Is there any better feeling as an event organizer than hitting publish on your event listing and making that first ticket sale?
Maybe there is.
We see your single ticket sale and raise you a group booking with all the bells and whistles (think: pre-paid drinks packages, exclusive merchandise and backstage passes). Suddenly, you’ve increased your revenue tenfold. Just like that. Now, we’re talking.
The secret is to bundle tickets. This means selling ticket packages such as VIP offerings, group discounts, and multi-day event passes.
Not only does this provide more revenue opportunities for your event, but also creates more brand-building marketing moments for you to shout about (more on that later).
In turn, your attendees can browse a variety of options, choosing the one which appeals to them the most depending on their budget, taste and requirements.
Bundling tickets is an example of psychological pricing, a proven marketing tactic that makes consumers buy more, while making them feel like they’re getting a better deal.
Put simply: It’s a win-win situation for you and your attendees.
At Eventbrite, we’ve helped more than 800,000 organizers host events and know a thing or two about ticketing.
We’ve listed some of the main ticket bundling strategies below, along with how-tos and examples from best-in-class event organizers using our platform.
How to bundle tickets
Not all ticket bundles are created equally, and deciding which to use and how to do so takes time, research, and some know-how. Luckily, we’re here to help.
Here are some things to consider before you start creating those tickets.
Identify suitable ticket bundling opportunities for your event
Ticket bundling is not a one-size-fits-all approach. What works for another organizer might not work for your event. Think about what you can offer to create additional perceived value for your attendees. Is it early access, backstage tours or food and beverage packages?
Align with your goals
Now that you know the opportunity for your event, it’s time to establish your priorities. Do you want to encourage repeat attendance? Offer multi-day passes or season tickets. Do you want to upsell? Explore add-ons that might appeal to your target audience.
Keep it simple
Offering too many bundling options at one time may be overwhelming for attendees, meaning they won’t complete the purchase. We don’t want that. Clearly state what each package includes and include a maximum of five options.
Price it right
Don’t be afraid to charge more. It’s important to strike the right balance between giving attendees value for money, while not underselling your event. This will be different for each organizer and event. Review how your past events have sold and look at competitors.
Measure success
Done right, ticket bundles can boost revenue and increase customer loyalty. Measure the success of your ticket bundles by keeping track of how well each package is selling, and monitoring customer satisfaction levels and feedback.
Types of ticket bundles + examples
If you’re stuck on which ticket bundles will drive the most revenue for your events, don’t worry.
We’ve pulled together a list of the many ticket bundles you can activate, explaining what they are, why they’re effective, and how to create them on Eventbrite.
We’ve also included stellar examples of how savvy Eventbrite organizers are nailing ticket bundles.
💡Pro tip: Creating custom tickets is easy with Eventbrite, we’ve even got an AI tool to do the heavy lifting on copy.
VIP packages
What it is: VIP packages can mean different things depending on the event—it’s not all red carpets and meet-and-greets. It can include premium seating, early entry, inclusive food and drink, or transportation. Think about what exclusive extras you can offer to elevate your event and bring that premium experience.
Why it works: Offering a range of ticket options makes your event more appealing to a broader range of people. By including VIP packages you can target those willing to spend a bit more for added comfort or exclusive elements, while not alienating those on a lower budget.
Attendance at events mentioning ‘VIP’ grew globally on Eventbrite by 18% in 2023, proving there’s a real appetite for people wanting to have that extra special experience.
Doing it well: The Vermont Hollywood is a great example of how to offer a range of VIP options suitable for the event. As a music venue working with different artists, VIP packages often vary depending on the event and can include premium seating, early entry, and drinks packages, as well as meet-and-greets and photographs with artists.
How to do it: To create a VIP ticket you’ll need to add sections to your event. For this to work, your event needs to be unpublished and have no existing ticket types.
Select your event, click on “add tickets” and choose “create a section”. Then name your ticket type (e.g. VIP tickets) and input price and capacity, then click “create”. Repeat this to create new sections. For a detailed step-by-step guide, visit our Help Center article.
💡Pro tip: With Eventbrite you can use high-tech event access controls, such as RFID or QR codes, to manage multiple layers of access with ease.
Ready to create your own custom tickets?
Multi-day event passes
How it works: If you’re hosting a conference or festival, multi-day event passes allow you to make the most of your schedule of events and keep a steady stream of attendees rather than everyone turning up at the same time. It offers discounted rates for buying tickets for multiple dates rather than individual events, which can be charged at a premium.
