How to transform your events with event seating software

Event floor plans have been a hallmark of the events industry for decades. They've been used by theatres, conferences and venues alike to illustrate event layout and seating arrangements. But just because event floor plans are a staple in the events industry, that doesn't mean that they're always effective.

However thanks to the evolution of technology, event organisers now have the ability to get creative with the way they set up events. With the use of data and intelligent software, you can transform the customer experience like never before. Music events are the most popular sector within the event ticketing market, worth a total of £26.72m (Statista). A cleverly used solution in this sector is event seating software. The innovative feature can provide your audience with the ability to choose exactly where they want to sit, including seated or standing options depending on the venue, let’s see how…

What is event seating software?

Event seating software helps event organisers showcase their venue space to customers whilst purchasing tickets. Combining traditional artistic skills with a simple drag-and-drop functionality, event seating software is quickly becoming one of the most-loved tools in the industry. 

This clever piece of technology allows event organisers to design digital seating charts that customers can use to select exactly where they want to be seated. But more than just event seating layouts, the software can include price bands, tools to highlight the best seats, and options to purchase food, drink or merchandise on arrival. 

How will this solution enhance the booking process?

Before using the software, our clients handled all of their ticketing and seat allocation manually, which can become a challenge, particularly at large scale events. Our clients chose the Nutickets event seating feature to take their process completely digital. The software lets you recreate your unique venue with the use of seats and rows, and easily block out areas. Organising a large event? Our support team is on hand to help you design your unique venue.

The benefits of using event seating

By creating a bespoke event seating plan, you are instantly streamlining your event experience, as you have eliminated the need to physically guide audience members to their seats, saving a lot of time for both event staff and attendees. Using the Nuticket software can also help from a marketing perspective, by displaying real-time seat sales. Potential ticket buyers can see the tickets disappear quickly in front of their eyes, creating a buzz and encouraging them to take action. What's more, our built-in product shop enables you to upsell products and services with your tickets to maximise revenues.

Features of event seating software

Events planners of all kinds can benefit from seating software, but not all platforms have the same features and functionality. Once you understand what exists, you can weigh the benefits of the various solutions. Here are the top features to look for when evaluating potential platforms:

Intuitive design tools

You should be able to design your seating chart to fit your event needs. This means having a set of design tools that lets you replicate your unique venue without any workarounds or headaches. Being able to curve, skew, and manipulate elements like tables, seat type, and row dimensions is essential. A bonus feature you should look out for is drag-and-drop functionality, this will help with precise editing of your event layout. Nutickets seating plan software even lets you upload a blueprint of your venue so you can trace over it!

Detailed Seating Reporting

Your platform should generate a range of sales, attendance and seat availability reports. And when you’re managing a large venue, it’s important to have a single place to manage it all. Being able to report on every metric from pre-sale, real-time, and post-event is the only way you’re able to make informed decisions.

Ticketing functionality

You’ve built your seating chart, now what? Having a platform that includes event ticketing is your sure-fire way to put your plan into practice. Building your plan and selling tickets from the same interface will save you complicated efforts to export, upload and reuse. In one efficient process you can create your seating chart, add tickets, and publish it live. 

Mobile compatible

Over half of total eCommerce sales come from mobile users so it’s key to have a seating chart that is mobile-friendly, or a large section of your audience won’t be able to use it. Look for platforms that are compatible with mobile browsers or offer stand-alone apps.

Website integration

Encourage a smooth customer journey by displaying your seating chart, and selling tickets directly from your website. Being able to keep your fans on your platform helps avoid third-party sites exposing your customers to competitor events.

Customer support

Planning events isn’t always straightforward, and add in new software into the mix and things could quickly become frustrating. Favour platforms that offer comprehensive onboarding, rather than a ‘get started, and do it yourself’ model. Look for additional support emails like email, phone, live chat support that can be helpful when you just need a quick pointer.