What would your ticket sales be like if your email campaigns made your audience feel understood and not just sold to?
Many times, we see arts organizations send one email to everyone on their list with descriptions that focus solely on performance features, and neglect communicating how the show benefits their audience by acknowledging their unique identities, lifestyles, goals, or pain points.
People aren't robots. They often make decisions based on their emotions.
Why This Matters
Further segmenting your audience by lifestyle, pain points, and more may feel daunting, but making them feel like you "get" them is expected:
73% of shoppers expect brands to understand their unique needs and expectations (eMarketer).
71% of consumers expect companies to deliver personalized interactions, and 76% get frustrated when this doesn’t happen (Shopify).
Yet there’s a disconnect between customers and brands — while 85% of brands believe they’re offering personalized experiences, only 60% of consumers agree (Shopify).
Understanding Your Audience Better When You're on a Budget
We recommend this process for conducting research and experimenting with different messaging strategies for one or two audience segments that occasionally buy tickets to start. Afterall, you're likely swamped if you work at an arts organization. Rome also wasn't built in a day.
For this post, we've created the persona "LaToya, The Arts Seeking Mom," and why she’d want to bring her family to Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater.
Click to expand
Identify and Create Personas
If you're on a budget, you can try to find more accounts that may have a similar lifestyles to La Toya by getting creative with list criteria. In the case of families, you can try pulling:
Pull audience members by zip codes or neighborhoods that are popular with families.
Pull ticket buyers that bought 4+ seats to shows that may cater to many different audience segments, including families,.
What's a persona? Find out here.
Discovering The Transformation
People don't wake up in the morning thinking "I need to find an orchestra that's for everyone" or "I need to find an opera company that's innovative" or "I need my life to be enriched by art." (Ruth Hartt)
People aren't simply buying a product or service. They're looking for solutions that help them transform into the person they aspire to be and tackle bigger challenges. Your audience may want to become:
A better parent by helping their children thrive
A loving spouse by planning date nights
A cool and collected co-worker by managing their mental health
Discover Why Your People Buy Beyond Artist and Programming
When asked, people will usually tell you they bought tickets because of the artist or programming. But there is usually a deeper reason they chose to visit your organization other than programming.
The best way to learn the deeper reason is by:
Talking to them in a one-to-one interview or in a focus group
Adding the right questions to your post-show or checkout surveys
Read Google reviews
In addition to quantitative data, ask questions that will bring out nuanced, qualitative information that offers a richer picture of who is buying tickets and why — information you'll never learn from a survey.
Pain Points & Pain Killers
Now that you've created personas and uncovered why your audience buys, you can identify pain points and pain killers.
When identifying pain points, think about the specific challenges your audience faces in their day-to-day lives. For LaToya, The Arts Seeking Mom, her pain points might include:
Boredom: Struggling to find exciting, family-friendly activities.
Guilt: Worrying that she’s not exposing her children to enough culture or enriching experiences.
Isolation: Wanting to bond with her family but feeling disconnected due to busy schedules.
Pain Killers
Your messaging should directly address these pain points, offering Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater as the solution:
Boredom Solution: Emphasize the vibrant, high-energy performances that captivate both adults and children, making it a perfect family outing.
Guilt Relief: Highlight the cultural enrichment and exposure to world-class art that attending Alvin Ailey provides, helping her feel like a great mom.
Connection: Focus on the shared experience, encouraging her to create memories with her family.
Finding the perfect thing to say
Craft Content & Messaging
Next, define one goal or action you want your audience to take that they'll actually want them to take and write copy that addresses their pain point.
Crafting your next email campaign that sells more tickets should be much easier and more effective because your audience told you what they want.
Here's an example of how your copy should change:
Typical Description | Targeted, Audience-Focused Description |
Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater brings dynamic premieres, contemporary favorites, and cherished masterpieces to captivated audiences around the globe. | Don't spend another boring weekend at home. Imagine your family's excitement when they experience powerful premieres and beloved masterpieces of Alvin Ailey’s matinee—all while treating yourself. |
Bonus tip: feel free to weave in words and phrases from your reviews and interviews. Your description and copy will then reflect how people are actually describing the show.
Get a segmentation and messaging worksheet.
We made a segmentation and messaging planning worksheet (valued at $50) to help you get to know your audience faster.
Click here to join our email list and download the worksheet. You'll also start getting priority invites to our Executive Roundtable Discussions and a bonus gift just for signing up.
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