Christmas came early for Kansas City Ballet.

It started with their annual one-day Christmas in July sale for The Nutcracker. That day, Kansas City Ballet had their most successful on-sale yet, selling $750,000 in tickets. A few weeks later, the ballet company did it again with their general on-sale. 27 Nutcracker performances went live, and the team saw ticket sales leap. 

Kim Toigo, Assistant Patron Services Manager, attributed their success to Tessitura.

A streamlined path for easier purchases

Kim and her staff aim to create a frictionless online ticketing experience that exceeds patrons’ expectations. “Our goal is to make the purchase path as streamlined as possible,” Kim explained, “while still upselling other items, such as parking and souvenirs, that tie to the specific performance.”

She praised Tessitura’s e-commerce platform, TN Express Web (TNEW), for helping that expectation become reality. 

Tessitura and TNEW make the ballet company’s website “so user-friendly that’s where traffic is. The number of phone calls [to the] box office is drastically decreasing.”

Tessitura and TNEW make the ballet company’s website “so user-friendly that’s where traffic is,” Kim said. Online sales have grown steadily, far outpacing other ticketing channels.

The ease of use is a customer service win, too. “Instead of calling us, they’re doing it all online,” Kim noted. “The number of phone calls we take in the box office is drastically decreasing.”  

Revenue milestone met in one day

Kansas City Ballet’s Christmas in July sale attracts customers eager to secure great seats to one of its most anticipated events: The Nutcracker. The sale also generates critical revenue early in the fiscal year. 

This year was no different. By the end of the day, Kansas City Ballet had sold $750,000 in tickets, breaking their previous record. “It was the biggest first-day sale we’ve ever had,” Kim said.

Following their upgrade to Tessitura v16, Kim and her staff turned their attention to their general on-sale. “Tessitura and TNEW made it very easy to get those 27 Nutcrackers on sale,” Kim said.

By the end of the day, Kansas City Ballet had sold $750,000 in tickets.

The impressive returns marked significant progress toward the ballet’s revenue goal for The Nutcracker. “We made it a third of the way to our $3 million goal when we add in our pre-sales for season subscribers,” Kim marveled.

Now, Kim and her staff are eager to see what else they can accomplish with Tessitura v16. “We’re super excited about this year," she remarked. 

^{Photography by Brett Pruitt & East Market Studios, courtesy of Kansas City Ballet.}