We know these are uncertain times for event organisers. To help you decide on your best course of action, we’ve compiled some key information to ensure you know how to best handle any decisions you may need to make in relation to your event.
Keep your attendees updated about your plan of action
It’s important that you keep your ticket buyers up to date with your plan of action and proactively communicating your plans will reduce the number of inbound communications. There are a few ways we recommend to do this:
Add FAQs to your event description
You may reduce the number of questions you get if you add FAQs relating to Coronavirus on your event description. Even if the event is going ahead as usual, it may be worth explaining this in an FAQ to prevent inevitable questions.
Send out a Broadcast to all ticket buyers
The Broadcast feature lets you send out an email update to all of your ticket buyers and we recommend you use this to keep everyone up to date with your event plans.
We have temporarily extended the limits of this feature to allow you to send up to ten Broadcasts per event (it’s usually three).
Respond promptly to ticket buyer questions
It’s best to get ahead and answer common questions up-front, but if you do receive inbound questions, responding promptly and clearly will prevent frustration. You may want to prepare statements, and train staff on how to handle inbound communication about your coronavirus plans.
Please don’t direct ticket buyers to us for assistance
As a self-service platform, Ticket Tailor can not help your ticket buyers, so please don’t point them to us to answer any questions. We will direct any questions from ticket buyers back to you (the event organiser) for assistance.
Changing, postponing or cancelling your event
Moving from an in-person to an online event
You may decide to move your event to an online-only ‘virtual event’. To do this, you will need to find a live-streaming platform for hosting the event, for example: Vimeo, YouTube, or Zoom. Once you have set this up, you can use the Broadcast feature to notify all ticket buyers via email and provide them with the relevant instructions they need to access the event online.
Should you need to postpone or cancel an event
If you have to cancel your event then it’s important that you promptly notify and, if applicable, refund your ticket buyers.
If you decide to postpone your event, simply change the date on the event and add a note to the event description. You will need to contact your ticket buyers to explain the date change, and, if applicable, offer a refund.
It's advisable to process any refunds as soon as possible. If refunds are delayed, or ticket buyers are confused about whether they are entitled to a refund, it can lead to your customers processing a dispute with their bank which can lead to a huge administrative burden for you, and if you lose the dispute, having to pay dispute fees on top of the refund.
Hosting your event online
If you're selling tickets for online events, make sure to select the 'online' option when creating your listing: