We understand that accessibility for all patrons is critical for your organisation; everyone should be able to access and enjoy arts, culture, heritage and entertainment. At Ticketsolve, we take accessibility seriously and are fully compliant with the WCAG 2.1 AA standards.
In this article, we'll look at one aspect of accessibility within Ticketsolve: how to create an Access Register or membership scheme with specific benefits to enable online ticket booking for customers with accessibility requirements.
What is an Access Register or Access Scheme
An Access Register is like a membership scheme, where members can avail of benefits and discounts. The main difference with an Access Register is that, to join, customers need to fill in a form and detail their accessibility requirements. This information is then reviewed and stored securely within their customer account. Within Ticketsolve, an Access Register is setup in the same way any other membership scheme would be created.
Why create and use an Access Register
Typically, customers with accessibility requirements need to call the box office for assistance each time they book a ticket in order to avail of services. With accessible online ticketing via Ticketsolve, customers can join an Access Register and make their requirements known to you, and their requirements can then be saved as part of their customer profile. They can then be given an Access Register Benefit Product so they can always access and select the right tickets for their needs online. Because this is all setup within Ticketsolve, customers only need to provide their requirements once - rather than each time they make a purchase - giving them a streamlined, hassle-free booking journey.
Setting up an Access Register
Review your venue's accessibility services
The first step to creating an Access Register is to review and update your current services.
1. Review and update your venue's accessibility services and ensure this information is easily found online (usually on the FAQ page).
2. Determine any other specific offerings to be included as part of the access scheme. For example, specific ticket allocations that are available only to Access Register members or 1 free companion ticket etc.
Once you are clear on the benefits of the scheme, you will need to understand which customers should be included.
Access Scheme registration: application for customers
You will need to gather customer information in order to determine if you can provide the services customers need, and so that they can join your Access Register.
Once you have reviewed and approved the application, you can use Ticketsolve's Customer Extras feature (BETA) to add access information directly to the customer record and store it for all future orders. Please note that these Customer Extras are not currently reportable in Sales Reports or Your Reports, but can be saved and viewed on the individual customer records.
Below are some tips when gathering this information.
1. Think about how to communicate with customers.
- When asking about requirements consider asking with example phrases such as:
- I require a wheelchair-accessible space
- I am d/Deaf deafened or hard of hearing
- I am blind or partially sighted
- I have limited mobility
- etc.
- State that all information will be securely stored in their customer account, with GDPR safeguards in place and will only be used to assist them in accessing the venue (you should have this wording as part of your GDPR/Privacy Policy already).
- Inform them of how the application for the Access Register will be reviewed (for example, should they expect a phone call etc.) and approved (we recommend box office staff review all forms).
- Give a time scale (all forms are reviewed within 72 hours for example) and how they will get confirmation of their registration (email is probably best).
2. Review applications to the Access Register in a timely manner. Your box office team should review all incoming registration forms to ensure that the customer's needs align with your scheme's criteria and that you can fulfil their accessibility needs.
3. Send an email confirmation to customers informing them of their registration to the Access Register and outlining the next steps.
Ticketsolve Tip
You can create a new Customer Category if you wish to identify all your Access Register members. Note: You cannot edit a Customer Category once you create it, but you can delete it or turn it inactive (off).
Go to Customers > Customer Categories
1. Enter a 'Name' for your category.
2. Set the Active customer category? toggle to on (blue).
3. Click the Add button.
Adding and updating Customer records
Once your team approves customers for the Access Register, you can create their Customer Accounts.
To create a new Customer Account, navigate to the Box Office.
1. Click into the Assign customer box and click the Create New Customer button.
2. Fill in the Customer details section ensuring that:
- Membership toggle is set to on (blue). This is important to be on for later when we sell the customer their Access Register Benefit Product.
- Customer category is correctly set.
- Customer has the relevant Tag. Create a specific Tag for your customers that have accessibility requirements, as this will help with reporting and communications.
