We’re extremely proud to announce that Monad is the first ticketing company to have a live online integration with Theatre Tokens, and Comar is the first theatre in the UK to start accepting Theatre Tokens online.
The Theatre Tokens gift voucher scheme has been running for nearly 35 years, so you’re probably already aware of it and you might be wondering whether to accept them at your venue. Here’s a little more information about Theatre Tokens and our integration with their online system that might help you make up your mind.
Why accept Theatre Tokens?
£10 million’s worth of Theatre Tokens were sold in 2018 alone. The scheme is not for profit, which means that money is waiting to be reinvested in theatres of all sizes across the country.
Theatres pay 10% commission on every token they redeem, but everything else the company offers – information, publicity, newsletters and resources – is free of charge. You earn a commission of 5% for selling Theatre Tokens in your box office, and participating theatres have found that this drove additional footfall to their venue.
When you activate the Theatre Tokens integration on your ticketing site, Theatre Tokens will publicise that your venue accepts them through their newsletter. This has an audience of hundreds of thousands of people. You can also add your listings and offers to theatretokens.com, which has 52,000 unique monthly visitors looking for where they can spend their Tokens.
Increased revenue
Interesting things happen to people psychologically when they’re spending a gift voucher rather than their own money. They’re more willing to try something new, take a small risk, and supplement the voucher with some of their own money. According to research undertaken by Theatre Tokens, this is exactly what happens when tokens are spent at a box office.
36% of survey respondents said they would use their vouchers to buy tickets for a show they have never seen or visit a venue they have never previously attended. And since the price of entry is already covered, 27% of people who redeemed Theatre Tokens in 2017-18 chose seats from higher price bands.*
Increased access
Theatre ticket prices are rising, and whilst we’re all doing our best to keep our shows within reach of people on lower incomes, sometimes they need a little extra help.
Theatre Tokens are a way of giving theatre tickets as a gift in a way that’s flexible and doesn’t rely on guesswork, and accepting them means you can welcome people who might not have been able to come along otherwise.
How can my venue start accepting Theatre Tokens through its ticketing site?
As with many of our integrations, activating Theatre Tokens on your venue website is a straightforward process. To start with, you’ll need to create an account with Theatre Tokens. This is simple to do, and anyone can do it.
Once you’ve created your account, the only thing left for you to do is call us and ask Ben to set up the integration. Ben will be able to talk you through how payment with Theatre Tokens will fit into your checkout flow and how it all works.
If you want to know more about the scheme itself, Jamie Snelgrove of Theatre Tokens has said he’s more than happy to talk to anyone who’s curious. Contact us and we’ll put you in touch.
Since this is the debut of this online integration, there’s really no better time to start accepting Theatre Tokens.
[*] Based on March 2014 survey taken by 5430 people
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