Discover how Tulleys Farm transformed its digital sales journey to become one of the UK’s leading seasonal attractions

Tulleys Farm first reached out to DigiTickets back in 2008, right at the beginning of their digital transformation journey. At the time, the company was looking for a trusted partner to bring the brand up to speed with the digital age and establish a strong online presence.

Initially, the main challenge was ensuring that Tulleys’ operational team could drive pre-event sales, manage the flow of visitors coming to the farm and plan staffing accordingly. The company needed a robust booking platform that integrated perfectly with its website and online sales channels and, ideally, one that would allow them to make quick changes in the back office whenever needed.

Scalability was a key requirement to facilitate Tulleys’ plans for rapid expansion and growth across its renowned events calendar. The company wanted to create an immersive online experience for every event on offer, while also ensuring a smooth website journey from the moment a customer lands on their site, whichever page they land on.

“Moving to DigiTickets’ ticketing platform has completely transformed our business. Beforehand, we had no idea how many people would turn up, how many staff we’d need on site and no way to promote online sales in advance. Now we’re able to set capacities every half an hour, plan arrival times and forecast sales revenue very accurately. The fact we’ve stayed with the platform for over 15 years says everything.”
Samuel Beare, Director, Tulleys Farm

• Creating a best-in-class customer journey to maximise sales
• Designing an immersive, fully branded website experience
• Maximising conversions through a reliable booking platform
• Driving online sales vs. walk-up bookings
• Integrating booking numbers with  staff scheduling and availability

DigiTickets worked closely with Tulleys to deliver an agile booking system to match its primary needs as a business. Intuitive UX design is at the heart of the platform, making it as simple as possible for customers to book tickets through the website while removing any potential barriers to conversion.

The system gives Sam and his team complete control and full visibility over the booking process, so they can take the data gained through the dashboard and use it to inform key decisions around staffing and capacity planning. It was also crucial to allow Tulleys to benefit from automated features such as automatic emails, which remind customers of their upcoming visits and prompt them for feedback post-visit to validate further and enhance the customer experience.

“99% of our sales are now made through the online ticketing platform,” Sam explains. “It’s completely changed our sales process, to the point we’re now selling so many tickets in advance that we barely have any left to allocate for daily walk-ups. It also makes us far better at spotting changes in demand and making adjustments on the fly.

“We wanted a system that would make the booking process still feel like part of our brand,” says Sam. “There are a lot of other ticketing systems out there that don’t offer this, so it feels like you’re being transported to a completely different site to finalise a purchase. That interrupts the flow of our customer journey and potentially becomes a barrier to maximising purchases through the site.”

And even though DigTickets offers round-the-clock support, the platform is flexible enough to allow the Tulleys team to test, tweak and update any details themselves as and when needed. The drag-and-drop functionality is user-friendly, so there’s no steep learning curve when it comes to making quick changes.

Following the initial success of its main ticketing system, DigiTickets has continued working with Tulleys to help transform its approach to website engagement, strategic planning and staff scheduling.

By combining these core systems, Tulleys has created a fantastic end-to-end experience that makes life easy for both its customers and the staff who keep the business running day to day. The platform has effectively evolved to become a one-stop shop suited to Tulleys' diverse needs – including its Halloween ‘Shocktober Fest’, escape rooms and farm events.

“We had a great experience with DigiTickets’ web design specialists – Website Vision – who delivered exactly the kind of connected multi-site system we had in mind. They have helped bring our brand to life and maintain the little universe we’re trying to create for our visitors. Also, in all the years we’ve worked with DigiTickets, neither the website nor the ticketing system has ever gone down for maintenance or a surge in numbers, which I’m frankly amazed at!”

“The same goes for Shiftie, which has freed up a lot of time previously spent updating schedules and spreadsheets, chasing availability and communicating changes to our staff. One of my favourite things is the integration between Shiftie and DigiTickets, which automatically pulls visitor numbers, staff details and costs onto the same dashboard. That makes the job of ensuring we’ve got the right people in the right areas far easier.”

• Maximising online conversions – 99% of Tulley's sales are now made through the DigiTickets platform
• Operational efficiency – Having a reliable system that links bookings with staff scheduling frees up a lot of time for managers
• Immersive digital experience – Visitors now get the same high-quality experience online as they do when visiting one of Tulleys’ fantastic events

“The way DigiTickets reacts and changes to technological advances is second to none. Whether it’s offering new payment options or optimising QR codes to ensure the fastest possible entry, we’re completely confident that they will keep us up to speed with what’s best for our visitors.”

“They’ve done a fantastic job caring for us over the past decade – so I wouldn’t hesitate to recommend them if you’re looking for a ticketing solution!”