Category Archives: Sales

The official Vemos blog
Author Whitney Larson Posted on

The Best NYE Ticketing System for Nightclubs

Ticketing companies are a dime a dozen. And with all the choices at your disposal, how do you know which one to go with? The best thing you can do is to choose a system that will set your entire New Year’s Eve event up for success. After all, it’s your biggest event of the year.

Here are the top 5 things you need in your ticketing system.

1. Go Beyond Registration

Most ticketing companies are simply a registration system. They allow people to buy a ticket for your event, and then their offerings end there. They don’t help you connect the dots of what brought your customer to buy a ticket, what they did once they got into your event, and how you can retarget that customer in the future.

Instead, use a ticket system like Vēmos that goes beyond registration. This means following your customer’s journey before, during, and after they walk through your door, and having the tools at your disposal to also manage your event operations.

2. Don’t Redirect Your Customers

A customer comes to your website to buy a ticket. They click that “buy” button and are now redirected to the ticketing company’s website. You’ve now lost that customer’s data, your brand is out of sight, and they’re now getting messages to register for competing events on your ticket buying page. Does this sound like the right experience to you?

Stop redirecting your customers to a different company. Use a ticketing system that functions on your own website without their branding being present. That way, your customers will always feel like they’re purchasing directly from you, and you get to fully control the experience.

3. Connect Your Accounts

You have more to manage for your event than selling tickets. A lot of New Year’s Eve parties have VIP reservations that also need to be managed and marketing systems to promote your efforts. This typically means you’re managing separate tools and systems for each of these functions. Not only is that a hassle, but your’e losing out on data and duplicating information.

We allow you to connect all your accounts together in one dashboard. So not only are you selling tickets to your event, but you can handle all other areas in this one system. Information flows seamlessly between your services automatically so you never have to re-enter or duplicate information in each account.

4. Collect Money Right Away

Most ticketing sites hold your money until after the event to cut you a check, which means your revenue is held up while your expenses continue. Make sure your ticketing provider works with you and your bank account so payments go directly into your account as soon as a transaction is made. This way, you earn your revenue leading up to your event rather than making up for your expenses weeks after.

5. Own Your Data

When your guests are redirected to third-party sites, and when your event information lies in multiple accounts, you’re unable to track all your data. In fact, you don’t actually own that data. Technically, the ticketing provider owns it and they’re going to use it to target your customers for competing events.

Put the power back in your hands. Use a ticketing provider that’s not profiting off your customers, but instead exists to serve you. This way, you’ll collect key information on your customers, staff, and event as a whole to understand what worked and what didn’t for future success.

Have the most profitable New Year’s Eve ever with Vēmos and experience these 5 benefits. You get all the perks of major ticketing solutions with the functionality of nightclub management software in one dashboard. Sell out your New Year’s Eve event in advance. Get money in your bank right away. And have a stress-free door. All at no cost. Get started now.

Author Whitney Larson Posted on

4 Reasons Data is Your Venue’s MVP

We talk a lot about mixology, music, lights and ambiance in this industry. After all, this is the recipe for your party. And while all of them are important to running your venue, there’s one component that stands out as the true MVP to your entire business’ success: data.

While your party is what brings people into your venue, your data is what allows you to build ongoing success. It’s what enables you to put on more successful parties, to continue driving the right people through your door, and to boost your revenue up based on that combination.

Here’s how you can turn the data that already exists to become your most valuable player.

1. Collect information about your guests

Today’s Reality: Nearly every nightclub and bar has an estimate of how many guests walked through their door on a given night. What they don’t know is who walked through their door. They get people in, serve them, and let them walk away without knowing anything about them.

Data’s Fix: Put tools in place to track what you’re already doing. Instead of checking IDs manually, use an ID Scanner to collect important guest information (hint: you can use this to drive loyalty). Turn your paper guestlist into a digital one to collect guest contact information along with data on what time they checked in, who they checked in with, what brought them there, and any promos they used. Use a system to collect insight on your general admission walk-ins, VIP reservations, and those who bought tickets to your event. Better yet – make sure all of these areas connect into one account so you get the whole picture in one dashboard. And when you connect this system to your POS, you’re able to unearth even more valuable information.

