Event Experience

Engage With Your Fans Through Whatsapp

WhatsApp is one of the most popular communication channels in the world. Where most people still think you can only use it for personal conversations, more and more businesses are discovering it as a tool to engage with their fans! From customer service to marketing messages and everything in between.

• Attract and engage younger audience
• Sell tickets quickly with in-chat sales
• Be less dependent on social media
• Answer questions quickly
• Elevate the visitor experience

Keep Your Fans Engaged

Discover the power of engagement year-round. To impress, don't start the conversation a month before your sale. Keep your fans informed year-round with exclusive content through this powerful channel. Such as pre-sale alerts, loyalty rewards, lineup reveals and more!

• Create meaningful touchpoints
• Increase tickets sales
• Create a loyal fan base
• Lower advertising costs

Make It Personal

Make fans feel special with personalized messages using your data. Use a Customer Data Platform to collect info on their purchases and preferences, and send automated yet personal campaigns with unique codes, exclusive promotions, or surprise discounts for loyal fans. Boost ticket sales easily through in-chat ticket sales, simplifying the transaction within the same conversation.

Answer Questions Quickly

Younger generations expect instant responses, so don't make them email your support address and wait for two days. Ensure you provide them with the smoothest experience possible! Transform your Whatsapp into a service channel where fans can easily ask questions. Receive all questions in one inbox, enabling you to work efficiently and save time.

• Boost your efficiency and save time
• Personalize the conversation with customer profiles
• Turn conversations into conversions
• Provide instant replies

Are you ready to discover the power of WhatsApp? Let's talk about improving your fan experience and boosting ticket sales.

Engage Visitors with Apple Messages for Business.

Are you active or expanding into the United States area? Integrate Apple Messages for Business into your communication strategy to connect with Apple-loving users in the United States. Stay tuned to this messaging channel as it's expected to expand beyond US boundaries soon.

Apple Messages for Business enables you to deliver tailored updates to your growing fan base, including real-time chat support, in-chat sales, exclusive offers, and updates about events or other rich messages.

Enhance Interaction With Viber

Connect with your visitors in Eastern Europe, Asia, and the Middle East using Viber. Go beyond plain text—deliver rich, instant, and interactive experiences to keep them informed and engaged.

Viber is known for its global reach and trustworthiness:

• Secure communication: end-to-end encryption to protect your messages.
• Guaranteed delivery: if recipient lacks internet, it switches to SMS as backup.
• Verified channel: verified sender is presented when interacting, fostering trust.

So, if you are expanding in above mentioned areas and looking for an effective way to communicate with your visitors, this is the channel!

Connect With Your Fans Through Facebook Messenger.

Facebook is still hot! Most people use it often to ask questions to event organizers. That’s convenient but there’s are many more opportunities to engage with your fans on this platform. Send personalized marketing messages 1:1 to your fans and stand out!

• Reduce advertising expenses
• Easy sell tickets with in-chat sales
• Extend your reach beyond organic posts
• Answer questions quickly

Keep Your Fans Engaged

Perhaps you need a one-time investment to collect opt-ins from your fans through activating creative campaigns. However, afterward, you're ready to engage with your fans 1:1 at no additional cost! Keep your fans informed throughout the year with exclusive content via this powerful channel, including pre-sale alerts, loyalty rewards, lineup reveals, and more! By delivering relevant content, you create meaningful touchpoints that boost ticket sales, foster loyalty among fans, and reduce advertising costs!

Make It Personal

To increase conversion rates, personalize communications using fan data in a Customer Data Platform. Create profiles with insights on purchase history and preferences. Send unique codes or promotions to show appreciation for loyalty, increasing the chances of higher ticket sales. Integrate in-chat purchases for streamlined ticketing within the same conversation, simplifying transactions.

Answer Questions Quickly

Younger generations expect instant responses, so don't have them email your support address with questions and make them wait for two days. Especially if they're not visitors yet, ensure you provide them with the smoothest experience possible! Turn your Facebook into a service channel where fans can easily ask questions. By using our Customer Service tool (link), you will receive questions from all channels in one inbox. This enables you to work efficiently and answer questions quickly!

