Early bird tickets: how to price them so they actually work

Almost every organiser sells early bird tickets. Not many think carefully about them. Done well, early birds get people committed weeks before the event, bring in money when you need it most for deposits, and create a buzz that helps sell everything else. Done badly, they train your audience to wait, or they give away money you didn't need to.

What an early bird is for

An early bird ticket has two jobs. It rewards the people who trust you first, and it gives everyone else a reason to buy now instead of "later", which often means never. Keep those two jobs in mind and most of the decisions make themselves.

How big a discount?

The discount needs to be big enough to feel worth acting on, and small enough that you are not losing money on every early ticket. For most events, somewhere between 20 and 35 percent off the regular price works. Less than that and people shrug. Much more and your regular price starts to look inflated.

Work out your break-even first. If the early bird price only covers your costs once you have sold a lot of regular tickets, make the early bird batch smaller.

How many?

Limit them. A fixed number creates real urgency, and "only 50 left" is more convincing than any caption. A common approach is to make early birds around 15 to 25 percent of your total tickets. If they sell out in a day, that is great news. It tells you demand is strong and your regular price is probably right.

When to end them

Give early birds a clear end date as well as a limited number, whichever comes first. Then keep to it. Extending the early bird "by popular demand" teaches your audience that deadlines are fake, and next time they will wait. On Globiqo you can set an early bird price that ends on a date, so it switches over to the next ticket type by itself.

Announce it properly

• Say the date and the number up front: "Early bird, 60 tickets, until Friday 20 November."
• Post a reminder two days before it ends, and again on the last day.
• When it sells out, say so. That news sells regular tickets.

What comes after

Your regular price should be the price you actually want for the event. Some organisers add a final "late" price close to the date, which nudges the people still waiting. If you do, make sure the gap from early bird to late price is easy to see, so buying early clearly pays.

And remember the fee. On Globiqo the ticket fee is 5% and you choose whether buyers pay it on top or you absorb it. Decide before you set your early bird price, so the number people see is the number they pay.