New York-based indie rock band Ra Ra Riot and Rock band Stars used ticketing application Thrillcall to promote their concerts that exclusively sold tickets via mobile, and both bands sold out concerts in minutes.

Ra Ra Riot sold out within 53 minutes, and Stars sold out in 42 minutes. Thrillcall works with bands such as Ra Ra Riot and Stars to increase ticket conversion for music events via mobile and push notifications.

“Nearly 50 percent of customers search for tickets to purchase through some mobile form,” said Matthew Tomaszewicz, co-founder and head of business development and product marketing at Thrillcall, San Francisco.

“Additionally, customers on those devices are typically not going to do exhaustive searches, due to screen size, being in transit, etc,” he said. “If Thrillcall knows about a customer’s preferences and can notify them at the point that they are interested in searching and purchasing, conversion rates increase in abundance.

“Push notifications on mobile devices prompt for direct action, leading to three times more transactions.”

Mobile concerts
Thrillcall lets consumers search through listings of upcoming concerts in major cities. Fans can buy local flash show offers that offer exclusive access to music events.

The app currently lists exclusive offers in San Francisco, Los Angeles, New York and Chicago. It lists regular concerts in more than 35 cities around the world and directs fans to Ticketmaster to purchase tickets.

For some exclusive events, fans can enter to win free tickets.

Fans can also share the offers via social media and in return get advanced notice on exclusive deals.

Thrillcall saw much success with its exclusive offers for Ra Ra Riot and Stars.

With Ra Ra Riot, tickets were only sold through Thrillcall’s app. According to Thrillcall, this was the first concert that only sold tickets via mobile.

Ra Ra Riot announced the show one week before the sale via social media and press. The band, venue and Thrillcall all posted about the event.

Then Thrillcall used push notifications to increase conversion.

Once a consumer decided to purchase a ticket, the process was easy and simple with a two-click purchase flow.

With Stars, the band, venue and Thrillcall announced the show two days before sales via social media. Again, Thrillcall used push notifications to increase conversion.

Thrillcall is currently working with a five-show Benefit Concert Series at The Mercury Lounge, which is only selling passes via mobile. The series has already seen three packed shows to benefit Oxfam America.

Mobile ticketing
It seems as though the market is increasingly prepared for mobile ticketing.

In March 2013, one million tickets were sold globally on mobile platforms, per Thrillcall. According to Juniper, mobile ticketing users will approach one billion by 2018.

Additionally, in a chief marketing officer survey, 68 percent of live music goers owned a smartphone compared to 48 percent of the general population.

According to Google, 25 percent of ticket-related searches happen on mobile.

Additionally, the number of tickets purchased via mobile in North America has doubled since April 2012, per Ticketmaster.

“This is a big audience that is 1. looking for tickets via mobile, and 2. largely underserved when it comes to a positive mobile ticket purchasing experience. The potential for engaging here is huge,” Mr. Tomaszewicz said.”

“There is often a lack of knowledge regarding when an artist is playing or whether there are available tickets,” he said. “This is partially through the difficulty in standardizing information and the prevalence of resellers.

“Every touch point that lets a user know that an artist is playing and tickets are available is important.”

Final Take
Rebecca Borison is editorial assistant on Mobile Commerce Daily, New York