MVP Status: Now you have a database of all your guests, including their name, contact information, how many times they’ve been to your venue, whether they’re a VIP/guest list/event/general admission customer, how much money they’ve spent, and what their most popular drink purchases are. This means you’re now able to better identify your guests, upsell them before they walk through your doors (hint: more $), and provide personalized service (so they spend more $).

2. Increase marketing results

Today’s Reality: Venues end up spending marketing dollars on mass marketing efforts (or sometimes no marketing at all), blasting vague messages to a broad range of people who may or may not be their customers. All because they don’t know who their customers are.

Data’s Fix: With the right system, you can have a complete buyer persona for all of your target customer segments, including demographic, geographic, and psychographic information. Use this to your advantage. As an example, you can segment your audience into a list of females who attend your venue on Friday nights and spend at least $100. You can then send a text message to this list with a message that’s 100% relevant to them. And that’s powerful marketing.

MVP Status: You’re no longer wasting marketing dollars on efforts that don’t convert. Instead, you’re able to drive your most loyal customers back into your venue with personal messaging, you’re able to establish a healthy mix of male and female customers, and you’re able to drive customers who haven’t visited in a while back through your doors. Better marketing results in better guests which results in bigger spending.

3. Improve Operations

Today’s Reality: Nightclubs go into each night without an accurate idea of what the night will hold. And when you don’t know how many guests will arrive for a night, it’s hard to plan and staff accordingly. VIP tables get double booked, the door gets bottlenecked, and staff aren’t communicating to solve the issues. Your guests notice this, and it hinders their experience before they even walk in your door.

Data’s Fix: Systems improve operations, provide metrics, and instill accountability. When you use a single system to sell tickets, manage VIP tables, manage your guest list, and handle general admission walk-ups, you’re able to know how many guests you can expect to arrive. This then helps you staff accordingly and plan out VIP tables. It also helps to streamline your door and optimize your lines.

MVP Status: Putting a bit of strategy and organization can help your speed of night, improve customer morale while waiting in line, and get people through your to start spending money inside your venue faster. Plus, when your door system ties to your guest database, your staff is able to treat each guest with respect and a more personalized service. This in turn means they’re more likely to enjoy themselves and want to stay (and spend more money while they’re there).

4. Know Your Business Results

Today’s Reality: Most venues don’t have the right data to get an accurate gage of how well their venue is performing. Without the right system in place to analyze this data, venues are operating blindly and wasting time and money on areas that may or may not be working.

Data’s Fix: When you use one system to track all areas, you have a clear understanding of exactly what’s happening in your venue without having to log into multiple data systems. Now, you can easily track:

  • How much money you made over a given time period
  • How many customers walked through your door over a given time period (and who they were)
  • How many table reservations you have over a given time period, and how much you earn on average
  • When your customers start buying tickets to your event
  • Which staff members are bringing in the most guests (and biggest spenders)

MVP Status: Venues we work with have seen an average uptick of 30% to their bottom line after switching to a system backed by data. That’s because they know exactly what’s working and what doesn’t, which allows them to spend their money more wisely. They also improved their operations to get their guests in the door faster to get to the bar more quickly, resulting in increased bar sales. When you have absolutely clarity on your venue’s performance, you can do even more to increase your success. Without data, you’re simply just guessing and could be leaving a lot of money on the table.

Author Whitney Larson Posted on

The New Normal in Customer Experience

Big brands in the restaurant and hospitality industry are jumping on what’s often known as the “Amazon model.” It’s the new normal, and it’s what your guests expect of every brand they interact with — including yours.

The Amazon model is where the brand becomes so good at anticipating and catering to customer desires that it forces other competitors to either evolve or dissolve. They know what a customer wants when the customer wants it, without the customer needing to think about it. It’s hyper-personal. It’s experience-driven. And it’s what drives your customers’ buying habits.

We at Vēmos have always believed this shift was inevitable for hospitality, and have been working with nightlife venues across the country to help them achieve this level of personalization. The venues we work with know this model isn’t limited to ecommerce, and they aren’t alone. It’s such an impactful model that McDonald’s recently shelled out $300 million for Dynamic Yield, a decision-logic company that essentially puts predictive abilities into McDonald’s drive-thru menus.


