Blog Post by: Krista Elmore

You’ve made your preparations, carefully strategized ticket prices, and are ready for an incredibly successful event day. So the big question is, how will you capture all of your event sales quickly and efficiently?

Ideally, you’ll have an event software that can capture all of your pre-event and event day sales in one comprehensive system. As you’re exploring different platforms, I’d suggest considering the following:

• Donor Software Integration – Does it easily integrate with your donor software system? Many programs do not necessarily automatically integrate with your donor software system, but they will allow you to capture the same information, export the data, and import it into your donor software with minimal disruption.
• Ticketing – Be sure to select a system that allows you the flexibility to create different ticket types at different price points, has a user-friendly interface for guests when purchasing those tickets, and will allow you to capture the necessary contact information for each guest.
• Revenue Packages – Is it easy to add all of your event revenue packages, from sponsorship levels with their associated ticket allocations to raffle and auction packages? How easy is it to track and add those sales on the day of the event? 
• Bid Numbers – We’re big fans of bid numbers per guest/couple over here at STUDIO 4Forty. Does your software system allow each guest or household to have their own assigned bidder number? How easy is it to assign that during registration?
• Mobile Bidding – While using mobile bidding for silent auctions was growing in popularity already, the pandemic really made mobile bidding a necessity. Now, many nonprofits implement this fundraising tool to great success. Is mobile bidding offered through the software, and if so, can you send text messages directly to your guests to encourage them to bid?
• Registration & Check Out – Take a tour of the user interface for registration, entering sales, and check out to get a feel for how user-friendly it is. You’ll likely have volunteers of various skill levels and familiarity working registration and check out at your event, so be sure that your chosen system is easy to navigate. We want the registration and check out process to be as quick, simple, and efficient as possible. 
• Keeping Credit Card Info – This goes along with the necessity of bid number association. Make sure your event software can swipe a guest’s credit card at registration and keep it on file (securely) throughout the event duration. This will make entering sales quick, will allow guests to purchase or bid without having to pull out their credit card each time, and will expedite your post-event sales batch to close out your event.

Want to know our favorite event software? Email me at krista@studio4forty.com and I’ll connect you to the best!