• Boost your efficiency and save time.
• Personalize the conversation with customer profiles.
• Turn conversations into conversions
• Provide instant replies and improve the fan experience.

Are you ready to discover the power of WhatsApp? Let's talk about improving your fan experience and boosting ticket sales.

Be Where Your Fans Are With Instagram Messaging

Stand out in a crowded market with numerous events by connecting with your fans on Instagram. And no, we're not talking about splurging on digital marketing ads in the feed—instead, we're talking about 1:1 communication through their inbox! Is this possible? Yes!

• Attract and engage younger audiences
• Reduce advertising expenses
• Easy sell tickets with in-chat sales
• Extend your reach beyond organic posts
• Answer questions quickly

Most organizers still rely on email, and while it can be effective, we also know that the open rate is not impressive. Another commonly used method is organic posts, but did you know this is only viewed by 10% of your followers? Ouch... So, seize this opportunity by engaging 1:1 on this popular channel. You'll be one of the first!

Connect with an Opt-in

Of course, you still need permission to send messages, but there are many creative ways to activate your fans and collect opt-ins. For example, create a cool Instagram story with a giveaway or exclusive access. Have your followers reply with a simple word, like 'Yes!'—keep it straightforward, my friend. Send an automated reply with a button, and you're good to go!

Maybe you need to kickstart a paid campaign to broaden your reach, but after that your fans will be as close as they can get. You can effortlessly reach out to them with promotions and other information at no additional cost! Music to our ears!

Keep Your Fans Engaged

Discover the power of engagement year-round. To impress, don't start the conversation a month before your sale. Keep your fans informed year-round with exclusive content through this powerful channel. Such as pre-sale alerts, loyalty rewards, lineup reveals and more!

• Create meaningful touchpoints
• Increase tickets sales
• Create a loyal fan base
• Lower advertising costs

Make It Personal

To increase conversion rates, personalize communications using fan data in a Customer Data Platform. Create profiles with insights on purchase history and preferences. Send unique codes or promotions to show appreciation for loyalty, increasing the chances of higher ticket sales. Integrate in-chat purchases for streamlined ticketing within the same conversation, simplifying transactions.

Answer Questions Quickly

Younger generations expect instant responses, so don't make them email your support address and wait for two days. Ensure you provide them with the smoothest experience possible! Transform your Instagram into a service channel where fans can easily ask questions. Receive all questions in one inbox, enabling you to work efficiently and save time.

• Boost your efficiency and save time
• Personalize the conversation with customer profiles
• Turn conversations into conversions
• Provide instant replies and improve the fan experience

Are you ready to discover the power of Instagram? Let's talk about improving your fan experience and boosting ticket sales.

Engage Directly from Visitors Searches

Jump into your visitor's Google searches on Search and Maps, helping them out when they really need it. Make it super easy for potential visitors to ask questions by setting up a chat right on Google Search or Maps. Give instant help through a chatbot or live chat.

And guess what? You can also proactively share information about the line-up, event site or other details. Plus, boost your conversation by sending potential visitors’ reminders about your event and sharing a link for them to buy tickets. Easy, right?

Google Business Messaging is known for enabling you to provide next-level support:

• Automated Customer Service: Integrate a chatbot to quickly provide answers to FAQ’s.
• Instant Support: Provide immediate answers when visitors need it.
• In-chat sales: Increase conversation by making it easy to buy tickets in-chat.
• Customer feedback: Gather feedback effortlessly.

Discover the Future of Text Messaging With RCS

Are you a true frontrunner? Then explore this messaging channel to engage globally with your visitors in a more interactive and dynamic way. Bring your text messages to life with rich media—send personalized offers to your fanbase or showcase all the products in your ticket shop directly, making in-chat sales easy.

RCS Business messaging is known for driving engagement:

• Rich content: send images, media carousels, CTA buttons, GIFs, video and more.
• Dialogue: implement chatbots or live chats for personal support.
• Guaranteed delivery: if recipient lacks internet, it switches to SMS as backup.
• Verified channel: verified sender is presented when interacting, fostering trust.

