WonderNook StudiosHow to choose a ticketing site for a school, theatre or church
Selling tickets to one show is easy. Selling them all year, with a store, program ads and donations alongside, is a different job. This is what to look for.
What to look for
- Your own name and web address. Families should land on a page that looks like your school, theatre or church, not a listing next to other people's events.
- Reserved seating that matches your room. Buyers pick exact seats from a map of your auditorium, gym or sanctuary, with accessible seats, comps and blocked rows handled.
- Tickets on their phone. A ticket that arrives by email and text, adds to Apple Wallet or Google Wallet, and scans at the door. Nobody has to make an account.
- Check-in volunteers can run. QR scanning on a phone, a door list, and a live count, so a parent volunteer can work the door without training.
- Money that comes straight to you. Ticket sales should land in your own account, not wait for someone else's payout date.
- Fees you can plan around. A flat amount per ticket is easier to budget than a percentage of every sale.
- More than tickets. Merch, program ads and donations in the same place, so you're not running four tools.
- A person to call. When something changes the week of the show, someone should answer.
Plan for the whole year
A fall play, a winter concert, a spring musical with three performances, a fundraiser. Set up your seat map and branding once and reuse them every season. At the end of the year you should be able to pull the numbers your finance office or board asks for without building a spreadsheet by hand.
What a WonderNook site gives you
A WonderNook ticketing site is your own website, with your name on it, that you keep using season after season. It has reserved seat maps of your real room, phone and wallet tickets, door scanning, and reports. Your store, program ads, donations and trips live there too. Payments go through Stripe straight to your organization's account, and you can reach us directly when you need a change. See pricing.
Is it right for you?
It's a good fit if you run several events a year, sell merch or program ads, take donations, and want a site that's yours. If you sell tickets to one event a year and nothing else, you probably don't need your own site, and we'll tell you so.
Already selling tickets somewhere else? We can move your events, seat maps and past data over and get you running on your own site. Tell us about your events.
Frequently asked questions
Can you move our events from another ticketing service?
Yes. We bring over your events, seat layouts and past data, then launch your new site.
Do ticket buyers have to create an account?
No. They check out and get a scannable ticket by email and text that adds to their phone's wallet.
How do we get paid?
Ticket sales go to your organization's own payment account.