Headlines about big-name data breaches are becoming more and more frequent. In 2016, a record 4.2 billion records were exposed, with more than half of these caused by hackers. If data security isn’t top of mind for your events team — it should be.
Potential attendees expect your team to protect them from price gouging caused by ticketing fraud. And when attendees register for your event, they take for granted that their name, email, and credit card will be safe in your system.
If you let them down, the results can be catastrophic for your event brand. Even a minor breach of simple name or email information can make your customers vulnerable to ID theft or phishing campaigns.
When it comes to protecting your event’s data, the devil is in the details — and the excellence is in the execution. Here are five proactive steps you can take to keep your data safe and your customers free from fraud.
1. Keep your registration process simple and secure
The trick with data security is balancing an easy registration experience with secure data. Too many security measures and attendees get annoyed. Not enough, and their sensitive private information is in danger.
The sweet spot is an optimal amount of data safety coupled with a streamlined experience. Attendees shouldn’t even notice the measures you’ve taken to protect them. This means you should avoid requiring CAPTCHA fields as part of the registration process, as they act as a signal to buyers that your checkout process isn’t secure.
These improvements won’t just help your existing attendees — they’ll also help you convert more website visitors into buyers. The fourth biggest reason consumers abandon a purchase is doubts about payment security, with 12% of drop-offs in checkouts. By keeping your process simple and secure, you’ll assure existing customers and attract more.
2. Ask only for what you need
When you’re collecting information from ticket-buyers, keep it streamlined. Consider how much information you really need to gather from users up front and save the “nice to have” data for another time.
For instance, you might want to gather demographic information for marketing purposes — things like birthdate and gender. But if you add too many extra questions or steps, people get frustrated and might not complete the sale. Save some of your peripheral information-gathering for things like post-event surveys and only ask for the data you truly need now in the registration process.
3. Use foolproof tech
You are the steward of your event’s data, and that includes any sensitive information users give you. So if you’re going to rely on your technology to ensure privacy and security for your users, choose the right technology partner. Quality ticketing technology partners should take care of advanced data security for you and make their security efforts transparent.
For instance, because Eventbrite is a self-service platform where any citizen can create an event and set up ticketing, we have industry-leading fraud prevention methods in place. If you use Eventbrite, your event’s first line of defense is our fraud detection and data protection technology.
To bolster this, make sure your event technology has a team fully dedicated to preventing data threats. The Eventbrite Risk team works round the clock to protect Eventbrite’s organizers and attendees from fraud. It proactively seeks out any instances of credit card fraud, fake events, scalpers, scammers, and other types of malicious behavior. Making sure your registration process is never abused is the Risk team’s full-time mission.
4. Strike the right partnerships
The technology you choose to use for registration isn’t the only system where your data could be at risk. Minimize the number of platforms you have to store data in (and reduce the time you spend manually re-entering information) by choosing a registration platform that syncs with vetted third-party technologies.
By integrating your registration platform directly with the other tools you use, like Salesforce or Mailchimp, you can trust your data is accurate and safe.
5. Choose a trusted venue
Venues are not exempt from data security issues. Thousands of guests’ data was hacked from the hotel chains Starwood, Marriott and Hyatt in 2016. If your attendees’ data is similarly sacrificed, they won’t just blame the venue responsible — they’ll blame you.
Work with venues that take security just as seriously as you do. If your venue is collecting data from your customers, the methods and technologies have to be highly secure. Obviously, their data-collection processes must be pristine. But you should also pay attention to things like Wi-Fi security and how on-site staff use social media during your event.
Don’t wait until something goes wrong to take precautions with your data — or it may be too late.