Safely Connect With Visitors Through Telegram

More and more people are discovering Telegram as a channel where their privacy is guaranteed. So be where your visitors are and expand your reach!

• Secure communication: end-to-end encryption to protect your messages.
• Guaranteed delivery: if recipient lacks internet, it switches to SMS as backup.
• Verified channel: verified sender is presented when interacting, fostering trust.

But there are many more opportunities for event organizers and visitors on Telegram. It's the ideal platform for fostering a sense of community by creating channels and stimulating interaction.

• Create a public channel and let visitors join to share event announcements.
• Set up a group for Q&A sessions, share thoughts or interact with each other.
• Create a private group for loyal fans and share exclusive offers.
• Use the reminder features to send updates about e.g., ticket sales.
• Gather feedback after or share photos and videos during your event.

Kwaku Summer Festival

How Kwaku and CM.com managed to organize a cashless festival with 2,600 products and 100,000 tickets

Increasing Efficiency With an All-In-One Partnership

Until recently, cash was the most common payment method at the dozens of stalls, but Kwaku transitioned to a completely pin-only event. Kwaku already had experience with cashless payment systems, but to enhance efficiency, they opted for an all-in-one partnership with CM.com for ticketing and payments.

Selling From the Trunk

The origin of Kwaku is different from many other festivals. When Suriname became independent in 1975, many Surinamese people moved to the Netherlands. "During the summer holidays, they didn't go to France with a tent, but they visited each other," explains Frans de Vries. He is, along with three colleagues, a director-partner at Kwaku. "Eating, drinking, and playing games together was important. That children's soccer competition grew, and people began selling food from their trunk." In nearly 50 years, Kwaku has grown into a large and well-known festival in Amsterdam, "but the small vendors who want to earn something extra are still there. We make a great effort to keep the community engaged. Participation and culture are still important."

Pin-Only Is Easier, Safer, and Fairer

Kwaku wanted to keep the contribution of every vendor fair with the transition to pin-only. This eliminates differences between small and large sellers. Additionally, it's becoming increasingly common to only accept card payments at large events. It's more convenient and secure. The transition takes time, and Frans believes vendors are getting used to it. However, it's important to work with a system that is user-friendly for everyone. "CM.com, therefore, set up a user-friendly payment system," adds Rick Janse. Rick is the Key Account Manager for Music, Artists & Live at CM.com. To make the transition to pin-only easier for Kwaku, having an understandable payment system for the vendors is crucial. Rick explains how CM.com accomplishes this:

The Price of a Portion of Fried Chicken

In addition to the convenience for the vendor, the connection with the organization is also important. The organization needs insight into all payment flows, but a vendor doesn't need to see what their neighbor is doing. "And then we also have one vendor who charges ten euros for a portion of fried chicken, while another asks for 11 or 12 euros." This was a challenge, as explained by Rick: "Processing 2,600 products in a payment system is a lot. For comparison, it's more than 10 times the number at the Formula 1 Heineken Dutch Grand Prix, which is the largest event in the Netherlands."

The Flexible Collaboration With CM.com Is Key for Kwaku.

Before the start, Rick and the CM.com team conducted as many tests as possible. "But with so many products and flexibility, not everything can be thoroughly tested in advance." Between July 15 and August 6, 2023, it was time. CM.com and the Kwaku organization worked hard to keep all vendors happy and improve the system. Rick said, "After each weekend, we evaluated and identified areas for improvement, which we immediately implemented for the following weekend."

This collaboration extends not only to the payment system, but also to Kwaku tickets and everything related to it. For about five years, CM.com has been handling ticketing for Kwaku. Many tickets are sold at the box office as well as online. This involves additional integrations with partners such as the Amsterdam City Pass. Therefore, it's essential to provide different financial flows related to ticketing intuitively for visitors. Frans added, "What I appreciate about CM.com is that they continuously communicate with us and address issues promptly. Looking back at the last edition, we learned much and made the most of the possibilities throughout the weeks."

