Create Promotions
The Promotions feature is a dynamic tool that can be used by theater and festival management to help boost ticket sales by offering incentives through a variety of approaches including:
- Increase attendance to specific shows or showtimes
- Incentivize customers to bring friends & family
- Empower partnering organizations to attract their own followings
- Share codes on social media to grow engagement
- Reward VIP customers for their continued patronage
- Excite the highest-paying customers to return more frequently
Note: It is possible for a single promotion code to apply a discount to both tickets and concessions in the same order.
- Promotion Type - two options (required)
- Amount off per ticket
- For example, entering $1.00 would result in a $12.00 ticket being discounted to $11.00
- Discount % off per ticket
- For example, entering 25% would result in a $12.00 ticket being discounted to $9.00
- Discounted tickets allowed per Promotion Code
- When you "Create promo code by name": This type of promo code is typically used when you are sharing the code publicly. In this case, if you want to limit total tickets that can be discounted by the promotion code, you should set this number fairly high so that the total limit is applied across several different people using the code.
- For example, if this number is set to 20, then a total of 20 tickets can be discounted however many times this single code is used, whether by 5 people who each buy 4 tickets, or by 20 different people each buying 1 ticket.
- When you "Create promo codes for email addresses": There are normally many unique codes created. In this case, you should set this number to be fairly low, since it will apply to each individual code.
- For example, if this number is set to 2, then each individual who receives a unique code may only use that code for a total of 2 tickets. Note that the code may be used multiple times in separate orders; but the limit will apply cumulatively across all the orders where the code was used. So a person with a code limited to 2 tickets could place two separate orders for 1 ticket each.
- You can leave this setting blank for no limit on the number of tickets that can be discounted.
- Minimum ticket quantity required in the order (optional)
- If the promotion is being used to incentivize customers bringing friends & family or larger groups, the number can be set to 2 or higher; say for example it is set to 2, then a customer must be purchasing at least 2 tickets for the promo code to successfully apply. Note that you can set this number to be higher than the “Discounted tickets allowed per Promotion Code” setting in order to create a “BOGO” type of promotion.
- You can leave this setting blank for no minimum of tickets required in the order.
- Does discount apply to the booking fee? (optional)
- If “Amount off per ticket” is selected, then the dollar amount discount will apply to the total of the ticket price plus the booking fee. If the discount is greater than the ticket price, the discount will also subtract from the booking fee.
- For example, if “Amount off per ticket” is $11.00, the ticket price is $10.00 and the booking fee is $1.50, then the total when the promo code is used for one ticket is $.50 ($10.00 + $1.50 - $11.00). If you were to leave this setting unchecked, the total when the promo code is used for one ticket would be $1.50 ($10.00 - $10.00 (discount is capped at the ticket price) + $1.50).
- If “Discount % off per ticket” is selected, then the percentage discount will apply to the total of the ticket price plus the booking fee. (optional)
- For example, if “Discount % off per ticket" is 50%, the ticket price is $10.00 and the booking fee is $1.50, then the total when the promo code is used for one ticket is $5.75 (($10.00 + $1.50) x 50%). If you were to leave this setting unchecked, the total when the promo code is used for one ticket would be $6.50 ($10.00 x 50% + $1.50).
- Eligible Ticket Types, Showtimes, and Shows
- Eligible Ticket Types
- Use if the promotion is only valid for specific ticket type(s).
- Eligible Showtimes
- Use if only specific showtime(s) should be eligible for this promotion.
- Ineligible Showtimes
- Use if there are specific showtimes which should not be eligible for the promotion. Note: we only recommend using this option if a promotion should be eligible for
- Eligible Shows
- Use this setting to make a Promotion only eligible for specific Shows. Using this option is effectively the same as adding all of the showtimes for specific shows to the Eligible Showtimes field (any new showtimes created after this option is set will also be included as eligible automatically).
Discounts on concessions can be set for Memberships and Promotion Codes and applied for customers at the box office, in combination with ticket discounts or on their own. Tickets and concessions can both be discounted with a single code in the same order.
To set the Concession discount, go to the Products Rules section of the Membership Plan or Promotion editor:
- Discount Type: Select either "Dollar amount off per item" or "Percentage off per item"
- Amount off per item: Enter how much should be discounted
- Discounted products allowed per code: Enter how many items ever can be discounted per code (memberships will likely keep this field blank if the intention is to enable members to use their discount towards as many concessions as they want over time, while promotion codes will likely have a low number set here if the intention is a one-time use, i.e. one free popcorn)
- Eligible products: Add which products should be eligible for the discount
These types of discounts can also be useful for Promotion Campaigns, to send customers a discount on concessions to incentivize their attendance.
Once you have set up your promotion rules, click "Publish".
- Promotion code validity period (optional)
- This determines the expiration date of any promo code created for this promotion.
- The validity period includes whole days only, so the first day ends at 11:59pm the day after the code was created.
- For example, if the period is set for 3 days and the promo code is created on Thursday, it will expire at 11:59pm on Sunday night.
- Require email match at checkout (optional)
- If checked, the customer must enter the email address at checkout that received the promotion, in order for the code to be successfully redeemed. This only applies to codes that are generated for email addresses.
- For cinemas with multiple locations: The "Limit this Promotion to the current location only?" checkbox can be checked if you only want the promotion code(s) to be eligible for redemption at the current location. This setting can only be changed before any codes are generated for the promotion.
- Reported cost (optional)
- The cost that will appear in distributor reports when a ticket is discounted using this promotion. If left blank, the actual discounted price will be reported.
- Reported ticket type (optional)
- The ticket type name that will appear in distributor reports for tickets discounted with this Promotion. If left blank, a title will be generated automatically from the original ticket type title + the name of this Promotion.
After you have saved and published your promotion, you can generate promotion code(s) in one of two ways:
- Option 1: Create A Promotion Code
- Promo Code By Name
- Enter a custom code can be created which reflects the nature of the campaign, for example “FrightNight50Off” to grant 50% to any screening that is part of the Fright Night series of programming.
- Click "Create promo code"
- Sharing codes with customers: This code must then be shared with customers however cinema management determines is best, via social media, email newsletter, etc.
Promo Codes may be redeemed by customers on your website or at your box office. During web checkout, customers may enter the promo code into the promo code field and Apply. The discounted price will appear as the Total.
At the box office, you can tap the "Apply Discount Code" checkbox before taking a customer's payment, and a search field will appear, where you can search for available promotions by code or by the customer's email address. Once you select the promotion, it will apply the discount to the total.
Code Tracking
On the Promotion editor in the admin, you can see how many times a promotion was redeemed, and how much has been discounted for the promotion.
Changing settings after promotion codes have been generated
The “promotion code validity period” may not be edited for promotion code(s) that have already been generated, if that setting is changed, it will only apply to new codes created. If you need to change the validity period of a specific code, you can visit Promotions > Codes, edit the code, and set the End Date to the desired validity end date.
All other promotion rules which are changed after codes have already been created will apply to all new and outstanding codes.
If you want to prevent further usage of all codes attached to a promotion, you can unpublish the promotion. If you need to remove or prevent usage of a specific promotion code, please visit Promotions > Codes, edit the code, and set the End Date to a date in the past.