This is a big deal.

It’s a big deal for consumers. It’s a big deal for our industry. And it’s a big deal for you. We’re experiencing the biggest shift in what’s expected for hospitality experiences, and it’s important for your longevity to stay on top of this shift.

How McDonald’s is Using Tech to Fuel Customized Experiences

What started this acquisition was that McDonald’s identified they weren’t necessarily losing guests, they were seeing a drop in customer visits. They knew they needed to regain those visits, and the best way to do that is to take a page from online retailers. What online retailers have proven is that inspiring loyalty isn’t about programs and clubs. It simply comes down to catering to a specific individual’s needs. So that’s exactly what McDonald’s sought to bring into their stores.

According to QSR Magazine, “The new menuboards gives McDonald’s the chance to create a more personalized experience by varying outdoor digital drive-thru menu displays to show food based on time of day, weather, current restaurant traffic, and trending menu items. It can instantly suggest and show additional products to a customer’s order based on their current selections.”

They tested the concept in select stores in March, and a mere 3 months later they discovered that it works. So much so that they’re beginning a mass rollout and expect it to be in 100% of US and Australia locations by the end of the year.


In those 3 months with the new menus in place, McDonald’s experienced:

  • An increase in the average check per customer
  • An increase in product upsales and menu item add-ons
  • A 6.5% increase in same-store sales – its best result in seven years
  • Consistency in providing customized experiences



    • But it wasn’t just the consumers’ experiences or their sales that were positively impacted. Their staff was as well. The order-taking process was proven to be more efficient because workers didn’t need to manually upsell guests – the tech did it for them. Their staff was faster at taking orders, faster at delivering orders, and it proved to serve as a consistent approach to customizing a guest’s experience.

    This model isn’t a passing fad. It’s now the backbone of customer service, and is becoming the expectation of your guests. We at Vēmos continue to build our system to ensure you’re equipped with the best insight to provide that personalized experience to your guests. Contact us to discover how you can leverage the data that already exists across your venue to achieve your own “Amazon model.”

    Author Whitney Larson Posted on

    5 Things Your Event Needs in a Ticketing System

    Your event is important to the success of your night, and that goes well beyond just selling tickets. You have a bar to run, staff to manage, expenses to cover. Selling tickets is just the preliminary step to ensuring a successful turnout. That’s why it’s important to make sure you’re ticketing system is setting your entire night up for success.

    Here are the top 5 things your ticketing system should allow you to do.


    1. Go Beyond Registration

    Most ticketing companies are simply a registration system. They allow people to buy a ticket for your event, and then their offerings end there. They don’t help you connect the dots of what brought your customer to buy a ticket, what time they arrived, what they bought once they got into your event, and how you can retarget that customer in the future.

    Instead, use a ticket system that goes beyond registration. This means following your customer’s journey before, during, and after they walk through your door, and having the tools at your disposal to also manage your event operations.



    2. Keep Customers on Your Site

    A customer comes to your website to buy a ticket. They click that “buy” button and are now redirected to the ticketing company’s website. You’ve now lost that customer’s browsing data, your brand is out of sight, and they’re now getting messages to register for competing events on your event page. Does this sound like the right experience to you?

    Stop redirecting your customers to a different company. Use a ticketing system that functions on your own website without their branding being present. That way, your customers will always feel like they’re purchasing directly from you, and you get to fully control the experience. After all, experience is the first step to creating loyalty.



    3. Connect Your Accounts

    You have more to manage for your event than selling tickets. You have inventory, staff, reservations, marketing systems, the list goes on. This means you’re managing separate tools and systems for each of these functions. Not only is that a hassle, but your’e duplicating your efforts while losing out on critical insight.

    We at Vēmos allow you to connect all your accounts together in one dashboard. It’s why we exist. So not only are you selling tickets to your event, but you can handle all other areas in this one system. Information flows seamlessly between your services automatically so you never have to re-enter or duplicate information in each account.



    4. Collect Money Right Away

    Most ticketing companies hold your money until after the event to cut you a check, which means your revenue is tied up while your expenses continue. Make sure your ticketing provider works with you and your bank account so payments go directly into your account as soon as a transaction is made. This way, you earn your revenue leading up to your event rather than making up for your expenses weeks after.



