How it works, a quick overview
1. Two ways to start
Press the + button on the Tickets page and choose:
- Create a ticket: add one ticket to sell in your store. Best for a simple event with a single price.
- Plan an event: a short guided setup that creates your ticket types, adds any pre order items, lists them in your store (creating a store for you if you do not have one) and builds a to do plan for the event. See Step 2.
2. Plan an event
Plan an event takes you through five short steps. Your answers are saved as you go, so you can leave and come back to finish later.
- The event: its name, date, start time, description and a cover image. Include the venue in the description. The image is used on every ticket and in the store.
- Tickets: choose free or paid, then add one or more ticket types, for example Standard and VIP, each with its own price, an optional early bird price and date, and an optional number of places. Set the most tickets one person can buy in a single order.
- Pre order items (optional): things people can buy with their ticket and collect at the event, such as a book or a T shirt. Search your existing products or add a new one on the spot. These are offered with every ticket type, and you can change them per ticket later. See Step 4. If you have nothing to offer, simply press Next.
- The plan: build a to do list for the event. The Need ideas? banner suggests things organisers often plan, such as a reminder a week before, a scanner test on the day or a thank you message afterwards. Click a suggestion to add it, or add your own. For each to do you choose the date, who it is for, its priority and, where it helps, a one click button such as Email everyone with a ticket. Nothing is added unless you add it.
- Review: check everything before anything is created. If you have more than one store, tick every store the tickets should be on sale in. If you do not have a store yet, give your new store a name and web address here.
3. Create or edit a ticket
Every ticket, however it was created, is edited from the Tickets page. The editor has two tabs, Ticket and Pre order items, and one Save ticket button saves both. On the Ticket tab you can set:
- Ticket name, event date, start time and description: what customers see in the store and on their ticket.
- Price: enter 0 for a free ticket. Tick VAT applicable if VAT should be added.
- Early bird price (optional): a lower price between two dates. Outside that window the standard price applies.
- Capacity: turn on Limited capacity and enter the number of places still available, or leave it off for unlimited places.
- Max per order: the most tickets one person can buy at once. Raise it to let somebody buy for a group.
- Deposit (optional): let customers pay part now, as a fixed amount or a percentage.
- Image: shown on the ticket itself and on the store card. Landscape works best.
- Where it sells: the stores the ticket is listed in. A ticket must be in at least one store before anyone can buy it.
- Sale notification: an email address to tell whenever a ticket is paid for.
- Availability: turn this off to hide the ticket from the store without deleting it.
A pre order item is something people can buy along with their ticket, for example a copy of a book at a book launch, a T shirt or a meal. Add them on the Pre order items tab of the ticket editor, or in step 3 of Plan an event. The tab shows how many items the ticket has.
Each pre order item is a normal product in Products & Services, with its own price and stock. Search for one you already sell, or use Add a new item to create one with a name, normal price and stock without leaving the ticket. You can add a photo, description or downloadable files to it later under Products & Services. For each item you can set:
- Item price with a ticket (optional): a lower price for the item when it is bought together with this ticket. For example, a book that normally costs 15.00 could be 10.00 with a ticket. The ticket price itself does not change. Leave it blank and the item sells at its normal price.
- Limit per ticket (optional): how many of the item each ticket can have at the lower price. Anything above that is charged at the normal price.
- Choice name (optional): give items the same choice name, for example The Book for Hardcopy and eBook, and customers pick one of them per ticket rather than buying both.
A ticket with pre order items shows Pre order items available in the store. When a customer presses Add to Cart, a short pop up asks Add anything with your ticket?, listing the items with their prices and the total. The button says exactly what will be added, for example Add ticket only or Add 2 tickets and 1 item to cart, so saying no thanks is a single click.
In the cart and at checkout, each ticket is listed first with its pre order items underneath, and the saving is shown as With your ticket. The invoice lists them in the same order. If a customer removes a ticket that has items with it, they are asked whether to remove the items too or keep them at their normal price. An item without its ticket in the cart is charged the normal price, with a note showing the lower price available with a ticket.
The lower price with a ticket applies in your main currency. In other currencies, items sell at their normal price for that currency.
5. Track sales on the Tickets page
Each ticket shows how many have been sold, how many are paid and issued, how many are unpaid, how many guests have checked in, how many tickets were cancelled, and the revenue so far. Search by event name, or switch to looking up a ticket number to find one ticket straight away.
6. Manage attendees
Open a ticket's attendees to see every ticket sold: the ticket number, the ticket holder, who bought it, the invoice, the amount, whether it is paid, and whether the guest has checked in. Filter to valid tickets, cancelled tickets or unpaid tickets.
If the ticket has pre order items, a Pre orders column shows what each order includes and whether it has been handed over, and a total shows how many of each item have been paid for, so you know how many to bring. Use the With pre orders filter to see only orders that include them.
When somebody buys several tickets, each guest can be named on their own ticket. If no name is given, the buyer is assumed to be the holder.
Tick the attendees you want, or select every record that matches your filter, and choose an action:
- Resend tickets: sends each selected ticket again, with its own holder, ticket number and QR code, to the buyer's email address. Cancelled and unpaid tickets are skipped.
- Email all selected: opens the email composer with each buyer added once, however many tickets they bought.
- Send SMS: one text per buyer, so somebody with four tickets is texted once. Cancelled tickets are left out, and the confirmation tells you how many attendees were skipped because there is no mobile number on file.
- Cancel tickets: cancels the selected tickets and returns their places to availability. You can email each buyer with your reason. A cancelled ticket is refused at the door.
- Reinstate tickets: makes cancelled tickets valid again. Tickets are not resent automatically; use Resend tickets if the holders need them again.
Every ticket carries a QR code. Open the ticket scanner on a phone or tablet and point the camera at a guest's ticket. The screen shows clearly whether they are Checked in, Already in, Cancelled or Invalid, with the guest's name and ticket number. If the camera cannot read a code, type the ticket number into Manual entry.
One scan covers everyone on that ticket, so a party should arrive together. A cancelled ticket shows Do not admit with the reason it was cancelled.
If the guest's order includes pre order items, the scanner shows what to hand over, for example 1 × The Book: Hardcopy. Press Handed over once you have given them out, and the attendees page shows them as collected. Items on an unpaid order cannot be handed over.
8. Keep in touch after the event
From the Tickets page, Email ticket buyers lets you choose who to write to:
- Attended: everyone who checked in at the door. Ideal for a thank you message.
- Did not attend: everyone with a valid ticket who never checked in. Ideal for a sorry we missed you message.
- Everyone: every buyer with a valid ticket.
Each ticket on the Tickets page has a to do icon. It glows when there are to dos waiting and turns red when one is overdue. Click it to see the to dos for that event, add new ones, or mark them done. Ticket types created together by Plan an event share one list of to dos.
Where a to do has a one click button, pressing it does the job for you. For example, Email everyone with a ticket opens a draft email already addressed to your attendees, ready for you to write and send.
If you move the event to a new date, to dos set relative to the event move with it, so a reminder planned for a week before stays a week before.
Your to dos also appear on the main To-Dos board. Click the event name on a card to see only that event's to dos.
Tickets: sell, pre order, track and welcome your guests, all within MyCo
