to streamline operations is optimising bandwidth capacity. This ensures a seamless handling of the massive influx of online visitors without the threat of slowdowns or website crashes. In their attempts to get to the front of the queue, many ticket-seekers will use multiple devices to join the online queue in the hopes of increasing their chance of success. Fortunately, automated systems can now efficiently adjust bandwidth capacity in response to surges in web traffic and scale it back down once the busy period subsides. This means event organisers can maintain high-speed and responsive websites without overpaying for unnecessary bandwidth.
Simplifying the buying process and condensing numerous steps into a streamlined and intuitive checkout experience, plays a pivotal role in reducing friction, boosting speed, and reducing the risk of customers losing out on their anticipated purchases. Offering guest checkout options and eliminating mandatory account creation hurdles can eliminate unnecessary obstacles, catering to time-pressed fans, converting eager buyers into attendees.
The importance of adaptability
There’s no guarantee that everyone hoping to make a purchase will be able to sit at home, on a laptop, with strong Wi-Fi. Therefore, mastering mobile commerce becomes more paramount.
Mobile establishes personalised connections with customers directly on their mobile devices, offering features such as push notifications, one-click purchases, and tailored recommendations. This level of convenience and personalisation has the power to significantly elevate user satisfaction.
To achieve this, businesses must place a strong emphasis on seamlessly integrating various payment gateways and optimising multiple digital touchpoints. By ensuring compatibility across a wide range of devices and platforms, businesses can expand their reach and deliver a positive experience, regardless of the customer’s preferred digital touchpoint.
To maintain customer loyalty during peak sales periods like Glastonbury sales, customers must be able to trust that if they lose out on tickets it’s due to tough luck, rather than insufficient websites. By providing a hyper-personalised experience on a UX-friendly website, event organisers can reduce pain points, friction and frustration, which in turn will lead to a smoother journey, high engagement rates and conversion.
Jesse Pitts has been with the Global Banking & Finance Review since 2016, serving in various capacities, including Graphic Designer, Content Publisher, and Editorial Assistant. As the sole graphic designer for the company, Jesse plays a crucial role in shaping the visual identity of Global Banking & Finance Review. Additionally, Jesse manages the publishing of content across multiple platforms, including Global Banking & Finance Review, Asset Digest, Biz Dispatch, Blockchain Tribune, Business Express, Brands Journal, Companies Digest, Economy Standard, Entrepreneur Tribune, Finance Digest, Fintech Herald, Global Islamic Finance Magazine, International Releases, Online World News, Luxury Adviser, Palmbay Herald, Startup Observer, Technology Dispatch, Trading Herald, and Wealth Tribune.