Between 60% and 80% of ticket purchase carts are abandoned before completing payment. These are sales that almost happened but were lost at the last moment. Recovering even a small percentage of these carts can mean a significant increase in your event's revenue.
Why carts are abandoned
Understanding the reasons for abandonment is the first step to solving it.
- Unexpected costs: handling fees or commissions that appear at the end
- Long process: too many steps or extensive forms
- Registration requirement: forcing account creation before buying
- Unresolved doubts: questions about the event that stop the decision
- Distractions: external interruptions during the process
Recovery email: timing and content
Email is the most effective tactic for recovering carts. Timing is crucial.
- First email: 1 hour after abandonment (highest open rate)
- Second email: 24 hours later if no response
- Third email: 48-72 hours later, last chance
- Content: event reminder, selected tickets, direct button to checkout
Incentives to close the sale
Sometimes the final push requires an additional incentive.
- Limited discount: 5-10% only for abandoned carts
- Real urgency: 'your reserved tickets expire in 24h'
- Extra benefit: preferred zone access, drink included
- Caution: don't teach that abandoning always brings a discount
Checkout optimization
Preventing abandonment is more efficient than recovering afterwards. Optimize the purchase process.
- Show final price from the beginning (include fees)
- Allow guest purchase, without requiring registration
- Reduce form fields to the bare minimum
- Offer multiple payment methods (card, Bizum, PayPal)
- Optimize for mobile: over 60% of purchases are mobile
Social media remarketing
In addition to email, you can reach those who abandoned with personalized ads on social media. Show the event they were buying with a reminder message. It's less direct than email but reinforces the message and keeps the event in their mind.
Conclusion
Every abandoned cart is a sales opportunity that almost closed. With a well-executed recovery strategy, you can rescue between 10% and 20% of those lost sales. Combine automated emails, measured incentives, and an optimized checkout to maximize conversion.