Where Kwaku previously had to deal with different companies providing ticketing and payment solutions, Frans is pleased that everything now rests with CM.com.

Continuing to Grow and Learn Together

Frans is looking forward to next year for an even better festival. "Before COVID-19, there were certainly 150,000 visitors, but last year, the number dropped due to four rainy weekends." Rick is enthusiastic: "Bring on those one and a half times more visitors! Together, we will continue to grow and learn."

Loveland

A mix of personal collaboration with innovative technology

Loveland Events

Loveland started 25 years ago when Marnix Bal organized a pool party. “He was an artist and he organized parties and he turned that into a career,” says Mariëlle Hilgenga, marketing manager at Loveland Events. “We started as a foundation, but now we are one of the largest promoters in Amsterdam.” The small production team of 12 people organizes large scale events like Loveland Festival and Loveland van Oranje. “We’re talking about 75+ artists and 6 stages and we’ve organized 8 events at ADE this year.”

A Passionate and Experienced Team

"Marnix’s passion seeps through the company. As a result, the production process runs smoothly. Both Marnix and the production team have a lot of experience. We run a small company with employees who are strongly connected to our events. That is reflected in our top-notch lineups. The lineups are growing with us; young talents who started their career with us and who have grown to be famous artists.”

Know Who to Turn To
When you supply a lot of tickets for a major event, you need a reliable partner. For years now, Loveland has been working with CM.com to handle the ticket sales. Mariëlle: “Our ticket partner CM.com (formerly Yourticketprovider) values personal contact. As a result, we have 1-on-1 meetings regularly and our communication is effective. I know exactly who to turn to for specific issues and my contacts are always on standby at the start of an event to help us troubleshoot. They work hard and our communication is always pleasant.”

It Didn’t Work Out With Our Other Ticketpartner
A few years ago, Loveland tried to collaborate with another ticketing partner, but that didn’t work out. “That’s why we’ve partnered up with CM.com again. They give us a lot more attention and when we organize a new event, they brainstorm with us, and they support us actively. They are giving us tips and advice and they are regularly checking all settings instead of sending us a superficial response after a quick scan. They literally pick up the phone and walk us through it. Another ticketing partner isn’t as devoted.”

Hassle Free Takeover by CM.com

Last spring CM.com acquired Yourticketprovider. Mariëlle was somewhat shocked by that because she was content with the way things worked between the two partners. Mariëlle: “First I thought oh, such a big company! What will happen to the direct way of communication that I appreciate so much at Yourticketprovider? But we still have our own account manager and contacts. And we still do everything the way we used to do it. We just have more tools at our disposal.”

Major Challenges Due to COVID-19

Loveland Events was supposed to celebrate its 25th anniversary this year. But since the start of the Covid-19 pandemic, things started to look less promising. “There is no script for a situation like this. We had no experience with a pandemic whatsoever, and all of a sudden, we had to reschedule events. Loveland van Oranje had been sold out completely. We have postponed everything for one year. We’ve tried book the same artists, but we’ve also offered refunds.”

Fast Response From CM.com

In a short period of time, CM.com created a compensation tool providing several options like refunds and vouchers. That tool enabled organizers to communicate quickly and clearly with their visitors about postponed and canceled events. Loveland Events used the tool to refund tickets.

Disappointment When Restrictions Weren’t Lifted.

We all remember the moment when we thought events were allowed to welcome visitors again. “That was my biggest challenge. We all worked extra hard. I even worked in the evenings and weekends because we had to organize a festival in a short period of time. And then we all found out that it had to be canceled after all.” That was a huge disappointment for our Loveland team. “We are all determined to organize a fantastic event. Our reward is to be present at that event and to realize that you’ve contributed to its success. We haven’t had that for two years.”

SMS Message for Ticket Payments

Despite the setbacks in recent years Loveland Events prefers to look forward, so innovation is important. For example, Mariëlle added text messaging to the ticketing process. “I started using CM.com’s SMS tool for ticket payments. We used to send our visitors an email which they could use to pay the other 50% of their ticket. When that email remained unanswered, we did send a text message. We received a lot more responses to these text messages.” Mariëlle sees SMS as a smart way to reach people “But in this age of phishing, you have to think carefully if and how you want to use SMS. It works well for ticket payments. SMS is working nicely and is very user-friendly for both us and the visitors. Together with CM.com it was very easy to start using the SMS tool.”

