Broadway Nights and Game Days: In-Season Automations That Keep Seats Filled
As Broadway shows return and football kicks off, every show and game brings a familiar challenge: filling seats now while giving audiences a reason to return later. These in-season automations help at four recurring points during the patron-journey: on sale, post-purchase, pre-event, and post-event. These campaigns can bring interested buyers back, create additional revenue opportunities, help ticket holders arrive ready, and turn what you learn after an event into a more relevant next offer. Build them across your event calendar, and they can work for every show and game.
On sale: Turn interest into action
Web nurturing sends a timely follow-up to someone who viewed a show or game on your website but left without buying a ticket. Cart abandonment follows up when they selected seats but left before checkout. The K-State Football and Classic Center examples show how the message can reflect the game, show, or package that first caught someone’s attention.
On-sale best practice: Give patrons a reason to act now.
Popejoy Presents gave donors early access to its 2026–27 Ovation Series build-your-own subscription before the general on-sale. A deadline and “Last Chance” reminder helped make that access feel timely; the campaign reached open rates as high as 31% and click rates as high as 13%. For the general on-sale, one email paired an “On Sale Now” image with graphics for each show, making it easy to explore the full season and choose a package.
Post-Purchase Revenue follow-ups: Make the next ask relevant
The next opportunity depends on what someone has already shown interest in. UCLA thanked fans who took part in its San Diego State ticket promotion and invited them to buy tickets for the following Saturday’s Purdue game. Hartford Symphony Orchestra followed up with patrons who considered a gift but did not complete it, connecting that donation to performances and music education.
A purchase can also open the door to useful additions, such as parking, dining, merchandise, premium seating, or membership. The strongest offer reflects the buyer’s plans and gives them a clear reason to act.
Pre-event: Make arrival easier
West Coast Entertainment’s mobile ticket reminder shows Broadway patrons how to save tickets to Apple Wallet or Google Pay Wallet before show day, helping them arrive with everything ready for entry. The Fabulous Fox’s Know Before You Go email for Clue covers the Lexus Fox Club entrance, parking, dining, and tickets.
These automations dynamically insert the appropriate event image, copy, name, date, and time, allowing one email to serve multiple shows or games without scheduling a new send for each one.
Rutgers shows another way to keep pre-event information current: its gameday guide lives on an Eloqua landing page. With Eloqua landing pages, your team can update schedules, parking details, and other information in one place as plans change, while fans use the same link for the latest guide.
Post-event: Learn, follow up, and improve
Attendance data helps determine who should receive a survey and who may need a different message because they did not use their tickets. Georgia Tech asks attendees about their game-day experience and future ticket interests. The Fox Theatre asks about the visit and whether patrons would like to become donors or premium members.
Surveys can reveal additional questions based on a person’s answers, keeping the experience relevant while gathering useful detail. Selected responses can also be configured to create a Salesforce opportunity. A sales or development representative can then follow up directly, already knowing what the patron or fan expressed interest in.
Did You Know?
Attendance tracking records whether a contact scanned into a show or game and builds a count of events attended. Next season, you can use that history to target one-time attendees with single-ticket offers and frequent attendees with mini plans, season tickets, or subscriptions. Reach out to your Marketing Automation representative to start building that history now.
Let Every Event Help Fill the Next
The real advantage comes from making these automations part of every event. Each show or game is another chance to recover a sale, offer something relevant, help someone through the door, and learn what they want to attend next. Put those opportunities to work throughout the season, and you’re doing more than promoting the next date on the calendar; you’re building the audience for it.