3. Click the Add New Customer button when you are finished.
4. Click on the customer's name to access their record.
5. Use the Customer Extras feature to add access information directly to the customer record and store it for all future orders. This feature is currently in BETA testing - if you would like to use it please contact our Support team to request it be added to your account.
6. Click on the Comments tab to add any further information about the customer's accessibility requirements.
Setting up an Access Register Membership scheme
Once you have all your Access Register customers added, you need to create a Membership scheme for them; the setup is similar to any other Membership in Ticketsolve. Access Registered customers who are part of the Membership can then access services and benefits as designated by your venue.
In our example, we will take you through the setup of one of the most common (and valued) benefits for people's accessibility requirements - a complimentary companion or carer ticket.
Ticketsolve Tip
Before you begin, we suggest you create a new Ticket Allocation with a specific Access Register Tag (e.g., 'accessregister' etc.), in an event. This Tag can then be used across events, in Ticket Allocations that are specific for Access Register members. Note: If you do not create a specific Ticket Allocation before you continue to the next steps, you will have to create one before you set the rules for your Discount
Create a Discount
The setup outlined below ensures that companion tickets are exclusively visible and accessible only to customers who are part of your Access Register scheme while avoiding misuse.
This approach also simplifies your reporting process because companion tickets are trackable. When you generate reports, you will be able to understand how many companion tickets have been claimed and get insight into how the scheme is being utilised to make better decisions going forward.
To begin, you will need to create a Discount.
Important
Think carefully about what rules will determine the benefits. The rules define the criteria of which benefits and discounts are available to Access Register members. An example benefit might be, when an Access Register member makes a booking, they get 1 free companion ticket. You can create any number of benefits or discounts depending on your needs and customer requirements.
Go to Manage > Discounts
1. Name your Discount, for example, 'Access Register or 'Access Scheme' etc.
2. Leave the Start date and End date fields blank otherwise your discount will expire.
3. Add the Tag (or create one) specific to an Access Register Ticket Allocation (you should use the same Tag for the Ticket Allocation, the Discount and the Discount Rules).
4. Click the Save New button when finished.
Define the Rules for the Discount
1. Click the Rules tab at the top of the screen in your new discount.
2. In the When customer section . . .Click + Add New.
3. In the Add new rule pop-up, select Use promotion code from the dropdown menu.
4. Click the Save button.
1. In the Customer gets section. . .Click + Add New.
2. In the pop-up, set up the rule as follows:
- Select Access Type: Exclusive access to
- in . . .: ticket allocations with tag (only Access Register members will see companion ticket options).
- Select tag: In this example, it is "accessregister" (or whatever tag you created in the Ticket Allocation and Discount - see above). Note: If you do not create a new Ticket Allocation with a specific tag, the tag will not appear in the dropdown and your Discount won't set up correctly.
Ticketsolve Tip
You should create a Pricing Scheme and Ticket Price specific for the Access Register companion ticket. This Pricing Scheme can be used across all events, (in the specific 'Companion' Ticket allocation) where the benefit is applicable. You may also want to consider how you want booking fees handled on Companion tickets; amend any booking fee settings to the specific 'Companion' Ticket price only.
- Define pricing: at price.
- Select pricing scheme: Companion (or however you have named on Access Register companion ticket pricing scheme).
- Select ticket price: Companion Access Register (or however you have named on Access Register companion ticket price).
- Define discount amount: with percent off
- Value: 0% (because the tickets are comp, a zero value should be in this field).
- Define discount limit: with purchase limit.
- Value (blank field): 1 (this will limit the number of companion tickets available per ticket allocation with tag to 1).
3. Click the Save button to finish.
The last tab is Promotion codes, which will be the customer's email address and added automatically once they are sold the Benefit Product, so no codes need to be generated or added here.
Create a Benefit Product
Now, we need to create a Benefit Product from this Discount for Access Register members to use.
