Creating Promotions

Please be aware that promotion discounts can only be used to discount tickets for showtimes, not video-on-demand rentals.

The Promotions feature is a dynamic tool that can be used by theater and festival management to help boost ticket sales by offering incentives through a variety of approaches including:

Increase attendance to specific showtimes
Incentivize customers to bring friends & family
Empower partnering organizations to attract their own followings
Share codes on social media to grow engagement
Reward VIP customers for their continued patronage
Excite the highest-paying customers to return more frequently

How to Create A Promotion

Step 1: Set Up Promotion Rules

Promotion Type - two options (required)
1. Amount off per ticket
  - For example, entering $1.00 would result in a $12.00 ticket being discounted to $11.00
2. Discount % off per ticket
  - For example, entering 25% would result in a $12.00 ticket being discounted to $9.00
Discounted tickets allowed per Promotion Code (optional)
- When you "Create promo code by name": This type of promo code is typically used when you are sharing the code publicly. In this case, if you want to limit total tickets that can be discounted by the promotion code, you should set this number fairly high so that the total limit is applied across several different people using the code.
  - For example, if this number is set to 20, then a total of 20 tickets can be discounted however many times this single code is used, whether by 5 people who each buy 4 tickets, or by 20 different people each buying 1 ticket.
  - Note that with this type of promo code, there's no limit on how many times a single individual can use the code.
- When you "Create promo codes for email addresses": There are normally many unique codes created. In this case, you should set this number to be fairly low, since it will apply to each individual code.
  - For example, if this number is set to 2, then each individual who receives a unique code may only use that code for a total of 2 tickets. Note that the code may be used multiple times in separate orders; but the limit will apply cumulatively across all the orders where the code was used. So a person with a code limited to 2 tickets could place two separate orders for 1 ticket each.
- You can leave this setting blank for no limit on the number of tickets that can be discounted. Use this option with discretion.
Minimum ticket quantity required in the order (optional)
- If the promotion is being used to incentivize customers bringing friends & family or larger groups, the number can be set to 2 or higher; say for example it is set to 2, then a customer must be purchasing at least 2 tickets for the promo code to successfully apply. Note that you can set this number to be higher than the “Discounted tickets allowed per Promotion Code” setting in order to create a “BOGO” type of promotion.
- You can leave this setting blank for no minimum of tickets required in the order.
Does discount apply to the booking fee? (optional)
- If “Amount off per ticket” is selected, then the dollar amount discount will apply to the total of the ticket price plus the booking fee. If the discount is greater than the ticket price, the discount will also subtract from the booking fee.
  - For example, if “Amount off per ticket” is $11.00, the ticket price is $10.00 and the booking fee is $1.50, then the total when the promo code is used for one ticket is $.50 ($10.00 + $1.50 - $11.00). If you were to leave this setting unchecked, the total when the promo code is used for one ticket would be $1.50 ($10.00 - $10.00 (discount is capped at the ticket price) + $1.50).
- If “Discount % off per ticket” is selected, then the percentage discount will apply to the total of the ticket price plus the booking fee. (optional)
  - For example, if “Discount % off per ticket" is 50%, the ticket price is $10.00 and the booking fee is $1.50, then the total when the promo code is used for one ticket is $5.75 (($10.00 + $1.50) x 50%). If you were to leave this setting unchecked, the total when the promo code is used for one ticket would be $6.50 ($10.00 x 50% + $1.50).
Promotion code validity period (optional)
- This determines the length of the time period during which the customer may redeem the promo code, starting from when the promotion code is created.
  - For example, if the period is set for 5 days and the promo code is created on Monday, it will expire and no longer be able to be used beyond Friday.
  - The promotion code will be valid immediately when it's sent, and the validity period starts counting at midnight of the day it is sent. For example, if you send a promotion code at 3:30pm today that's valid for one day, it'll be valid from 3:30pm (when it's sent) to midnight tomorrow (1 day from midnight today).
Valid showtimes and ticket types (in right sidebar - optional):
- Allowed Showtimes
  - Use if only a specific showtime or series of showtimes should be eligible for this promotion.
- Allowed Ticket Types
  - Use if the promotion is only valid for specific ticket type(s).
- Excluded Showtimes
  - Use if there are specific showtime screenings which should not be eligible for the promotion.

Once you have set up your promotion rules, click "Publish"

Step 2: Generate promotion codes in one of two ways

Option 1: Create promo code by name
1. Enter a custom code can be created which reflects the nature of the campaign, for example “FrightNight50Off” to grant 50% to any screening that is part of the Fright Night series of programming.
2. Click "Create promo code"
  Sharing codes with customers: This code must then be shared with customers however you determine is best, via social media, email newsletter, etc.
Option 2: Create a Campaign
1. Navigate to Promotions > Campaigns > Add New
2. For "Type" select Sends once to a list of email addresses
3. In the right sidebar, select your Promotion
4. Fill out the Email Subject and Email Content (and optionally, the other content fields)
5. Save the Campaign and use the Send Test feature to see how it looks
6. If the email looks good, you can enter a list of 1 or more email addresses in the Email Addresses field and click Send Now
7. Unique individual codes will be automatically emailed to each recipient

Note that you can continue to create any number of codes for each promotion, and are free to use any combination of codes created by name and codes created for email addresses, you are not limited to one or the other.

Additional Notes

Customer Redemption and Code Tracking

During online checkout, customers may enter the promo code into the promo code field and Apply. The discounted price will appear as the Total. During box office checkout, staff can tap on "Apply Discount" and look up the customer's promo code by email (if individually issued), or by the code itself.

On the Promotion page in the online admin, cinema management may see how many times a promo code created by name was redeemed and/or which Promo Codes created for email addresses were redeemed.

Changing settings after promotion codes have been generated

The “promotion code validity period” may not be edited for promotion code(s) that have already been generated, if that setting is changed, it will only apply to new codes created. Other promotion rules and additional showtime and ticket type settings may be changed after codes have already been created. Keep in mind that the email that delivers promo codes to email addresses will describe the rules that were in place when the code was generated.

If you want to prevent further usage of all codes attached to a promotion, you can unpublish the promotion. If you need to remove or prevent usage of a specific promotion code, please contact support to have it removed.