6. Seat maps Follow
Ordering and using a seat map on an event does not cost anything extra; however, please be aware that it can take a couple of weeks to create your map (dependent on the complexity and our current workload), and once your map is used on an event and tickets have been sold, we cannot change it.
Customer journey
The customer journey for an event with a seat map varies slightly from events without seat maps. On the event page, the customer can either select Place your order, or they can click on the different ticket types to proceed to the seat map.
They will then be able to select their desired seat, and the ticket type for each seat. They can then hit Purchase when they are ready, and the purchase journey continues as normal from there. The customer's ticket will show their seat number, row and section.
How do I order a seat map?
Please send us an email to support@ticketco.events, including the following information:
- The name of the arena or seat map.
- A PDF or XLS file or image showing the layout and seating plan for your map.
- If you want your map divided into different sections, please include either an image or a description of this.
- An indication of which seats are accessible seating.
We will let you know if we need any more information from you, and we will keep you updated on the progress of the map as best as we can.
Attaching your seat map to an event
Once your seat map is created and activated on your account, navigate to the event you want to attach your map to (or create the event if you have not already done so). Select Seating arrangement, and then click Assign seating arrangement.
Select the relevant map under Template, and then cross off the ticket types which you wish to connect up to your seat map. The tickets you activate under Ticket Types will be activated on all sections of your seat map. That means that if you have a combination of ticket types, you will need to consider whether you want the ticket types available on all sections of your map. You can always manually activate and deactivate this afterwards under Price zones, but getting this right at this stage can save you a lot of work.
Hit Save when you're done and you will also see an overview of your seat map.
Please note that you will not be able to assign a seating arrangement to an event if you have already sold tickets on the event. You will also not be able to remove the seat map once tickets have been sold.
Price zones
Next you will need to go to the Price zones tab to make sure that your ticket types are assigned to the correct sections of the map. This is a very important stage in setting up your seat map, so you should not skip over this. Head this way for a more detailed article outlining how to set up and assign price zones.
If you informed us that we should divide your map up into certain sections when you ordered your map, we will have created these sections, or "zones", which you will find under the Price zones tab. You can think of these price zones as different areas/sections of your map.
To connect the different zones in your map to your ticket types, select the ticket types under Your items and use the blue arrow under Available price zone to add to add the zone to the ticket.
Price zones added to the item shows which zones are already added. To remove a zone, use the small red cross under Price zones added to the item (3).
Creating a new price zone
If you want to create your own price zone outside of the ones already in the system, select New price zone. You might want to do this if you have a some restricted view seats, or some premier tickets for the front row, which you want to charge a different rate on. To mark out which seats on the map are a part of this new price zone, go to Seating arrangement and highlight the relevant seats.
Using the menu on the right hand side of the page, select Price zones and choose the relevant zone from the list, which in this case is "Front Row VIPs". Then hit Save.
Gates
Once you have your map set up in the platform, you might want to create a series of gates, or entrances, which will help you when directing your customers and scanning in their tickets. The Gates feature allows you to connect sections from your seat map to specific entrances, and the relevant gate/entrance will be shown on your customers' tickets.
Once we have activated this feature for you, you will see a new tab appear in the main menu called Gates.
- Click on Create for the map you wish to create gates on.
- Name the gate. Remember this is what will be displayed on your customers' tickets.
- Add an image if you wish, although this is not necessary.
- Select the relevant seating sections that you want to connect to the gate. The sections you can choose from are based on how we have divided up your seat map when you ordered your map.
- Save.
You can also assign certain ticket types to gates by going to Ticket types, navigating to the ticket type, and manually activating the gates there. It is possible to link multiple sections from your seat map to one gate, and vice versa.
To connect a user to a gate, go to Managers (under Organizer Settings), select the user and activate the relevant gates on the user. If a ticket buyer turns up to the wrong gate, an error message will be displayed for the user. The user will then know to redirect the customer to the correct gate.
Seat map top tips!
- Let us know in advance if you would like us to create a seat map. Seat maps can take around 1-2 weeks to create, so give yourself plenty of time. Read here for how to order your map.
- Ensure that your seat map is exactly as you want it before you start selling. Once sales have been made, we will not be able to edit your seat map.
- Ensure your ticket types are connected to the relevant seat map section under Price zones.
- You will not be able to add or remove a seat map to an event which has tickets already sold.
- You will not be able to combine different seat maps on a season pass. Season passes can only be associated with one seat map, so note that you will not be able to associate events to the season pass if they have different maps.
For more help, we recommend that you check out our other articles found here.