Go to Manage > Product
Click the + Add New button in the top left column.
1. Select Benefit Product from the Product type dropdown.
2. Create a Name for your Product.
3. Set the Active product? and Can be sold? toggles to on (blue).
4. Set the Price to 0.
5. Select the Access Register discount you created from the Assigned discount dropdown.
6. Change the highlight colour. This defines what colour the Membership label will be and is a good way to visually see customers that are using this specific Benefit Product.
7. Add a tag. In the example below we have used "accessregister" (or whatever tag you created in the Ticket Allocation and Discount). You don't need a tag here for the Access Register Membership setup to work, but it is handy for reporting on sales of products by tag.
Click the Add button when you are finished.
Ticketsolve Tip
You may want to add Expiry rules for this Benefit Product, so that you can review the product internally periodically and to allow your customers to renew or cancel their membership after a set amount of time.
Applying the Benefit Product to customers in the scheme
Once you have the Discount and Benefit Product setup, you can apply this to Customer Accounts that are part of the accessibility scheme. If you have already been tagging (or using another method) to identify customers with accessibility needs, you can use My Reports (see below) to get the full list of customers who may be eligible for your scheme.
Go to the Box Office.
1. Enter the customer name in the Assign customer search box.
2. Click the Products tab.
3. Select the Access Register membership product you created.
4. In the pop-up, select To current customer.
5. Click the Update Cart button.
6. Click the Payment Options button in the Cart.
7. Tick Skip sending confirmation email? This is so that you can send a specific Access Register email, with more details to customers (either one at a time or in bulk) rather than a standard confirmation email.
8. Click the Confirm Order button to complete the order.
Using the Access Register Membership online
To access their benefits members will need to login to their account on your Ticketsolve site when purchasing tickets - if they don't they will not be able to use their benefits.
In this example, once logged in, members would see the correct ticket options - a free companion ticket.
Emailing and Reporting on Access Register members
Memberships section of Box Office
The easiest way to report on and email customers with a Benefit Product is by navigating to Box Office > Memberships.
In this area, you will see the list of all of the customers who have an active Benefit Product.
The default view is All benefit products; to see just Access Register members:
1. The dropdown menu in the upper left is set to default, 'All benefit products'. Select the benefit name (in this example, 'Access Register') you require.
2. In the next dropdown menu you can select All active benefits or All expired benefits. You can also select a date range if you require.
3. Click the Search button.
From here you can now send a plain text email to Access Register members with the details of their benefits and the accessibility services you have available for them, or click Download CSV to download a list of email addresses and contact customers using an external email provider.
To email customers via Ticketsolve:
1. To email all of the Access Register members, click the Email All Customers button.
2. To email individual members, click the Additional Options icon (3 dots).
3. To email some but not all members, tick the box next to the customers you need.
Note that this will be a plain text email.
Sales Reports
There are two other options for reporting on Access Register memberships which can be found in Reports > Sales Reports.
- Active Benefits Usage creates a report of active customer benefits, which have been spent in a given date range.
- Benefit Sales Detail creates a report with a breakdown of benefit purchases within a given date range.
Both reports can be created in the same way.
1. In the Filter sales report search box, type 'Active Benefits Usage' or 'Benefit Sales Detail'.
2. Select the report format.
3.Select the date range.
4. Click Generate Report or Save As to when finished.
External Access Schemes and Registers
Some venues use external access registers such as Hynt. These types of schemes aim to make entertainment more accessible for individuals with accessibility needs. If you use external organisations like Hynt, Ticketsolve's Customer Extras feature (in Box Office and online) lets you create additional, custom fields for the customer record/account so you can gather additional information about customers. You can use these fields to capture accessibility needs as well as external scheme numbers, such as Hynt or others.
Want more information?
Ticketsolve Academy - Utilising Ticketsolve for your Membership Scheme
Managing and merging customers with memberships and benefit products
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