Affirm Lifts Conversion and Average Order Value for SeatGeek While Reaching Valuable Consumers
SeatGeek is transforming the live event experience for fans, teams and venues in service of their mission to help people experience more live. In 2022, SeatGeek and Affirm partnered to transform the way fans pay for tickets as the live events industry experienced a post-COVID surge in demand. Since then, as ticket sales have increased as more and more people attend live events, Affirm has helped SeatGeek customers responsibly fit ticket purchases into their budgets.
We spoke with Chris Sanger, SeatGeek’s Vice President of Payments & Compliance, about how Affirm has enabled SeatGeek to meet consumer demand while also increasing conversion and average order value.
Affirm: Chris, SeatGeek has built such a strong brand — can you share more about the name and how it came about?
SeatGeek [Chris]: Our founders, Jack and Russ, bonded not only over their shared love of sports, but also their shared interests in entrepreneurship and technology. They decided to build a business together in tech, focused on something they deeply cared about. In their search of business ideas, they kept coming back to live events and ticketing - an industry in need of innovation. And so they dove in and launched "SeatGeek", a name which reflects their enthusiasm and obsessive interest in making ticketing better to help more people experience the magic of live events.
Affirm: SeatGeek launched with Affirm’s Adaptive Checkout product, which offers approved customers personalized payment terms that range from four interest-free payments every two weeks, to monthly installments. Why do you think offering a variety of payment options resonates with your customers?
SeatGeek [Chris]: Adaptive Checkout helps create different offers that are beneficial for fans across the different price points of our tickets. With high demand events — like global superstar concerts, NFL games, or MLB playoffs — fans appreciate payment options that allow them to pay over a longer period of time. We've also seen that giving fans options to pay increases the likelihood of them completing a purchase.
Affirm: Affirm’s share of SeatGeek sales doubled when Affirm messaging was added to your event details page. Did this surprise you? What value has Affirm brought to SeatGeek?
SeatGeek [Chris]: First of all, we start with fans. We believe when fans win, everyone wins. So giving fans more flexible purchasing options to pay for tickets to their favorite acts or teams is good for our business also.
Partnering with Affirm to offer the ability for fans to pay over time, allows approved fans access to better tickets than they would otherwise have if they had to pay entirely upfront. Supporting payment plan flexibility for these significant live experiences, in turn, drives average order values by as much as 25% to >50%.
In terms of SeatGeek costs, we also look at whether purchases with Affirm are cannibalizing other fan purchases that likely would have occurred on our checkout anyway — just with a different payment instrument. Our analysis notably indicates that since adding Affirm to our checkout, the resulting ~0.5% to 2% conversion rate increase, coupled with the higher average order values of the Affirm purchases, offset the additional costs, which well illustrates the value of our partnership.
Affirm: 2023 was the year of “funflation” and major concert tours. SeatGeek customers used Affirm to pay over time for tickets reaching ~$1K or more to see shows like Taylor Swift, Drake, and Beyonce. How impactful were these events for SeatGeek, and what role did Affirm play?
SeatGeek [Chris]: Of course we acknowledge that the cultural phenomenon of a few superstar artists on tour who have global, cross-generation, and cross-demographic appeal provided a nice bump in 2023. However, it became super clear post-pandemic that people are just genuinely excited to experience live events. And the growth of the live event ticket industry has also meaningfully sustained, so it can no longer be attributable solely to the pandemic rebound.
If anything, there may be a shift in values: live, communal experiences play a critical role in the ‘highlight reels’ of peoples’ lives. Marquee artists like Taylor Swift may have had a hand in that shift but not everyone can go to those tentpole concerts, and we've seen industry-wide higher demand for shows, sports, and all different types of events. In each case with Affirm, fans can spread out the total cost of their purchase which helps them access great seats for once-in-a-lifetime experiences.
Affirm: In 2023, Drake fans used Affirm the most, with Affirm accounting for 17% of total Drake transaction volume and driving a higher AOV than non-Affirm Drake transactions. Why is this meaningful for SeatGeek and fans?
SeatGeek [Chris]: SeatGeek’s user base leans heavily toward Millennials and younger demographics, and it’s valuable when major concerts lead to those fans buying a higher percentage of tickets. When we offer Affirm, we're reaching price-conscious fans who are going to value the flexibility to spread their payment over time so they can see their favorite artists.
Tickets to live events are scarce, time-based, and often an emotional purchase with a high average order value. That’s the thesis of why Affirm works well for SeatGeek: We see the lift in average order value, and we see the increase in conversion rate. But most importantly the payment flexibility it affords approved buyers on our platform makes it a great fit for the fan experience we aim to create.