Why it works: It simplifies purchasing for attendees, so they don’t have to figure out exactly which elements of your event they wish to attend. It also helps you sell tickets across the entire event, rather than simply the headline moments.
Doing it well: Founders Village offers multi-day event passes for its Tech Weekender events. The all-access pass grants entry to all activities, including panels, workshops, and an exclusive networking mixer event. The pass gives access to the site from 9am to 10pm each day, too, including breakfast, lunch and evening snacks.
How to do it: Creating a multi-day pass is simple. Ultimately, it’s just a different type of ticket. Set up a single event covering all the dates of your event, then create a ticket type labeled "Multi-Day Pass" or similar, select the start and end date to grant access to all days. You can also offer single-day tickets and set the price accordingly.
Group discounts (buy 4, get 1 free)
What it is: Group discounts allow you to build FOMO and encourage more people to come along to your event for a fraction of the price. This can also work when offering family tickets, with child tickets working out cheaper—or even free, depending on how generous you’re feeling.
Why it works: It’s all about perceived value. Even if your attendee had no intention of buying six tickets, now they are rallying their friends to bring them along to your event. Offering a discount for groups means people already interested in attending start doing some free word-of-mouth marketing for you. What’s not to love?
Doing it well: iBoatNYC offers group tickets at a discount across both its regular and VIP tiers. It also offers premium group tickets called Captain’s Choice and Birthday Breeze, which are for up to four guests with a range of VIP benefits. Something for everyone and every occasion.
How to do it: You can easily create group discount tickets on Eventbrite. Log in to your events dashboard, select your event, and select Add Tickets. Name it something clear like “Group Discount” or “buy 4, get 1 free” and fill out the form.
The only difference to a regular ticket is that you need to set the minimum and maximum quantity per order as the same and set the price at the discounted rate for that group of tickets. For example, if you are running a “buy 4, get 1 free” deal you’ll set the ticket quantity to five, but the price will be for four tickets.
💡Pro tip: Remember to use group discounts as an incentive to sell more tickets per transaction than you would otherwise. For example, offering a discounted adult and child ticket to a children’s event feels counterintuitive, as children would always need to be accompanied by an adult anyway.
Instead offer two adults and two children for the price of three tickets. That way you’re more likely to get more people through the door.
Tiered ticketing
What it is: Tiered ticketing offers batches of tickets at different price points to incentivize your attendees to buy for themselves—and encourage their friends to come along, too. Make sure to emphasize that there is a limited amount of tickets for each tier and use this incentive as a marketing tactic.
Why it works: This tactic taps into a sense of urgency. Listing all of the tickets (and prices) available will let your attendees see how much they’ll save by moving fast. And once the lowest tier sells-out, others will be quick to buy the second cheapest tier before prices rise.
By the time you’re at the highest tier, attendees will see how popular your event is, probably berate themselves for not being more decisive, and buy the tickets anyway. They’ll see the early bird tickets as discounted, rather than the latter tickets as more expensive.
Doing it well: Morning dance party Daybreaker taps into its attendees' early-riser mentality by offering batches of pre-sale and early bird tickets for a discounted price.
How to do it: To create tiered tickets you’ll need to add sections to your event listing. For this to work, your event needs to be unpublished and have no existing ticket types.
Select your event, click on “add tickets” and choose “create a section”. Then name your ticket type (e.g. early bird tickets) and input price and capacity, then click “create”. Repeat this to create new sections. For a detailed step-by-step guide, visit our Help Center article.
All-inclusive passes
What it is: Like vacations, all-inclusive events offer the ultimate treat yo’self opportunity for attendees looking to indulge. Depending on the attendees budget, they also offer good value for money. It’s probably best reserved for events where food and beverage is a large component.
Why it works: It simplifies event ticketing and spending. Attendees know what the event is going to cost them upfront, without the mental gymnastics. This allows them to plan and budget in advance. It also takes any awkwardness out of splitting bills or buying rounds, which can be frustrating for some.
Doing it well: Miami Nightlife VIP Clubs are all about that all-inclusive lifestyle, marketing themselves as the place for exclusive experiences. Not only do they offer a limited-time free bar, but VIP transport, so guests can arrive in style.
