Most events sell in two bursts: the first day and the last week. The last week takes care of itself. The first day is made in the days before it, by telling the right people exactly when tickets open and giving them a reason to be there. This guide covers the tools on tickts that build a launch, the order to use them in, and a plan for a two-week run-up.
The tools, in the order you reach for them
1. An on-sale time
Set the date and time tickets go on sale, in the Dates and Tickets step, and the page holds the tickets back until then. Before that moment the event page shows Coming soon instead of the basket. Pick a time your audience is awake and near a phone; Friday at 10am beats midnight for almost everyone who is not a touring act.
2. The teaser page
Tick Tickets dropping soon beneath the on-sale time and the event page becomes a teaser: your poster, the date and the venue, a live countdown, and a Notify me box. Ticket tiers and prices stay hidden until the on-sale moment, when the page flips to selling on its own within a minute. It is the clean way to build anticipation without showing your pricing early or answering "how much?" fifty times.
3. The list that fills itself
Everyone who enters an email on the teaser joins the event's waitlist and is emailed automatically the moment tickets go on sale. Your first hour's buyers are the people who were already watching. See and export the list from the Waitlist tab at any time.
4. Early access for members
If you run a membership, tick Give members early access to my on-sales on the plan. Logged-in members can buy before the public on-sale time; everyone else sees the countdown. Nothing else to set up, and it is the strongest reason to join a membership you can offer.
5. A launch code
A short-lived promo code for your own list, live for the first 48 hours only. It gives the people who already like you a reason to buy in the window that sets the tone. Keep it off social media; it is for the list, not the poster.
6. The early bird tier
An Early Bird price that switches to Standard on a date or after a quantity gives everyone else a reason to buy now rather than later. Set it as a pricing tier on the ticket type, not as a separate ticket, so the capacity stays in one number.
A two-week run-up
| When | What |
|---|---|
| Day 14 | Publish with the on-sale time set and the teaser on. Share the link everywhere with "tickets Friday 10am". |
| Day 12 | Email past buyers: the date, the venue, the on-sale moment, the Notify me link. |
| Day 7 | Members' early access opens, if you have members. Post the countdown. |
| Day 1 | Remind the list. Tomorrow, 10am. |
| Day 0, 10am | Tickets open. The waitlist is emailed automatically. Send the launch code to your list. Early Bird is live. |
| Day 0, 4pm | Post the number sold so far, if it is a good number. |
| Day 2 | Launch code expires. Post "Early Bird ends Sunday". |
Every message names a moment: Friday 10am, ends Sunday, 40 left. Vague enthusiasm sells nothing. A time and a number sell tickets.
What the numbers tell you afterwards
On Growth and above, the conversion funnel shows page views, started checkouts and orders per event, so you can see whether a quiet launch was a traffic problem or a page problem. The sales benchmark tells you whether being a third sold on day one is on track for events like yours. And the waitlist count on the teaser, before a single ticket is sold, is the earliest honest forecast you will get.
When not to tease
A teaser needs an audience to notify. If this is your first event and nobody knows you yet, skip the countdown, go on sale straight away, and spend the fortnight getting the link in front of people. The teaser is for the second event, when the first one's buyers are on your list.