Museumnacht Amsterdam

Museumnacht Amsterdam combines online and offline for the ultimate visitor experience

Responding to the Needs of Younger Generations

Goal of Museumnacht is to attract younger generations to museums and let them experience that these are also a place for them. During this night, they can visit 60 museums that offer a special program with workshops, music, and more. To align the online experience with this, they work with CM.com.

Bringing Museums Closer to the World of Young Generations

Jordy, project leader at Museumnacht Amsterdam, sees a mainly facilitating role in getting younger people into the museum. Museums determine their own program that resonates with the target audience. "Hopefully, museums can build a long-lasting relationship and young people will return more often." Museumnacht started in 1999 and has grown into an annual sold-out event with around 30,000 tickets. Selling out each year is only possible by continuously tapping into the experiences of young people. In this digital world, they aim to keep innovating. Museumnacht found a partner in CM.com that helps with this.

The Experience Starts at the Queue

App for the Ultimate Visitor Experience

Museumnacht also uses the event app, where all information about the event is available in one place, on the mobile phones that the visitors always carry with them. This turns out to be effective. Jordy says, "We aimed for 10,000 downloads, a coverage rate of 1 in 3, so that someone in each group of visitors would have the app. But in the end, it was downloaded 15,506 times." In the app, Museumnacht provides the complete program, information pages for each museum, and a newsfeed, among other features. During the night itself, they mainly used the newsfeed and push notifications as a means of communication.

Geo-Based Push Messages and Crowd Control

For a large event like Museumnacht, with 60 different museums participating, big and small, crowd control is an important element. Crowd Connect, an integration with Appmiral (the event app), makes this much easier, according to Jordy. "When a museum becomes too crowded, we send push notifications to visitors near the museum to indicate that it's full. We can track this through Crowd Connect. It has worked very well, and we also see that these notifications are read promptly."

Crowd Connect is useful not only for managing crowd density but also for informing people about specific workshops or small events starting. Museumnacht uses it to inspire visitors to explore smaller museums nearby. "For example, we send a geo-based push notification to visitors near the Stedelijk Museum, suggesting that there are more beautiful locations to explore than just the biggest museum."

Scanning at 60 Locations

Museumnacht faces an additional challenge. While festivals often have one entrance, this event has no less than 60 entrance locations. "We also have multiple types of tickets, for example, for daytime and evening. Additionally, not everyone is allowed to enter the opening freely. That makes it quite complex."

CM.com provided 2 hardware scanners per location, integrated with the ticketing software so that visitors could start their visit at each location. "Our 500 volunteers were supported by the CM.com team to assist if needed, which was very helpful."

Easy to Work With the Latest Tools

Museumnacht chose CM.com because, according to Jordy, "there are a lot of options, and they keep innovating." Additionally, user-friendliness proved to be a significant advantage for him. "The people at CM.com are approachable and direct. Their helpfulness is excellent. It's always a bit of a search when you start working with a new tool, but the onboarding process was very smooth. They really guide you through it."

Jordy is also enthusiastic about the interim contact during the ticket sales. "CM.com has a young team that understands what our target audience looks like. It's very reassuring that when I reach out for help, they immediately get what I'm talking about."

More Personalization Is the Next Step

Jordy and his team have many plans. "I want to have more personalized contact with visitors. For example, I'm thinking of segmenting based on Amsterdam city districts, providing information about the visitor's route, and approaching a loyal visitor differently from a new visitor."

They also want to communicate through new channels. "For example, using WhatsApp." Improving the way, they gather visitor feedback and connecting more information to visitor profiles is also important for Jordy. "This way, we can better cater to the needs of visitors. The possibilities are there; now it's up to us to make use of them."

Révolt

How CM.com and Révolt are growing together by bridging the gap between tech and the event industry.