How to do it: Add a new ticket type to your event listing with clear information on how the deal will work. The trick is to make it your USP in your event listing and marketing.
Add-ons and extras
What it is: Alcohol, merchandise, parking, meet-and-greets—there really is no end to what additional elements you can include on your tickets. It allows you to upsell to your attendees before they’ve even got through the door. For attendees, it takes the stress out of the event, knowing elements are already pre-paid and taken care of.
Why it works: You get to secure spending up front to help alleviate financial uncertainty and allows you to plan service accordingly, by having drinks ready on arrival for your guests.
Doing it well: Position yourself as the place to celebrate, like Sip N’ Stroke, a popular London paint party. They’ve celebrated birthdays, graduations, bachelorette parties and even divorce parties. Their add-ons include prosecco (of course), branded aprons (a cute twist on merchandise), and memory boxes (for an unforgettable night).
How to do it: You can easily create add-ons for your event on Eventbrite. Log in to your account, select your event and then click “add tickets”. When you’re there you can click “add-ons” for each new element you’d like to introduce.
If your add-on has multiple prices of varieties, remember to check the box. For a detailed step-by-step guide, visit our Help Center article.
Promoting your ticket bundles
Creating a variety of ticket bundles broadens your marketing scope by giving you plenty of opportunities to engage with your audience. It creates those all-important talking points, gives you a reason to get in touch again, and allows you to employ a range of strategies to appeal to different people.
Tailor your messaging depending on the ticket bundle—and audience
Highlight the value proposition of the particular ticket bundle you’re promoting at the time. Is it a limited-time offer? Say so! There’s nothing like a ticking clock to get people to act fast. Don’t be afraid to get creative, either.
💡Pro tip: Our Smart Audiences tool uses exclusive Eventbrite data to identify event-goers who have previously shown interest in or attended similar events, making them more likely to attend your event.
Use a variety of marketing channels
Don’t put all of your eggs in one basket. Use different channels to get your message out there, including social media, email marketing, and targeted ads through Eventbrite Ads.
It’s important to understand where your audience spends most of their time and what channels have been the most effective for you in the past. Look at your past event analytics and get planning.
💡Pro tip: Maximize your visibility by using Eventbrite Ads. With top placements across Eventbrite’s highly trafficked areas, you can reach the 93 million event-goers browsing our platform looking for things to do. Learn how Aykut Events made $4.88 for every $1 spent with an Eventbrite Ads campaign.
Retarget previous event attendees
Your first port of call should be targeting event-goers who have attended your events in the past. These people will be more likely to purchase early bird tickets and engage with group discounts. Make sure you thank them for attending your previous events and include photos from last year’s event to tap into nostalgia and FOMO.
💡Pro tip: Founders Village co-founder Yasmin Bilqis has found huge success with Eventbrite’s email marketing tools with some email open rates higher than 50%.
Yasmin uses the tool in a number of ways: “Firstly, we can automatically notify everyone who’s attended our Eventbrite events. Secondly, I can also add an outside database that we collect from our social media or website to send them an email campaign, and we can send thousands of them every single day.”
List all possible event dates and make your events irresistible
Let’s face it. People are busier than ever and if the date of your event or location doesn’t quite work, you better make sure your alternative events are easy to find. Listing all of your events allows people to find a date that suits them, making it harder than ever to turn down a good time.
💡Pro tip: Use our recurring events tool to list all of your event availability and appeal to busy event-goers looking for things to do.
Curate similar events to appeal to more event-goers
If you’re putting on a lot of similar events, such as a weekly comedy night, you want to make your events easy to browse. This saves you having to promote the life out of each event, and means you’re maximizing every opportunity.
💡Pro tip: Our collections tool allows you to curate your best events together. They’re easy to create, fully customizable, and can be promoted anywhere using their unique URL. What’s not to love?
Review your performance—and adjust if necessary
The secret to successful promotion is to keep learning. Experiment constantly, lean into what’s working and don’t be afraid to pull campaigns that aren’t producing results.
💡Pro tip: At Eventbrite, we help organizers get detailed, useful and real-time event data to help them grow their events. Find out more here.
Time to create those ticket bundles
Once you’ve decided which ticket bundles will work best for your events, it’s time to get creating those unforgettable moments.
Building—and promoting—your ticket bundles is easy with Eventbrite. Explore our built-in marketing tools and the unrivalled technology you need to start, run, and grow your business.
