How The Rady Shell Launched Its Inaugural Season With Digital Tickets
The Rady Shell at Jacobs Park. Photo courtesy of San Diego Symphony.
The Rady Shell at Jacobs Park (The Shell) is California’s premier waterfront venue located on the edge of the San Diego Bay in the heart of downtown San Diego. Managed by the San Diego Symphony, the Shell was scheduled to launch in the summer of 2020. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Symphony postponed the launch to summer 2021.
Shortly before the venue opened for its inaugural season in August 2021, the Symphony launched the Rady Shell mobile app to encourage patrons to have digital tickets delivered to their mobile devices. By the end of the first season, the Shell’s app acquired over 32,000 downloads and became the primary method for patrons to access their tickets.
The Problem
The COVID-19 pandemic forced cultural organizations to examine their operations for ways to make returning to live events safer for staff and patrons. Many organizations focused on reducing physical contact points onsite. For the Shell, physical tickets and the entry process were a primary concern.
Printed tickets lead to physical contact points for patrons and staff. Some patrons pick up printed tickets from the box office or bring tickets that were mailed to them. Other patrons print their own tickets at home. They pass out tickets to members of their group. They hand their tickets to the front of house staff for scanning or tearing off stubs. They give their tickets to an usher to help them find their seats.
“It was important for safety and patron confidence that we move to a touchless format when we opened,” said J.D. Smith, Director of Marketing & Sales Technology for San Diego Symphony, “No Box Office touches, no house staff touches during ticket scans.”
To do that, they needed to shift from printed tickets to digital tickets. That required a solution integrated with their ticketing system from Tessitura®.
The Solution
InstantEncore is an EcoSystem partner of the Tessitura Network. In the spring of 2021, San Diego Symphony partnered with InstantEncore to create the Rady Shell mobile app using our Appscension service.
Example digital ticket from the Rady Shell at Jacobs Park.
The Symphony already had its own mobile app powered by Appscension. They knew that it integrated easily with Tessitura and could provide the Shell’s patrons with digital tickets sent to their mobile devices for easy scanning. It could also give patrons the ability to send digital tickets to other members of their party. With Appscension, the Shell could dramatically reduce physical contact points during the entry process.
How would the Shell persuade patrons to choose digital tickets over printed tickets?
Default Ticket Delivery Option
The Shell designated their mobile app as the default ticket delivery method at checkout. Patrons still had the ability to select mail or will call for delivery. By switching the default delivery method to their mobile app, the Shell communicated a desired preference to patrons. Most patrons will choose the venue’s preferred ticket delivery method. This small change had a major impact on their shift toward digital tickets.
Printed Ticket Fee
The Shell did provide printed tickets for those who selected the mail or will call delivery methods. However, they charged a handling fee for that during the purchase. By adding the additional charge for printed tickets, the Shell reinforced their preference for mobile delivery.
App Promotion
The Shell added a page to their website promoting their app. The page’s messaging focused on the convenience that the app gives patrons - log in once and stay logged in; tickets delivered to your phone; no handling fees; and no tickets emailed or printed. The page introduced a handling fee for patrons who still wanted printed tickets. It also highlighted the ability for patrons to send tickets from the app to other members of their party.
Screenshot from the Rady Shell website
The app’s web page alerted patrons that their tickets’ QR codes would appear in the app 120 hours (5 days) prior to the event. “There was actually quite a bit of internal debate over this,” Smith recalls, “We had been at a 2-day window for a couple of years before the pandemic. It was finally decided that patrons’ comfort with having QR codes visible five days before overrode any security/fraud considerations. It also allowed patrons plenty of time to forward codes to others in their party arriving separately - another layer of comfort, I guess.”
The Shell sent out a series of emails promoting the new app as the default ticket delivery method and linking to the app’s page on their website. They also included information and a link to the app’s page in the “Know Before You Go” emails sent each weekend to attending patrons.
The Results
By the end of 2021, the Rady Shell established their mobile app as the primary ticket delivery method for patrons. The success of their efforts can be seen in the progress they made by the end of their inaugural season.
Unexpected Benefit
In July 2022, the Shell had to cancel an event on the same day. They needed to communicate this to patrons quickly. They decided to send a push notification to their mobile app users.
Push notification from The Shell mobile app.
Push notifications are short text messages delivered to app users’ devices. These notifications appear on the device’s lock screen when it's not in use. If a patron is using the device, the notification will appear at the top of their active screen. Push notifications can be sent immediately or scheduled in advance.
When patrons first opened The Shell mobile app, they were asked if they wanted to receive these messages. At this point in the second season, the app had over 43,000 active downloads. Sixty-eight percent of the app’s users signed up to receive notifications. The Shell knew they could reach many of the event’s ticket holders immediately with a push notification.
While the Shell had not used push notifications during the inaugural season, the feature was ready when they needed it.
Give Your Patrons the Convenience of Digital Tickets
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InstantEncore is an EcoSystem partner of the Tessitura Network, the licensor and developer of Tessitura Software. The Tessitura Network does not support or verify the effectiveness of the integration or the capabilities of this product. Any and all support and questions regarding this application should be directed solely to InstantEncore.