“Without fans who pay at the turnstile, football is nothing”. The renowned Scottish soccer coach Jock Stein wanted to say that (professional) soccer exists by the grace of supporters, and that is still true. For a Professional Football Organization (BVO), the sale of match tickets determines a substantial part of the turnover. Flawless ticket sales for supporters and the club are therefore of crucial importance. Ormer ICT has started working on this and is gaining ground in the soccer landscape with its ticketing platform Tymes4.

Tymes4 is a fully automated ticket system for both the purchase of season tickets and single tickets in professional soccer. The system is already integrated at 14 Dutch Professional Football Organisations (BVOs), including Feyenoord, Excelsior and FC Utrecht. The Belgian Football Association is also using the ticketing platform, and further international rollout is on the agenda; the German market is being explicitly mapped out.

Niche in ticketing

In the world of ticket sales, where many major players are active, Tymes4 focuses specifically on the sale of soccer tickets. “Ease of use for supporters and flawless ticket sales must go hand in hand,” says Frank van Eijsden, COO at Ormer ICT Software Development. For BVOs, the sale of season tickets and single match tickets is a very important source of income. “In some cases it accounts for 20 to 25 percent of turnover for soccer companies. So it is not only important for the atmosphere in the stadium, but also certainly for the revenue of clubs.”

The ticketing platform Tymes4 has therefore been developed in such a way that the customer journey for supporters is as easy and efficient as possible and, entirely in line with the trends of the present time, is designed completely mobile first. “It is important that supporters can buy any type of ticket easily through the system, and through any device. So in addition to the ‘regular’ season ticket, we can also buy individual tickets or special offer tickets,” Van Eijsden outlines. “In addition, supporters can see exactly which seats are still available on an updated digital floor plan.” Important for supporters who want to sit next to friends or family members.

Virtual queue

Because ticket sales for major matches (think, for example, The Classic, specific derbies or European crackers) are often released at a predetermined time, the system must be able to withstand large visitor numbers in a short period of time. “The system must indeed be robust and able to handle a lot of traffic. From that idea, a virtual queue was built in,” explains van Eijsden. “That way, you can manage the peak load well. In addition, clubs can build in all kinds of barriers within Tymes4 to prevent too large a peak, by giving priority to certain (loyal) supporter groups, for example.”

Club feeling in the checkout

For an optimal customer experience, the completion of the purchase, the actual payment of the ticket, is the crucial phase. The online payments on the platform are provided by payment service provider Buckaroo. Trust and recognition are decisive; not only the ticket platform itself, but also the checkout process can be fully customized to the look and feel of the selling BVO.

“Buckaroo’s built-in smart checkout enables clubs to tailor the name on the statement, the look of the checkout page and the payment preferences all to the club,” explains Rens Gerritsen, Partnership Manager at Buckaroo. “Paying from your own domain name is also possible, so supporters see the name of their soccer club in the checkout URL – all for that extra bit of trust.”

Subscription payments

The payment process must be hassle-free, van Eijsden adds. “You want zero friction in the customer journey, and Buckaroo takes care of that on the payment front down to the last detail.” Buckaroo supports subscription payments for season tickets, for example, but also enables the purchase of individual tickets via iDEAL or credit card. The Belgian Football Association or a BVO in the border region, such as Roda JC, can in turn easily activate alternative payment solutions such as Bancontact, SOFORT or Giropay. “Precisely because these receipts are so important in financial terms, the smooth and secure processing of large payment volumes is simply crucial for BVOs when selling tickets.”

Setting up the payment process yourself

Gerritsen goes on to say that the BVO can set up the payment process entirely according to their own wishes. “Offering specific online payment methods is one example of this, but a function such as Dynamic Checkout also contributes to increased conversion. With that tool, you can pre-sort certain payment methods or just present a few specific options in the checkout.” In addition, the platform is continuously being developed. “A feature like ‘Secondary Ticketing’, where you can regulate the resale of tickets through the platform, was recently added.”

Credit management

In fact, the entire financial processing of ticket sales is highly automated in cooperation with Buckaroo, adds van Eijsden. “With its fully automated credit management system, Buckaroo is able to provide a very good follow-up of the customer journey, which at the same time also relieves the back office of BVOs. That back office automation has resulted in a much more efficient ticketing and payment process on the back end, and that saves all parties time and money.”

Business Partner Buckaroo

Payment Service Provider Buckaroo is a valued Business Partner of the knowledge and information platform Internetkassa.nu. With more than 10 years of experience, Buckaroo offers more than just processing transactions, but thinks along with you in every step of the payment process. Buckaroo offers, among other things: e-commerce payment solutions (iDEAL, PayPal, credit cards & post-payment), paying or donating via QR, subscription services and credit management.

Source: Internetkassa