Brighton Pride’s onsale success: “Customers liked the waiting room”

Challenge

Not only does Brighton Pride draw many visitors to the seaside city, but also big-name musical performers to headline Pride in the Park. In 2018, Britney Spears announced on social media that she would be headlining that year’s concert, garnering instant attention. During the first ticket release, Brighton Pride’s website subsequently crashed. Though the organization scaled up its servers for its second release, the website continued experiencing technical issues during the sale. These issues frustrated customers who took to social media to express their discontent.

"We increased our servers to cope with the numbers … but even scaling up considerably didn’t allow us to facilitate the sale without multiple problems … We thought that there must be a suitable solution for queuing people into the website."

Paul Kemp, Managing Director, Brighton Pride

Solution

Brighton Pride decided to use Queue-it to safeguard their website during their third onsale traffic peaks. When the number of ticket buyers exceeded the level the website’s infrastructure could support, they were redirected to Queue-it’s waiting room. They also received transparent information about their place in the queue and notifications when it was their turn to access the site and purchase the coveted tickets.

"Customers liked the waiting room, it gave them an indication when they’re going to be able to book tickets. They could leave and get emails when their time was available … I think customers are happy … they’re going to get their turn rather than the website crashing and not getting their tickets."

Paul Kemp, Managing Director, Brighton Pride

Results

Using Queue-it during ticketing onsales for the Pride Festival proved to be a successful strategy. The organization’s website did not crash, customers were kept in a fair and transparent wait, and tickets sold consistently over a longer time period. Because of the positive results for both organizers and customers, and the reliability of the waiting room, the company decided to continue using Queue-it for the upcoming Brighton Pride.

"Our ticketing release was done through Queue-it, which resolved the problem for us because it managed the number of ticket buyers entering the website … Customers have been happy, and that’s been reassuring."

Paul Kemp, Managing Director, Brighton Pride

About Brighton Pride

The first contemporary Pride took place in Brighton and Hove in 1992, growing in popularity with every passing year. The event is organized by Brighton Pride, a non-profit group whose goal includes promoting tolerance and inclusion, and eliminating discrimination against the LGBTQ+ community.

Pride Festival photo taken by Chris Jepson