Jeffrey Leib and Rosita Bradham presented on increasing your arts and cultural conversion rates for donors and visitors.

1. 9/30/2013 #bbcon 1
What’s Your Conversion Rate?
Turning single ticket buyers into members/subscribers
PRESENTED BY ROSITA BRADHAM AND JEFFREY LEIB

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COMMON OBSTACLES

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• Lack of necessary information
• Non-integrated databases
• Lack of staff technical skills
• Uncooperative staff
• Lack of institutional support/mandate for promoting membership to
different kinds of visitors
COMMON OBSTACLES

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ARE YOU COLLECTING THE RIGHT INFORMATION?

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INFORMATION IS POWER
WHAT SHOULD YOU COLLECT?
• Name and address
• Name and email
• What other information can you collect?

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• Lack of necessary information
• Non-integrated databases
• Lack of staff technical skills
• Uncooperative staff
• Lack of institutional support/mandate for promoting membership to
different kinds of visitors
COMMON OBSTACLES

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• Can be inefficient
• Data sharing can be a problem
• Technical issues caused by network bandwidth
TALE OF TWO DATABASES

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• Lack of necessary information
• Non-integrated databases
• Lack of staff technical skills
• Uncooperative staff
• Lack of institutional support/mandate for promoting membership to
different kinds of visitors
COMMON OBSTACLES

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• Lack skill for pulling data from disparate systems
• Database management skills
• Computer skills
STAFF TECHNICAL SKILLS

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• Lack of necessary information
• Non-integrated databases
• Lack of staff technical skills
• Uncooperative staff
• Lack of institutional support/mandate for promoting membership to
different kinds of visitors
COMMON OBSTACLES

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• Lack of communication between departments
• Personalities resistant to change
• “This is not my job” attitude
UNCOOPERATIVE STAFF

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• Lack of necessary information
• Non-integrated databases
• Lack of staff technical skills
• Uncooperative staff
• Lack of institutional support/mandate for
promoting membership to different kinds of
visitors
COMMON OBSTACLES

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• Unwilling to change current program
• “It’s what we always do” attitude
LACK OF INSTITUTIONAL SUPPORT

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DO YOU KNOW WHO’S VISITING?

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Do you know your current attendance?
KNOW WHAT YOU HAVE
23%
18%
38%
10%
8%
3%
Total Attendance
Paid Admission
Free Admission
Members/Donors
Groups
Programs
Special Events

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Paid
Admission
23%
Fee
Admission
18%
Target Attendance
IDENTIFY YOUR TARGET GROUP

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TAKE A FRESH LOOK AT YOUR CURRENT
MEMBERSHIP PROGRAM

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• What’s unique about your membership program?
• Does it promote loyalty?
• What would you change about it?
• What are other organizations offering?
QUESTION TO ASK YOURSELF…

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STRATEGIES FOR TURNING TICKET BUYERS INTO
MEMBERS/SUBSCRIBERS

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MAKE AN OFFER THEY CAN’T REFUSE
• Day of purchase discounts
• Giveaways and swag
• Design programs that gets your audience engaged

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COST EFFICIENT STRATEGIES
• Increase presence on website
• Follow up with program attendees via email or letter. Inform them of
upcoming programs that are similar to the one they attended and
member benefits
• Social media outlets
• Word of Mouth (guest services staff, volunteers, etc)

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HAVE A LITTLE MONEY TO SPEND
• Invest in marketing!
• Canvas your facility – signs and banners in high traffic areas
• Don’t forget the gift shop or secondary shops for marketing
opportunities
• Bigger presence online by hiring someone to design it

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HAVE A BLANK CHECK
• Hire 3rd party company to provide sales team to promote program
• Kiosks
• Comprehensive survey sent to target audience resulting in an ask
• Hire more people

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HOW AND WHEN DO YOU MAKE THE ASK?

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• Don’t ask too fast
• Don’t ask first time buyers
• Don’t seem too needy
WHAT NOT TO DO…

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• Treat this like a courtship
• First impressions are lasting impressions
• Make the process easy for the customer
WHAT TO DO…

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FINAL THOUGHTS AND QUESTIONS

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TWEET ABOUT YOUR SESSION
#WHATSYOURCONVERSIONRATE
#ARTSANDCULTURE
#ROSITABRADHM #JEFFREYLEIB