How to improve workshop ticket sales by creating a sense of urgency

Strategies to create a sense of urgency and boost ticket sales for your experience-based business. Discover how scarcity, social proof, and FOMO can transform your bookings and increase revenue.

In the last year, I’ve dedicated all my time and energy to helping experience and activity businesses streamline their management processes.

I collaborated with the best experiences out there. Together, we’ve tested numerous strategies to discover the most effective ways to sell. We’ve found some fascinating insights that I will share with you in this blog post.

Why Is It Important to Create a Sense of Urgency When Selling Your Experience?

Your customers encounter your experience in different ways—whether it's through a friend's recommendation or seeing an ad. Once their interest is piqued, they'll visit your website to learn more. Making your experience seem fun and worth the money on your website is key to encouraging them to book their tickets quickly. Creating a sense of urgency on your website can make customers feel that the offered experience is fun and worth the money, encouraging them to purchase tickets sooner.

What Are The Psychological Reasons Behind Creating a Sense of Urgency?

Scarcity Principle

Have you ever tried to book a table at a super fancy restaurant only to find it’s fully booked for the next few months? This situation usually makes you feel that the place is exclusive and desirable.
One of our Monkeybook customers decided to block off certain days to take a day off every week, which initially worried him about a potential revenue loss.
We set up his Monkeybook customer-facing widget to communicate limited availability.
Surprisingly, his sales increased by 15% each month.
The perceived scarcity created a sense of urgency, making customers feel they needed to secure a spot before it was too late.

Social Proof

Social proof is the psychological phenomenon where people are influenced by the actions and opinions of others. When customers see that others are enjoying and recommending your experience, it increases their confidence in making a booking. For example, displaying positive reviews, testimonials, or showing how many people have already booked a session can reassure potential customers that they’re making the right choice. One of our Monkeybook customers added a “Most Booked Experience” badge to their top activity. It helped new customers to feel that it's worth having experience and become eager to join in on what others were clearly enjoying.

Fear of Missing Out (FOMO)

FOMO is a powerful psychological driver where individuals fear missing out on enjoyable or valuable experiences. Highlighting that an experience is enjoyable and highly sought after encourages faster decision-making. If a customer visits your website and sees full availability for the next two weeks, it signals no urgency and allows them to postpone their decision.
Creating strong FOMO makes customers feel more excited and more likely to book your experience sooner.

Practical Tips How to Create Sense of Urgency for Buying Tickets to Your Experience or Activity

Add Visual Color Coding in the Booking Calendar Widget

Colors immediately catch our eyes and minds. We found that color coding is one of the most effective ways to create a sense of urgency.
In Monkeybook, we color-code the calendar based on availability: Red for fully booked days, orange for days with more than 75% of tickets sold, and green otherwise.

If you have a lot of availability, consider creating fewer slots and selling fewer tickets. From our testing, having a few “red” days makes customers feel scarcity and purchase faster. Less is more!

Emphasize Time-Sensitive or Limited Amount Offers

There are several effective ways to emphasize time-sensitive and limited offers:

  1. Discounts for Returning Customers for a Short Period: Send an email right after the activity with a 15-20% discount valid for 7-14 days, encouraging customers to share this coupon with their friends. This creates urgency and increases word-of-mouth marketing.
  2. Limited-Time Discounts: Use these sparingly to avoid customers waiting for discounts. Offer these a few times a year around holidays for a short period. For example, “15% off summer discount for any workshop. Valid for the next 7 days. Discount code 7DaysSummer2024.”
  3. Limited Amount of Coupons: This type of urgency is based on quantity rather than time. For example, “Early bird discount for our new workshop 15% off for the first 10 purchasers with code ONLY10EARLYBIRD15.”

All these discount types are available out of the box with Monkeybook and have proven to increase sales by creating a sense of urgency.

Creating a sense of urgency is a powerful tool to drive sales and ensure customers book your experiences quickly.
By leveraging the scarcity principle, FOMO, and immediate gratification, you can significantly enhance the perceived value and desirability of your offerings.

Ready to streamline your booking process and increase your sales? Try Monkeybook today and experience the difference. Visit our website here to learn more and start your free trial.
Don’t miss out on boosting your business with these proven strategies!

Creating sense of urgency using all 3 principals from above
Creating sense of urgency using all 3 principals from above