One of the main concerns nightclub managers have when considering a cashless system is whether it will effectively cater to all types of audiences that visit throughout a season. This concern is entirely logical, especially considering that most leading clubs in a city aim to offer a tailored experience for each event, sometimes with formats that change dramatically several times a week, even involving external promoters for some parties.
In this post, we review the key aspects to consider to ensure that the implementation of a cashless system in your nightclub always results in an improved experience for attendees. Let's consider a venue with the following characteristics:
- A capacity of between 1,000 and 5,000 people
- Hosts at least two or three events per week during nighttime hours with different target audiences (for example, a party for young university students on Thursdays, a more commercial party on Fridays, and an electronic music session on Saturdays).
- Additionally, it features live concerts where the event promoter is external.
Maintaining the Venue's Identity
The venue we are analyzing, like most venues that need to differentiate themselves today, invests considerable resources in their brand identity. The goal is primarily to convey an image that is close to their target audience and to increase client recurrence by building trust. Alongside the venue's identity, the event's brand for recurring sessions often needs to be added, many of which have their own social media accounts to better reach the desired audience.
Implementing a cashless system with a third brand identity, often completely opposite to the venue's aesthetic, directly contradicts all the marketing work carried out by the venue's team. In fact, we are increasingly seeing nightclubs opting to use their own ticketing systems to have control over the customer experience from the first interaction with the venue. In this regard, one fundamental requirement for a cashless system to support marketing efforts is that it should be customizable, ideally at the event level, so that users always feel they are within the safe and trusted environment of the venue.
Adapting to the Event Format
The different formats our venue hosts are aimed at different audiences, specifically on three closely related fronts:
- Age: from very young audiences on Thursdays to a more mature crowd on Saturdays and at some concerts.
- Duration: concerts rarely last more than 3 hours, while sometimes we have club sessions of 8 hours or more. Additionally, the event duration also results in higher peaks of activity at entry and exit points.
- Spending: which, as expected, is directly related to the other two factors. A younger audience will spend less, especially at a midweek concert, while an audience aged 25 to 30, where most have their own income and go out less frequently, will spend much more at a club event on a Saturday.
The additional challenge for venues hosting various event formats, as in our example, is that they need a cashless system adaptable to each audience's nuances. We need a cashless system that is convenient and easy to use for the customer; during short-duration events, we can't afford to distribute wristbands or have queues at recharge points. Strategies to educate audiences on payment methods also fail with an older audience or those who are not regulars. Ultimately, it has to be an extremely intuitive system that poses no friction for purchasing and doesn't require top-ups or act as a wallet requiring refund requests.
Collaborating with External Promoters
Finally, let’s not forget that some of the concerts our example venue hosts are promoted by external entities. Depending on the agreement, the promoter may have rights to a percentage of beverage sales, or they might want to be involved in beverage sales by including them as a supplement to admission.
Each case is different, so a key characteristic that strengthens a cashless system in this regard is that it must be flexible and provide precise data for both the venue and promoters. For instance, it should attribute purchases from the promoter’s social media channels or enable pre-purchasing drinks at the time of ticket purchase until the event begins. This period is invaluable for impacting customers as we have the advantage of their anticipation for the event.
At FesteaPay, we work hand in hand with nightclubs to ensure our cashless solution meets their needs. We offer a straightforward system that doesn’t create queues or require specific hardware, as it utilizes the attendees' mobile phones while guaranteeing the same level of security as a wristband-based cashless system. Thousands of attendees use it weekly at events of various formats and aimed at diverse audiences, proving itself to be an intuitive solution, with 60% of first-time users completing a transaction in less than 30 seconds.