Prepare Your Ticket Sales for Black Friday and Cyber Monday

Black Friday continues to break records. In 2024, U.S. consumers spent $10.8 billion online on Black Friday alone, and Cyber Monday reached $13.3 billion, making it the single biggest sales day of the season. This year, we expect the holiday shopping weekend to generate even more, with Black Friday online sales projected to hit $11.7 billion.

Wouldn’t you like to have a piece of that pie?

To help you prepare for the holiday rush, we’ve created a Black Friday and Cyber Monday readiness checklist. You’ll learn how to:

1. Evaluate your ticket offerings

2. Optimize your tickets for holiday gifting

3. Promote your tickets as holiday gifts

4. Use social media to generate interest

What types of events should prepare for Black Friday Sales?

While any event can sell tickets as gifts, these types of events and venues are especially popular among holiday shoppers:

• Sports Teams

• Family Entertainment Centers

• Theaters

• Concert Venues

• Comedy Clubs

• Any venue hosting regular events throughout the year

Additionally, if you plan to offer group bookings or host any holiday parties, now is the time to set up invoice payments.

Why Do Event Tickets Make Good Holiday Gifts?

A whopping 92% of Americans would rather receive experiences as gifts instead of a physical item. Event tickets definitely fall under the “experiences” category! Unlike material gifts, tickets offer the recipient an experience, which often creates lasting memories. Whether it's a concert, sports event, or theater show, the experience becomes a shared moment of joy.

A few of the other reasons why event tickets make excellent holiday gifts include:

1. Personalization: Tickets can be tailored to the recipient’s interests, making them feel more thoughtful. Gifting someone tickets to their favorite band or a game with their favorite team shows that you know and appreciate their preferences.

2. Less Clutter: Unlike physical items that can add to clutter or may not be used, event tickets provide an intangible gift that doesn’t take up space but still offers significant value.

3. Anticipation: Receiving tickets often comes with the excitement of having something to look forward to. The recipient gets the joy of anticipation as the event date approaches.

4. Flexibility: Many tickets are valid for a range of dates or can be rescheduled, providing flexibility in how and when the recipient enjoys the gift.

5. Unique Experience: Tickets to special events or limited-time performances can be rare or hard to obtain, making them feel exclusive and special, much like a one-of-a-kind gift.

6. Bonding Opportunity: When the gift includes two or more tickets, it can be a shared experience, fostering connection between the giver and recipient or other friends and family members.

What If I Don’t Have My Schedule Yet?

No worries! You don't have to have everything ready now. 

With Passage, you can use dynamic bundles or subscriptions to sell season tickets, monthly passes, or other types of ticket bundles to your customers now. Their tickets will get added into their account when you make them available. 

Here’s how to do that using your Passage account:

1. Create generic names for each of your anticipated events, like Event 1, Event 2, Event 3, and insert any random date in the future for each match.

2. When you know the exact dates & times and all the event details, you can update the information on your dashboard. Those will automatically sync with the customer’s passes.

Black Friday Readiness Checklist

1. Evaluate Your Ticket Offerings

Think about how you can make your existing event tickets more attractive - and convenient -  to holiday shoppers. 

Bundles: If you’re not already offering bundled tickets, now is a good time to set those up.  Whether that means bundling products and tickets together, or creating an all-access pass that gives the ticket holder access to all the experiences your event offers. Your regular customers might enjoy the flexibility of purchasing individual attractions a la carte, but holiday gifters want something that will make a splash. 

Subscriptions: Do you host multiple events throughout the year? Allow your guests to subscribe so that they can lock in their tickets now. Or maybe you have a venue that offers daily admission, like a family entertainment center, arcade, or amusement park. Offering a monthly or seasonal pass with unlimited admission would make a great gift. 

Invoicing: Hosting holiday events in your party room? Our invoicing feature makes this more convenient for your guests, and helps you keep track of payments. 

2. Enable Gifting for Your Events

Passage makes it simple for you to enable ticket gifting for any of your events. 

When gifting is enabled, a purchaser can designate part or all of their ticket purchase as a gift for someone else! Read on for setup instructions.

To enable ticketing gifting:

1. Click "Manage" under the events drop-down in the admin area. 

2. Go into your event settings (from the Manage Events screen, select "Edit" under your event name). 

3. Under "Ticket Info" -> "Ticket Options" click the check mark next to "Enable Gifting" and then click "Save Event" to save your changes.

It's that simple! Your event is now enabled for ticket gifting.

3. Consider Selling Gift Certificates

If you're not ready to sell tickets yet, or you plan to host one-off events in the next year, selling gift certificates for your event might be a better fit than bundles or season passes. You can do that with Passage, too! We've got a handy help article with all the instructions. Or just schedule a call with our support team and we'll set everything up for you. 

4. Promote Your Tickets as Gifts

Don’t expect your audience to think of it all on their own. Let them know that your tickets can be gifted to family & friends, and remind them that they make great gifts. Got a puzzle lover in the family? Sure, you could give them yet another 1000-piece jigsaw, but wouldn’t a family trip to an escape room be more memorable? Need the perfect gift for a loved one who’s notoriously hard to buy for? Give them tickets to a local improv club - we all love a good laugh! 

Provide your audience with specific examples of how your tickets can make the perfect gift. Continue to remind them throughout the holiday season. Even if they've missed out on Black Friday or Cyber Monday, tickets are the ultimate last-minute gift because they can be delivered electronically, instantly.

5. Get Creative on Social Media

Social media is still one of the most effective ways to engage your audience. Remind your fans that your tickets make the perfect holiday gift, and use social media to show not only how to purchase but why they should. 

Posting memories of past events is a great way to accomplish this. It reminds guests how much they enjoyed your events, and helps holiday shoppers picture their loved ones enjoying future experiences. You could even post ideas for creative ways your tickets can be packaged to make the recipient feel extra special. At the same time, tickets are the ultimate low-waste gift because they can be delivered electronically and they won’t end up in a landfill later!

Video content is king on social media these days, so make sure you’re incorporating video content into your posts. Check out our guide to Stories and Reels for tips on how to do that!

Here are a few creative ideas you can steal to promote your ticket sales this week:

1. The "Experience vs. Stuff" Challenge (Reel/TikTok)

This concept leverages the powerful trend of preferring experiences over physical goods by framing it in a short, relatable video format.

2. The "Early Access Vault" Strategy (Stories & Email Capture)

BFCM sales often start early, but you can create urgency and exclusivity by offering a sneak peek deal only to a small, engaged group.

3. The "Bundle Breakdown" Visual (Carousel Post)

This idea directly addresses budget-conscious shoppers by highlighting the value of your bundled offers, making the complex math easy to understand.

4. The "Last-Minute Gift Hero" (Stories/Post)

Capitalize on the last few hours of Cyber Monday when shoppers are frantically looking for final gifts.

Final Thoughts

Black Friday shoppers are often looking for gifts that are easy and quick to purchase while also choosing something that’s thoughtful and personalized for the recipient. Knowing that your events allow ticket gifting may make their decision easier.

Need help setting up ticket gifting for your event? Schedule an onboarding call with our support team. We’ll help set everything up for you!