With more festivals and events going cashless, the trend of using technology to improve the guest experience and increase sales is showing no signs of slowing down. Integrating cashless ticketing and purchasing options, like RFID wristbands, has helped event organizers the world over see increased sales, reduced wait times in lines, and helped increase engagement. Have you considered joining the likes of Bonnaroo and Coachella by going cashless? We’ve talked about why your event should be cashless, but now let’s talk about how you can use our event rental technology to make your event cashless.
RFID wristbands
RFID (Radio Frequency Identification) wristbands make paying and ticketing ridiculously easy. By linking their credit or debit card to the wristband, one simple scan allows guests to get through the gate and vendor lines faster than any other payment method. Rather than outsourcing the printing of your RFID wristbands, you can rent our RFID printers to produce custom wristbands for your event, complete with logos!
By printing and mailing RFID wristbands to attendees in advance of the event (exactly the same as you would with traditional tickets), you allow guests to take charge of their experience. Guests can register their wristband with their contact information, email address, and credit or debit card information to help streamline their event experience.
For ticketing and at point of sale locations, your vendors will need a way to scan the RFID wristbands that your guests are wearing. Wristbands can be read with our NFC-enabled Android smartphone rentals; which includes iPhone rentals. However, the ticketing or purchase processing time is generally longer on a smartphone than on a dedicated RFID scanner.
Credit card and mobile payments made easy
Even the events that have been using RFID cashless technology to go cashless the longest still struggle to get 100% participation. You’ll almost always have attendees who want to use credit cards or cash, so you need to be prepared with point of sale technology to process these transactions.
For credit card and mobile payments, we have solutions to help your vendors maximize their earnings during the event. Android tablet and iPad rentals provide more opportunities for vendors to process these payments, especially with contract-free processing apps like Square, PayPal, and Apple Pay.
More sales
Increasing sales is always a goal for event organizers and vendors. Much like accepting credit cards and mobile payments is a good tool to achieve this goal, guests spend up to 20% more when using RFID wristbands than when using cash – a huge benefit for your event and your vendors. When guests aren’t watching cash leave their pockets or looking at their receipts after each transaction, they’re more likely to spend more than they otherwise would.
Maximize security
Unfortunately, pick-pocketing is a common occurrence at events and festivals – as is losing valuables, especially when guests are slightly intoxicated. By using RFID to create a cashless event, attendees won’t have to bring credit cards or cash which could be lost or stolen.
The end-to-end security of RFID technology helps keep customer information safe and private. Guests can pay for food, drinks, merchandise, and experience with a simple tap of their wristband, while not worrying about keeping track of their wallet. Since RFID tags are unique and almost impossible to duplicate, they are extremely secure. If a guest loses their wristband, it can be deactivated by customer service, instantly disabling its cashless feature to avoid fraudulent usage.
Cashless events are also safer for vendors. Since much less cash than usual will be kept on hand or taken in throughout the day, there is less incentive for attendees or employees to attempt to snatch cash from the drawer.
As an added bonus, you can also use RFID wristbands to ensure that only staff and authorized personnel have access to restricted areas. With just one or two security guards and an RFID reader at the entrance to roped off areas, you can ensure that no one fraudulently gains access to backstage or setup areas.
Boost engagement
That’s right – RFID bracelets can even help boost attendee engagement at your events. In addition to a physical printout, RFID-enabled photo booths also allow attendees to have photos automatically emailed to them with just a touch of the wrist. Attendees can even link their RFID bracelet to their social media accounts, allowing photos to be uploaded instantly to their social media accounts with the event hashtags. If you have social media walls or huge display screens, you can use this technology to add those same photos to your feed.
Still have room available in VIP areas or special add-on packages that are only available at the event? You can give guests the option to use their RFID wristbands to purchase these experiences.
Top 5 Cities for Outdoor Events
According to TravelAndLeisure.com, these are the top 10 cities in the United States for festivals and outdoor events:
No.1 New Orleans– Top Festivals: Satchmo Summerfest, Oak Street Po’ Boy Festival, Southern Decadence Festival
No.2 Austin– Top Festivals: South by Southwest (SXSW), Austin City Limits Music Festival, Carnaval Brasileiro
No.3 Nashville– Top Festivals: CMA Music Festival, AmericanaFest, Music City Food and Wine Festival
No.4 Minneapolis/St. Paul– Top Festivals: Uptown Art Fair, Minnesota State Fair, Powderhorn Art Fair
No.5 Louisville– Top Festivals: Lebowski Fest, Kentucky Shakespeare, NuLuFest (New Louisville Festival)
Let us help take your vendors go cashless
To take your event into the cashless realm, you’ll need to make sure that all of your vendors have consistent, secure internet access. Aircard and WiFi hotspot rentals are a must for any location where numerous vendors will need to connect to Wi-Fi to enable RFID scanners to automatically deduct funds from an attendee’s account or to process credit card and mobile payments.
Rentacomputer.com can meet all of your event rental equipment needs. Just let us know the equipment that you need and our technicians will ensure that all of your event technology rentals are delivered and set up on time at your event. We can even work with your venue to ensure that all of your rentals are compatible with any existing onsite equipment. Get a quote for all your equipment rental needs today! Our services are available everywhere in the US, for your brewery event in Portland or your annual concert in Ft. Lauderdale.
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