Self-service ticket returns online

A case study with Shakespeare's Globe

Returning tickets online has, until now, always been challenging. Users need to be validated so we know who they are; order details need to be retrieved; then user choices need to trigger updates within a constituent record. Add into the mix personalisation of copy, conditional content routing based on what a user might want to return, and dynamic calculations to incorporate fees, and things can get complicated pretty quickly.

But today’s audiences expect to be able to do everything online, including managing their bookings so we must find ways to meet these expectations or risk being left behind. Shakespeare’s Globe (a world-renowned theatre, education centre, and cultural landmark in the heart of London) partnered with us to explore this challenge and question whether ‘complicated’ always has to mean hard-to-use and ugly? Could we find a way to deliver complex functionality that also feels easy to use and has seamless UX?

Read more about Shakespeare’s Globe’s programme

The challenge

Ticket returns and exchanges are a key part of the visitor experience at the Globe, providing customers with ultimate flexibility, encouraging advance bookings with peace of mind and importantly to retain income in the organisation by hopefully re-selling seats themselves, rather than risking unofficial secondary market reselling. The policies surrounding returns and exchanges have evolved over time (pre-pandemic this was offered up to 28 days before a performance for a small fee, with more recent trials of up to 24 hours before with no fee). The Globe wanted to find a more permanent approach that offered an easy-to-use experience for the user and opened up an additional channel for revenue opportunities through return fees.
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However, issuing returns via the Box Office was causing significant challenges. Return processing was consuming up to 60 days of staff time every year (and even longer if the staff members were also processing a donation as part of the return). As a major tourist attraction in the UK, a large proportion of the visitors to the Globe are international and with limited Box Office opening hours, this was proving an added barrier. With 80% of the Globe’s audiences being online bookers who therefore expect an end-to-end digital experience through all touchpoints of their engagement, an online service was needed that was hands-off for staff and cut down the amount of returns needing to be processed by the Box Office.

The brief

Together, Action Links and Shakespeare’s Globe teamed up to find a way to offer online returns that delivered the following…

• Provide a place for users to look up an order, choose permitted items within that order to return, and choose whether to donate some or all of their returned value back to the Globe
• Align functionality with usability, ensuring the user experience doesn’t feel the weight of complex functionality behind the scenes
• Restrict users from being able to place a return on a past event or an attended event; an event taking place in less than 48 hours; or previously returned tickets
• Reduce workload for Box Office teams‍
• Maximise opportunities for additional revenue (return fees & potential re-selling of a seat)

Note: Shakespeare’s Globe had previously trialled the native TNEW return requests functionality - however this still involves a degree of manual data processing because the return simply sits as a request on a constituent CSI (aka a note on the customer record in Tessitura) until staff then process this request by hand, or run a stored procedure or utility to process it.

The solution

Action Links developed a one-stop shop in a single screen where a user can not only return an order, but also choose which specific items within that order that they wish to return and see what the purchase/return value of that item was. This sits on a subdomain of the Globe’s main website meaning they can direct users here from a variety of places (including the TNEW account; Tessitura order confirmation HTML emails dynamically populated with a unique URL; or even pre-visit emails).

As the user selects their items to return, we display a set of choices - they could opt to have the full return amount returned to them as credit, or they could choose to donate some, or all of that value back to the venue. Whichever they choose, we make it clear how much money will be donated and how much the user will get back as credit.

Once the user makes their choice, Action Links then makes a dynamic calculation to provide a breakdown summary of what will happen to the value of the return. We itemise how much monetary value is being returned from both Tickets and/or Other Items; we then itemise any admin fees associated with the return (in this case it’s a per ticket fee); and finally show the user how much money they will be donating and how much they will receive back as credit.

Finally, we ask the user to confirm their agreement to Shakespeare Globe's terms before Action Links triggers the return behind the scenes. This works by printing the returned tickets (only printed tickets can be returned) and adding them to a Tessitura session cart behind the scenes. Then we fetch the cart to identify the value of the return tickets minus any fees, before adding credit on account to the value of any donation (contributions can't be checked out in the same transaction as ticket returns, so we'll process the donation using the On Account Credit after checking out the return) and then add a gift certificate to the value of the cart. The final step performed is checking out the cart. If the user elected to donate a portion of their ticket return, we reload the order, add the donation to the cart and apply the On Account Credit we added in the step before, then finally check out the cart again.

On completion, Action Links displays a personalised success message to reassure the user that the return has been processed successfully.

The user now knows that their return has gone through and has also received an email confirmation of the return. The venue has a record of tickets in the original order being voided, and a record of the credit voucher issued in a new order (including a note of the original ID to pair the two together for future reference). No waiting overnight for procedures to run, no manual intervention from staff to process return requests, and no confusing or delayed communications to the user.

Once a return has been placed, returned items are shown as disabled on the Return Tickets screen, so if a user should subsequently move through the returns flow again, they are no longer able to select.

We understand that no two venues are ever the same and that things can change within your business over time, so within this flow we’ve ensured there’s plenty of opportunity for flexibility... 

1. What ‘products’ or items do you want to offer as returnable?
   Many orders contain not only tickets but also add-ons, drinks & snacks and parking, but there may be specific items that you want to exclude as returnable e.g. donations, or digital events. The Action Links configuration allowed Shakespeare’s Globe to pick and choose what to display as returnable based on Product Type IDs.
   

2. How do you want to group products?
   When a user is selecting which parts of an order to return, it’s important that we present each sub-line item clearly so that they can easily identify the items no longer required. If labels and layout are unclear, users could return the wrong thing. With Shakespeare’s Globe we separated items into two groupings on the page; Tickets and Other Items (such as pre-show meals and interval drinks) controlled by a combination of Tessitura Product Types and Seasons.
   
   
3. What policy ‘rules’ do you need to put in place?
   Action Links allows you to configure how many days/hours out from a performance that you’ll allow a user to make a return (this could vary for different types of performance).  If you charge a return fee, this works hand in hand with how fees are set up in Tessitura for over the counter/phone returns. Shakespeare’s Globe has a per ticket return fee so Action Links can query this and calculate a total return fee to deduct, automatically doing the hard work for the user to work out exactly how much they’ll get back.
   
   
4. Do you want to offer the option to donate the return value?
   Offering the option to donate some, or all of the return value is a great source of additional revenue. Shakespeare’s Globe chose a selection of donation asks as percentage increments of the total return value (10, 20, 50% or all of the value) with hierarchical formatting to nudge the user towards donating the full amount. These donation asks could be tailored to specific events, or even to attributes of the constituent user.
   
   
5. Do you need the user to provide more information?
   Action Links has an extensive suite of form field formats, including dropdowns, checkboxes, open ended text answers and more, so you can easily slot in additional questions and configure responses to write back to Tessitura (e.g. adding an Attribute or creating a CSI). Shakespeare’s Globe needed to include a Ts&Cs acknowledgement checkbox, but you may want to include a question to gauge reason for return for example. 

The impact

Although this is a newly launched user journey, the team at Shakespare’s Globe are already feeling the benefits and we’ll be watching keenly to measure the amount of time being saved in Box Office administration; the amount of revenue made from resold seats and donations; and the proportion of returns that are now including donations compared to previous periods.

This collaboration has been a great example of how joint co-development, with shared objectives between venue and technology partner, can lead to innovative opportunities to offer your customers more.