10 reasons why your festival should go cashless in 2021

2018 and 2019 were breakthrough years for cashless festivals across the UK and Europe. Throughout the continent, more organisers than ever before asked fans at their events to use an RFID wristband to purchase food, drink, merch and more with a tap.

It will be remembered as the period that an industry-wide migration to cashless payments - led by our own award-winning solution, Event Genius Pay - began in earnest and rewarded early adopters like our client’s Cocoon in the Park, AMP Lost & Found, JikaJika! and El Dorado with higher revenues and left those who have not made the switch playing catch-up.

2020 however has been the year of the Coronavirus pandemic and one which has accelerated the move to cashless, both in the events and festival industry and wider society. Here are 10 reasons why your festival should get ahead of the competition by going cashless with Event Genius Pay:

1. Generate pre-event revenue:

Popular among both fans and organisers, pre-purchased credits are a key feature of the Event Genius Pay solution. The idea is simple, fans are offered the opportunity to plan their budgets by pre-purchasing credit which can be used to buy food, drink, merchandise and more at any of the vendors or bars across your festival site.

Sold via a white-label box-office solution – and often purchased in the same transaction as their tickets – fans will spend an average of £54 on credit, typically generating 31% of overall cashless revenues prior to the event itself.

2. Reduce queuing & improve audience flow:

With their tickets and credits safely downloaded to their mobile phone (or printed out), fans can travel to an Event Genius Pay festival without a care in the world. Upon arrival, they’ll be greeted by staff who will exchange their ticket for a wristband, load their pre-purchased credits and take to cashless payments like ducks to water.

After making their first purchase with a quick tap of their wristband, the entire process becomes second nature, speeding up service at every bar and vendor, meaning fans spend more time enjoying the music instead of waiting to be served. In a world where social distancing and audience flow are critical to running COVID-secure events, reducing queueing and overcrowding in particular areas (such as bars) is essential.

Want to see it in action for yourself? Then check out how much the fans at El Dorado Festival enjoyed using Event Genius Pay in the video below:

3. Remove cash and increase efficiency & hygiene:

With the training and support provided by our team, it’ll take just a few minutes with our easy to use equipment for your staff be able to serve fans in seconds.

Cash is notoriously dirty and studies have shown the common influenza virus can survive for up to 17 days on bank notes. With no money, credit/debit cards or pin terminals exchanging hands, you’re able to create a safer, quicker and more hygienic transaction for all involved. On top of this, staff will make fewer errors and you’ll see a reduction in theft and fraud.

4. Topping up credit is easy:

With the queues (and drinks) flowing freely, there’s every chance that your fans will need to add to their credit balance during your festival. To make this as easy as possible, we’ll work with you to position top-up booths strategically around your site, allowing fans to add an average of £35.81 more credit via cash or card. Alternatively, they can use our mobile top-up option to buy credit on their phone which can be redeemed the next time they go to a bar or vendor.

5. Our robust solution works offline:

Since launching our cashless services in 2016, our experienced team have served 1.3 million fans and processed over 4 million transactions, meaning they’ve seen it all – including network outages. That’s why Event Genius Pay has been designed to work without the need for network connectivity. So even if your location has a flaky network connection – or no connection at all – you can be confident that service at the event will never grind to a halt.

6. Event Genius Pay improves revenues by up 25%:

By making the whole process simple for fans and easy for staff, our evidence shows that switching to Event Genius Pay can help increase revenues by up to 25% in its first year of use and the improvements don’t stop there. Clients who make the switch to a multi-year contract with us have seen an overall increase of up to 39% in customer spend by year two of service.

7. Reduce administration and overheads:

With no cash handling at bars and vendors, there is no need to move cash and change around the site to keep service running smoothly. With less cash to count and our systems keeping track of every penny spent, reconciliation becomes a breeze whilst significantly reducing the risk of COVID-19 infection.

8. Gain insights into your fans’ spending:

With a unique ID number on the wristband of each customer, it’s possible for organisers to monitor the spending habits of every single fan, who will spend an average of £8.37 on each of six purchases they typically make at Event Genius Pay events. With the ability to track VIP customers, like the one fan who spent a whopping £946.19 at one of our client’s festivals, it’s a hugely powerful tool for any organiser to have.

9. Use rich data to improve the fan experience:

Our mobile and desktop reporting panel contains more than just data on customer spending. With accurate stats that show the times of day/night that each bar, vendor and even device has been busiest, your operations team can devise more accurate resource and staffing plans to ensure an even better level of service.

10. Calculate better vendor fees:

By using the data provided by Event Genius Pay, it’s possible for your team to design more sophisticated pricing models for your vendors, meaning you can take a percentage of each sale rather than a single set fee.

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Going cashless brings with it an abundance of benefits, and never more so than in today’s climate. The health and wellbeing of event attendees needs to remain at the forefront of all event planning processes and making the switch to cashless has now become a key indicator that organisers are prioritising the safety of their fans and staff.

If you’d like to know about how Event Genius Pay can revolutionise your next festival, please get in touch via email or to keep up to date with our latest news please subscribe by entering your email address below:

Related Content – Back to live: Why the move to cashless events is more important than ever