    5. Own Your Data

    When your guests are redirected to third-party sites, and when your event information lies in multiple accounts, you’re unable to track all your data points. In fact, you don’t actually own that data. Technically, the ticketing provider owns it and they’re going to use it to target your customers for competing events.

    Put the power back in your hands. Use a ticketing provider that’s not profiting off your customers, but instead exists to serve all aspects of your night to make you as successful as possible.

    Author Whitney Larson Posted on

    Build Loyalty by Checking IDs

    Checking IDs is commonly considered a necessary evil of serving alcohol. It’s not sexy. It’s not exciting. It’s just a step in the process.

    Until now.

    Checking IDs can actually be turned into a huge asset to your bar or nightclub, especially with the right technology. When you shift your thinking and equip yourself with the right tools, this very basic step becomes both your liability system as well as your customer loyalty program.


    The Legal Aspect

    The liability and security side of checking IDs is always the most top-of-mind, particularly when it comes to verifying whether a guest is of age to drink. And from that aspect alone, having your staff manually review IDs is sufficient. But your liability decreases drastically when you equip that staff member with an ID scanning system. Here’s why:

  • It reduces the chances of honest human errors. Humans make mistakes even with the best intentions, such as incorrectly calculating someone’s age based on their date of birth. Having a quick license scan double verifies the guest’s age with a simple color coded alert of whether they’re over 21 or under 21. It makes it foolproof even under high stress situations.


  • It assists with easily passing stings. When authorities are checking to make sure you’re compliant, they legally cannot do so by using a fake ID or purposefully deceiving you. That means most stings are a result of incorrect math or laziness. Having a policy with an ID scan system corrects any mental mistakes and confirms all IDs are reviewed.


  • It aids in detecting fakes. Fake IDs are getting more complex, so having an ID scan system is just one more layer in the process of detecting a fake. Plus, in a worse-case scenario when you accidentally serve a minor, having a digital system is your paper trail to prove to authorities you didn’t purposefully serve that person and did the best of your ability to be compliant.


  • It digitally tracks your 86 list. Your seasoned staff may know immediately if a guest is banned and shouldn’t be let in, but your new employees likely won’t. Rather than memorizing a photo book of those who aren’t allowed, an ID scan system will automatically alert your employee if a guest is banned from the venue. Plus, if an incident occurs during the night, your staff can easily add that guest to your ban list so you always have the most up-to-date information to maintain a safe environment.


  • It alerts you of potentially unruly patrons. Some ID scan systems, like us at Vēmos, allows you to opt into a city-wide ban list. This means you’ll be alerted if a guest is banned at a nearby location along with the reason they were banned. You then use this information to make educated decisions on whether or not you want to let that guest into your venue.



    • Maintaining a secure environment minimizes costs associated with insurance, repairs, fines, and enforcement. What’s more is it provides an enjoyable atmosphere for your guests, which translates to a more profitable establishment. Which leads to the next aspect: loyalty.


    The Loyalty Aspect

    The not-so-obvious side of an ID scanning system is that it can become your loyalty program. And it can serve you better than most standalone loyalty programs can. Why? Because every guest needs to have their ID to drink. Not every guest is going to have your loyalty card or app. In fact, few consumers today want to have a separate loyalty card for every establishment they ever visit, so you’ll only capture a small percentage of your daily patrons.


    With an ID scanning system, you’re able to collect data on all of your guests. This goes well beyond their name, age and other demographic information. We’re talking behavioral data — how often that guests comes, what time of day they check in, how many visits they’ve had this month, what types of events or promotions drive them there, the list goes on. And when you connect your ID scanning system to your point of sale system, you unlock a whole new layer of behavioral information. Not to mention you get a ton of invaluable insights on what factors drives your business and which triggers to pull to repeat that business.


    It’s with this information that you’re able to reward your guests for doing what they’re already doing — simply showing up — and begin to offer them personalized service based on their habits. Notice it’s their 5th time coming in this month? Comp their first drink. Haven’t seen them in a while? Reach out to them about a special you think they’d enjoy. It’s these types of actions that build connections between consumers and brands, and drive true loyalty to your establishment.



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