SEO Summary: Is your event checkout leaking revenue? Discover the 7 critical mistakes that cause cart abandonment and how MainGate’s high-speed, low-fee platform fixes them.
You’ve spent weeks, maybe months, planning the perfect event. You’ve booked the talent, secured the venue, and shouted from the digital rooftops to get people interested. But then, the unthinkable happens. Your analytics show people are visiting your site, clicking "Buy Tickets," and then... VANISHING.
They’re leaving. They’re abandoning their carts. They’re taking their wallets and running for the hills.
WHY?
Because your checkout process is a minefield of friction, frustration, and hidden "gotchas." In the world of online ticketing, every extra click is a chance for a customer to change their mind. Every second of lag is a reason to close the tab. If you want to maximize your revenue and fill those seats, you need to stop making these seven critical mistakes.
Let’s fix your checkout and start putting more money in your pocket!
We’ve all been there. You’re ready to buy, your credit card is out, and suddenly the checkout sends you off on a detour: create an account, leave the page, check your inbox, click a verification link, come back, and hope nothing timed out.
THAT’S THE DEATH SPIRAL.
The problem isn’t the idea of an account. The problem is interrupting the sale with extra steps, extra waiting, and extra chances for your buyer to bail. The second someone has to stop and hunt for a verification email, you’ve handed them an off-ramp. Bad move!
THE FIX: Make account creation STUPID SIMPLE. MainGate does have an account feature, but it’s frictionless. Your guest enters their email — which they need for ticket delivery anyway — and sets a password in the same flow. No waiting for verification emails. No leaving the page. No interruption to the purchase. They keep moving, you keep the sale, and everybody wins. That’s how account creation should work: fast, clean, and completely out of the way.
Imagine you’re buying a $50 ticket. You get all the way to the final screen, and suddenly the price jumps to $64.50 because of "Convenience Fees," "Processing Fees," and "Breath-of-Fresh-Air Fees."
How do you feel? You feel ROBBED.
Hidden fees at the end of the checkout process are the #1 reason for cart abandonment. It destroys trust instantly. Your customers aren't stupid; they know there are costs, but they hate being blindsided.
THE FIX: Be transparent from the jump. This is where MainGate absolutely CRUSHES the competition. We use a flat $1 FEE STRUCTURE. No hidden percentages that scale up as your ticket price goes up. Just one buck. When your customers see that transparency, they feel respected. And respected customers hit "Complete Purchase."
In 2026, patience is a relic of the past. If your ticketing widget takes more than two seconds to load, you’ve already lost 20% of your potential buyers. The "big guys" in the industry often have bloated, slow-loading widgets that struggle to perform during high-traffic on-sales.
THE FIX: You need a high-performance engine. Third-party testing has proven that MainGate Tickets has a FASTER TICKETING WIDGET than the industry giants. We’ve optimized every line of code to ensure that when a customer wants to buy, the widget is ready to go. STRIKE WHILE THE IRON IS HOT! Don’t let a loading spinner stand between you and your revenue.
Do you really need to know your customer’s middle name, their favorite color, and their grandmother's maiden name just to sell them a festival pass?
NO.
Every additional form field you add to your checkout decreases your conversion rate. If you ask for too much information, people get tired, they get suspicious, and they leave.
THE FIX: Audit your form. Ask for the essentials: Name, Email, and Payment Info. That’s it. If you need more data for marketing, collect it after the sale is final. Our Event Creation tool uses a simple one-page form to keep things lean and mean.
If your checkout looks like a desktop site from 2005 when viewed on a smartphone, you are burning money. Period. Over 70% of event tickets are now purchased on mobile devices. If your buttons are too small to click or your text is unreadable, you’re telling mobile users their business isn’t wanted.
THE FIX: Mobile-first isn’t a suggestion; it’s a requirement. MainGate’s entire platform is built to be ULTRA-RESPONSIVE. Whether your guest is on a tablet, a laptop, or an iPhone, the experience is seamless. A smooth mobile checkout means more sales while your customers are on the go!
Okay, this one isn't strictly about the customer's checkout, but it’s a mistake that ruins your business's checkout. Some platforms hold your money until weeks after the event is over. How are you supposed to pay your vendors? How do you fund your marketing?
THE FIX: You need FAST PAYOUTS. At MainGate, we don't believe in holding your hard-earned cash hostage. We offer quick collection of ticket sales revenue with detailed reporting. You get paid faster, so you can keep the momentum going for your event! Check out our Pricing Page to see how we put you in the driver’s seat.
The checkout experience doesn't end when the "Order Confirmed" screen appears. It ends when the guest walks through your gates. If they had a great online experience but have to wait in a 40-minute line because your scanning system is garbage, that’s the last thing they’ll remember.
Most "Goliath" platforms let you scan with a phone, but they still scan one... by... one...
THE FIX: Use ALL IN SCANNING. This is a MainGate exclusive that makes our check-in process 4-5 TIMES FASTER than the competition. While other platforms are fumbling with single scans, our tech allows you to scan up to 30 people as fast as one. No specialized hardware, no clunky scanners: just smartphone-to-smartphone efficiency that kills the long lines and gets the party started!
If you’re frustrated with high fees, slow widgets, and abandoned carts, it’s time for a change. You don't have to be a victim of industry standards that prioritize the platform's profit over your success.
MainGate Tickets is the disruptor you’ve been looking for. We offer:
IMAGINE THAT: A ticketing partner that actually works for you.
Ready to see how much you can save? Create your event today and experience the MainGate difference. LET’S GET TO WORK!
