Before the pandemic, only 9% of ticket sales at UCLA’s Central Ticket Office (CTO) were delivered electronically and more than 90% were paper tickets. Today that number has flipped with more than 90% of campus tickets being delivered electronically. This shift has resulted in improved customer satisfaction and savings of more than $150,000 annually in printing, packaging, production, mailing and staffing costs.
The team’s efforts to transform its ticket delivery system to deliver event tickets quickly and more efficiently recently earned CTO a focus on efficiency award from the California Higher Education Collaborative Conference, held at the UCLA Luskin Conference Center.
The push toward digital event ticketing began as a method to deliver event tickets quickly and efficiently to customers. Coming out of COVID, those holding events only had a few months between getting permission to have in-person audiences and executing events; therefore, identifying ways to get tickets to UCLA sporting events and arts performances, for example.
“This did not leave us with the usual time to traditionally print and mail tickets,” said CTO Director Paul Abramson. “We pivoted to a fully digital environment where tickets were sent via email and our fans either added them to their mobile wallets or accessed them via a desktop computer and printed their tickets.”
In addition to saving time and money, this change allows the team to provide better customer service and immediately resolve issues. In addition, implementing electronic ticket delivery eliminates the need for paper tickets and significantly reduces carbon emissions associated with printing and distributing physical tickets. By allowing people to access tickets electronically, an estimated 4.5 tons of paper was not shipped to UCLA or customers. This translates to decreased carbon emissions from transportation, contributing positively to UCLA’s environmental sustainability efforts.
