Seven reasons visitors don't finish buying their ticket

Most event organisers look at visitor numbers and at revenue. Far fewer look at the part in between: how many people put a ticket in the basket and then clicked away anyway. For most ticket shops that's more than half.

That isn't a law of nature. It's the sum of seven concrete things, and nearly all of them are fixable.

1. An account has to be created first

This is by far the biggest one. Someone wants to buy a single forty-euro ticket and is handed a registration form with password requirements. Ask for an email address — you need it to send the ticket — and nothing else.

2. The cost goes up at checkout

A €25 ticket that turns out to be €29.50 at checkout feels like a trick, even when the service fee is entirely reasonable. Name the total as early as you can. Better a ticket that costs €29.50 from the start than a surprise on the final step.

3. The payment method isn't there

In the Netherlands the large majority pay by iDEAL. Leave it out and for a big share of your visitors it isn't a hurdle but a wall. The same goes for payment on invoice for business buyers.

4. It doesn't work properly on a phone

Most traffic arrives on a phone, often through a link in a group chat. A picker that doesn't work on a small screen, or a form that scrolls sideways, costs you the majority of your visitors outright.

5. There's no reason to buy now

"12 tickets left in this round" or "early-bird pricing until 1 October" isn't a marketing trick when it's true — it's information someone needs in order to decide. Without it, putting the decision off is always the safest option.

6. You're asking for too much

Every extra required field costs buyers. Dietary requirements, job title, how someone heard about the event — ask after the purchase, in the confirmation email. By then you have the sale, and a good share will answer anyway.

7. The page doesn't feel like your organisation

A ticket page on an unfamiliar domain, with a different logo and different colours, makes people wonder whether they're still in the right place. Your own branding on your own domain removes that doubt.

Where to start

Walk through your own ticket shop once, end to end, on your phone, as though you were a visitor who doesn't know the organisation. Count the screens between "I want this ticket" and "paid". Every screen you remove takes a share of the drop-outs with it.