Case Study
How Anime Milwaukee Crushed Membership Sales & Line Speed Records 2-Years Running with Eventeny
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95
Minutes saved in line per attendee
“Line Con” is a well-known term in the industry, however, guests enjoyed 95 extra minutes of AMKE this year because of Eventeny’s fast registration process.
183%
Increase in event revenue
Anime Milwaukee attributes this massive growth to new strategic partnerships and Eventeny’s easy, streamlined member registration solution.
5,000
New memberships issued
AMKE saw a 50% increase in memberships in one year. Eventeny’s simple pre-registration process and promotion management tools were key players in this year's growth.
Case Study Overview | Anime Milwaukee's Journey to Eventeny
Anime Milwauke (AMKE) was founded in 2007 with humble beginnings as a small college anime club. Four years later, the club grew in popularity and quickly transformed into an official convention. As a result of its rapid growth, AMKE went on the hunt for a registration solution. The team went through several event management softwares, including Eventbrite and Event Essentials, before finally calling Eventeny home.
“The very first time I met with Eventeny to talk about their event management software, I genuinely cried. I had been working with another event management software for over a year and a half with next to no response from the developers or the person who was supposed to be my go-to for any questions. We paid thousands of dollars for a system that was over-promised and couldn't handle the basics of what we needed it to do. My entire team was tired, frustrated, and at our wits end trying to plan an 11,000 person event that was very quickly approaching…read more.” - Kris Barone, Convention Chair.
AMKE used Eventeny to manage all online membership sales - crushing their pre-sale records from previous years. After seeing impressive growth their first year at Eventeny, the AMKE team transitioned their entire membership workflow to Eventeny in the following year to include onsite solutions for same-day memberships and payment processing. As a result, Anime Milwaukee reduced the average line time by 95 minutes, increased event revenue by 183%, and welcomed 5,000 new members!
Let’s take a look at AMKE’s success.
Improving Line Speed & Attendee Satisfaction
Before Eventeny, Anime Milwaukee’s attendees were no strangers to “line-con,” a popular term that makes light of the long lines experienced at most conventions. At peak registration hours, AMKE’s wait time for entry often reached 2 hours, resulting in lost convention time for their members and their team receiving many complaints about the inefficient registration process.
“Line speed was one of the things that we were most impressed with. Anyone who has been to a fan-run convention, regardless of what the name is, everybody is familiar with the term “line-con.” That’s where most of your day is spent in line. You’re spending anywhere from half an hour, if you’re there early enough, to upwards of two hours while people are struggling trying process all of the information necessary to issue a ticket. With Eventeny, one of the things we were able to do to mitigate that is we are actually able to place a board outside of registration, and along the line, with a QR code that leads to our Eventeny application so they are able to register while standing in line and just pick-up their ticket once they reach the front.” - Chris King, Vice Chairperson
To begin improving their member experience, Anime Milwaukee turned to Eventeny to strengthen their pre-registration processes. Their team was looking for a platform that offered a highly customizable and secure solution for member registration that was easy to use and understand. AMKE is an all-ages event; many convention goers are younger and require parental supervision. Therefore, it was imperative that their registration management solution could accommodate badge pairing and custom questions. Additionally, the AMKE team found value in Eventeny’s built-in tools for encouraging upgrading and upselling, such as ticket add-ons, deliverables, and discount codes.
Almost 60% of their members took advantage of Eventeny’s pre-registration solution and were able to scan and go at the door. The 40% who registered and paid onsite saw a reduction of line time from 2 hours to just 25 minutes, at the longest wait time. As a result, their annual post-convention survey received 0 negative comments about the registration process!
Growing Convention Revenue & Membership Enrollment
Like many events across the nation, most of Anime Milwaukee’s staff is volunteer-based. Therefore, funds are limited, and expenses need to be justified with a clear ROI. To measure registration success, AMKE uses Eventeny’s real-time analytics to gauge marketing effectiveness from pre-convention sale volume and membership quality from badge sales by type (i.e., single-day pass vs. full weekend).
After analyzing membership insights of the year, Anime Milwaukee’s biggest wins were pre-registration sale volume and consolidating badge options. Using Eventeny’s easy registration workflow and discount code feature for automating and tracking promotional efforts, AMKE saw a 25% increase in early-bird membership registrations. As a result, the convention is now projecting to grow online sales the following year to make up 80% of its total membership sales, reducing onsite registration to 20% and further improving line speed.