Ticketing Provider That Gets the Changing Event Industry

For a few years, Révolt Events has worked with CM.com. Aziz Yagoub from Révolt says, "My partners at CM.com know what I need as an event organizer; they think along with me. More and more innovative possibilities are coming up that help me as an organizer, and we expect a lot from the future."

Quick Communication and an Equal Organization

Révolt organizes summer festivals and indoor events in Rotterdam and surrounding areas, such as Expedition, REC., Vrije Volk, and Kralingse Bos Festival. Meanwhile, they have been working with CM.com for a few years. "Everyone is so approachable. We are an equal organization, not hierarchical, and I see that at CM.com as well. They are all cool, young, social people who know the event industry well. It's nice when your ticketing partner has your back. I appreciate that enormously". Aziz's colleague Phuong Anh Ho adds: "They are helpful. If I can't work something out, I know they will take care of it."

Interpreter Between Tech and Events

"A few years back, CM.com invested in colleagues who have been in the event business for years, bringing in the right knowledge and experience. That is a good thing! After all, SMS and ticketing are two completely different worlds, and I need a ticketing partner who knows what the event industry needs." says Aziz. "An interpreter who, on the one hand, translates tech for me into understandable language and how I can best deploy it. But on the other hand, I can also pass on wishes that the industry has, which they put out internally. In this way, CM.com continues developing the products and connecting better and better with the market."

Rollercoaster

Besides festivals, Révolt also has venues such as Perron, Citrusveiling, and Annabel. They notice visitors are now ready to party, as was evident when they reopened with the pop podium, Annabel. Phuong: "That was a bit of a roller coaster. Five hundred people were looking for tickets immediately. The CM.com dashboard refreshes every ten seconds to see exactly how the sales are going. How many people have a ticket in their basket or are in the shop. You can see in real time how successful your campaign is. From this information, we get a lot of insights for future events."

From 0 to 200

During the corona pandemic, the entire event industry came to a standstill for two years. "Now we have to go from 0 to 200 in one go". Aziz notes that this year will be a bit crazy. "Before 2020, the event industry was pretty saturated; it was a difficult market to enter. But because of all the developments, it's completely redesigned." Digitization, refunds, and vouchers have shaken the industry. Aziz says the public has many tickets in their pockets from all vouchers issued over the past two years. "Those tickets are all being redeemed now. We were big fans of refunds instead of vouchers. Through CM.com, we could easily refund our visitors. That's an advantage." Who got which ticket refunded is all stored in the Customer Data Platform. So now Révolt can easily approach these visitors with a new offer. This, in turn, saves us on marketing costs. And as for the industry, Aziz expects it to get back on its feet. "It will all resolve itself. We're going full steam ahead."

Digitalization on the Rise

With the cancellation of events in 2020 and 2021, event organizers had to get creative and find other solutions. The added value of digitization gained momentum. Phuong gives an example: "During the protest action 'De Nacht Staat Op' we had to close at 2 o'clock by order of the municipality. Aziz gave a nice speech at the time in which he indicated how disappointed we were and that we were going to compensate the visitors. We had scanned tickets and were able to find out who had been there. We sent those visitors a text message with an offer for another evening or weekend."

Data for Marketing

"We are not only working with CM.com because of the great cooperation. We also find it very convenient that they can facilitate data gathering and mobile marketing. If you combine these two well, it makes a difference in other costs and expenses. For example, we have stopped outdoor advertising and are focusing on data collection to communicate more 1-to-1 with our visitors, for example, through WhatsApp. I'm very much a fan of modernization, and CM.com offers that." Aziz mentions a voice campaign as an example of combining services. "We recorded a voice message together for an ADE event. All visitors received a phone call to get into the vibe. I voiced it and called out: get together."

Your Branding & Design

Next year, Aziz and Fufu want to focus even more on WhatsApp messaging and customize the look and feel of the communication more. "We want to provide all visitors with good information. But when they get a ticket, everything still looks pretty standard. At CM.com, you can design everything yourself with a drag & drop editor, from emails to the ticket shop and from ticket layouts to landing pages. We will adapt that more into our corporate identity to get everyone into the event's mood."

