A CRM (Customer Relationship Management system) is designed to manage customer relationships and optimise a venue's interactions with its audience in order to improve satisfaction and foster loyalty.
It is quite common to confuse the uses of ticketing software with those of a CRM tool. However, this confusion between the principles and functionalities of these two systems can undermine the design and implementation of marketing strategies and prevent teams from getting the most out of either tool.
Indeed, ticketing software and CRM systems share some similarities: both collect and store users' personal data - such as identity and contact details - and allow for the management of relationships between records (e.g. parent/child accounts, company/individual records). They also allow for the qualification of contacts through categories defined by the team (e.g. association, school, artist, partner, ambassador...).
To work effectively together, these tools must be interoperable, with synchronised databases. That said, the marketing data management functionalities of ticketing systems often end there.
The following actions - often mistakenly expected from a ticketing system - should in fact be handled by your CRM tool:
Developing quality interactions with audiences beyond the act of purchasing Ticketing systems are not designed to track the full history of interactions with each customer. It is the CRM's role to track sent emails (including delivery, opens, clicks), phone calls, customer feedback or complaints. The CRM also allows audience relations teams to log audience preferences - such as preferred communication channels or a detailed history of previous interactions.
Analysing customer behaviour and generating insights Audiences interact with a cultural organisation in many ways: booking a ticket, browsing the website, subscribing or unsubscribing from a newsletter, entering a contest, using a promo code, visiting the organisation's social media... Only a CRM (or GRC) can aggregate all these touchpoints to generate meaningful insights into customer journeys and loyalty dynamics.
Segmenting your audience database Cross-referencing different types of data enables you to create audience profiles based on usage behaviours (how they access information, their responsiveness to communications, last-minute vs. early buyers, attending solo or with family...), demographic characteristics, or thematic interests drawn from the shows they book.
This information fuels your marketing strategy - for example, by shaping targeted offers for specific audience segments.
Managing, automating, and evaluating relationship marketing campaigns While a ticketing system can gather audience consent for receiving promotional messages, it is the CRM that executes these campaigns and tracks audience behaviour (email opens, purchases triggered by a message, etc.).
The CRM - often linked to an emailing or SMS tool - centralises and automates relationship marketing campaigns (e.g. pre- or post-visit emails, messages triggered by a customer action or inactivity).
It also enables you to collect and analyse campaign results, assess their effectiveness, and make adjustments.