Full Speed Ahead

Phuong also sees many opportunities in CM.com's marketing flows. You can use them to reach visitors with the right message at the right time, via SMS, email, phone, or other channels. "I would find it very cool if we could keep someone who has purchased a ticket informed with an automatic but personalized flow. That's efficient for us but especially nice for the visitor! The CM.com platform is user-friendly, and all customer data is already there. So, I'm going to start working on that soon. We will train our colleagues to get much more out of our ticket data and approach our visitors more personally." Again, Aziz emphasizes: "Full steam ahead."

Westergas

The lively cultural village in the heart of Amsterdam uses technology to augment their visitors’ experience.

Beginning of a new era

2022 marks the beginning of an exciting new era for 100+-year-old cultural landmarkWestergas: they are taking event organization into their own hands. Technology partner CM.com enables them to augment visitor experience withpersonalized communication, seamlessticket sales & cashless payments.

Lively Cultural Village in Historic Buildings

Originally built in 1880 as a gas factory, Westergas was transformed over the years into a lively cultural village. This began to take shape when adventurous entrepreneurs and artists discovered these unique buildings as home bases for their businesses in the early 1990s. In the following years, the historic site was renovated, but the buildings never lost their industrial character, which is the recognition of this vibrant place in the heart of Amsterdam. Today, the Westergas is known as a colorful meeting point for everyone, offering a variety of places, including bars, galleries, a theater, TV studios, and more.

Organizing Their Own Events

One of the most iconic buildings on site, The Gashouder, is rented by many festivals, concerts, and events, such as The Edisons (Dutch pop awards) and Awakenings (dance event). But this year, Westergas also decided to promote their own events.

One of the main reasons is that looking into the future, Westergas has a strong mission for its social responsibility. They want event programming to be diverse and future-proof. Dave van Dalen, Commercial Manager, explains,

Building a Fanbase

So with Westergas starting to host their own events, they also needed a reliable ticketing partner. More importantly, they needed software to reach their audience directly with promotions for their upcoming events, especially since they didn't want to be completely dependent on third parties. However, due to the original rental nature, they did not yet have a customer base. With the Customer Data Platform (CDP), Westergas is now able to collect its fans' data from various sources (e.g., ticket sales), build a solid fan base, and effectively reach them through their preferred channel (e.g., SMS, WhatsApp, or email).

Reinventing the Visitors’ Experience

The CDP allows Westergas to create fan profiles based on the preferences and behaviors of their visitors, such as their favorite artists, concerts they have attended, and more. This allows them to create personalized experiences. Dave is excited about the new possibilities:

Personalized information can take many forms, for example, new programming sent to people who have shown previous interest in that artist, Friends & Family discounts, or practical information about a concert for visitors who have purchased tickets for that day. This prevents chaos upon arrival, which has a positive effect on the visitor experience but is also beneficial for Westergas itself.

Front Runner in the Industry

By reinventing the mobile visitor experience, Westergas is a leader in a relatively traditional area of the leisure industry. Westergas understands that especially to attract younger, mobile-focused generations, you need to innovate and digitize continuously. Tom de Louw, Partnership Manager, believes that the digital journey will become increasingly important for visitors to stay future proof. "We embrace technology and are constantly looking for ways to improve the live experience for our visitors. By weaving together interaction before, during, and after an event, we can create the perfect customer experience."

Reliable Tech Partner

Westergas has ambitious goals but is not a tech company. They don't have an in-house developer to write software, so they partnered with CM.com. As a tech partner for other large-scale events, CM.com was a reliable option for Westergas, and Tom talks enthusiastically about their partnership,

Furthermore, because CM.com provides one platform for all the products Ticketing, CDP, Messaging Channels, Cash Register) needed, Westergas no longer has to switch between different systems, allowing them to work efficiently, save time and focus on upcoming top-notch events.

Use Case: 'The Opposites'

One of the first events organized by Westergas was a concert series by The Opposites. This Dutch rap duo retired in 2014 but made a comeback in May 2022.

The concert series was popular; 10,000 tickets were sold for three concerts. However, the interest was almost triple that amount, measurable due to pre-registration.

During the series, SMS campaigns were launched, a customized ticket shop was set up, and with a voice campaign, the duo hyped their fans. This buzz contributed to an ultimate (mobile) fan experience. Curious? Click on the button below!

The Zoo Events

Managing Vouchers & Refunds With Compensation Tool

The Zoo Events

The Zoo Events has been collaborating with CM.com for years. Their system is easy to use, and the lines of communication are kept short. The Zoo Events is using CM.com’s compensation tool which makes it extremely easy to manage vouchers and refunds.

Sell as Many Tickets as Possible

“Every morning I’m checking the app to see how we are doing on ticket sales for festivals. It shows me immediately what needs to be done and if it’s going to be a busy day.” The Zoo Events organizes roughly twenty festivals per year. Romy de Jong manages the marketing of half of them. “The Zoo Events has seven different subsidiaries which means that our own name isn’t very well known. But the festivals that we organize are famous, like Central Park Festival, Lief Festival and Sneeuwbal Festival.”

Romy’s goal as a marketeer is to sell as many festival tickets as possible. “In order to accomplish that, it is very important to have access to a good dashboard to monitor the status of ticket sales. The CM.com app provides a perfect overview. I can also use the app to send out guest list tickets. I like working with the app because you must make life as easy as possible, right?!”

Festivals Are Canceled

In the last two years, we were all dealing with events that had to be canceled. “When we found out that we had to cancel our festivals, we informed our visitors through social media and our newsletter. We could only inform them about the cancelation, but we couldn’t give any details about refunds, vouchers etc. That’s why I contacted CM.com immediately, to see what we could do to inform and refund our visitors properly.”

Vouchers and Refunds

Many tickets had been sold by The Zoo Events for seven different festivals like Geheime Liefde and Crazy Sexy Cool. Obviously, we had to do something about that. Romy: “We needed a tool to manage tickets, vouchers, and refunds. I’ve asked CM.com if they would be able to help us, and they were.”

CM.com developed a flexible compensation tool with various options. It made it possible for organizations to give their visitors a choice. They could choose between a voucher for the next edition, a refund, or they could convert the tickets into a donation to the event organizer. Many visitors who purchased tickets at The Zoo Events, opted for a voucher for the festival’s next edition. Romy: “It is wonderful that the compensation tool was completed within such a short period of time. The tool made the whole process much easier for us and it saved us a lot of time. Now it only takes me two clicks to see what our refund budget is, and how many vouchers we’ve sent to our visitors.”

The Zoo Events Has Been a Customer From the Very Beginning

A few years back, The Zoo Events acquired Xsense. That company happened to be CM.com’s first customer. Romy says that The Zoo Events then chose CM.com to be the ticket partner of all their subsidiaries. “I personally like the fact that I just have to pick up the phone to speak directly to someone who can answer my questions immediately. I sometimes even speak with my contacts at CM.com more frequently than with my own friends. It is great to have these short communication lines.”

Romy is checking everything several times before a ticket sale starts. “I am extremely careful. The staff at CM.com is very understanding and they help me with that. The system is 100% user-friendly and I can easily fill in most fields, but it’s always nice to have someone who’s offering suggestions.”

Together We Made the Tool User-Friendly

The Zoo Events is partly responsible for the fact that CM.com’s system is so user-friendly. Romy and her colleagues have been giving feedback which has been used to improve the tool. “A while ago, my contact person at CM.com asked me if I had any ideas for the app. I replied that I would like to use the app to send out tickets. So, they have built that option and it’s working perfectly well.”

Keep Innovating

It’s obvious that The Zoo Events is constantly looking for innovation. According to Romy working with CM.com provides many opportunities. “I’m glad I have my my own contact person and I’m curious to see what the tool of CM.com can provide more. I think I already saw an organization that works with SMS. That could be helpful to redeem the vouchers we’ve issued. I’m interested to see how we can use all that when covid restrictions are lifted and we are allowed to organize events again. I’m looking forward to that.”