Opendate, a leading live music management software platform for independent venues, was founded by three friends who purchased their own live music venue. As they sought out a software to help them balance their complex business demands, they realized there were no options that brought together all of the operations they needed. They created Opendate to help other independent venues like theirs manage events, ticketing, and show promotion.
Opendate utilizes data and software to enable venues and agents to connect and book the right artists on the best night. Their software centralizes the functions needed to maximize every event: artist and venue discovery, agent and venue connections, and predictive event analytics.
As the platform grew, it recognized the growing demand for ticket cancellation insurance among its clientele. To elevate the platform and provide added value for both venues and ticket buyers, Opendate sought an embedded ticket insurance provider.
The Challenge
The primary objective was to seamlessly integrate Ticket Refund Protection into Opendate’s ticket purchase workflow without disrupting the user experience during the checkout process. The challenge was to offer this valuable service to venues without increasing Opendate’s workload or support responsibilities.
The Solution
Opendate partnered with Vertical Insure to embed ticket refund protection. The core feature of this solution is the seamless end-user experience that consists of an opt-in insurance offer that doesn’t interrupt the checkout flow. Vertical Insure’s technology is easy to integrate: the entire process took Opendate’s development team about two weeks.
After integration is completed with Vertical Insure, the policy offer is completely hands-off. Opendate did not have to set aside any resources for maintenance or upkeep, as the Vertical Insure team provides continuous support and partnership. Policyholders also engage directly with the Vertical Insure team for their customer support needs and to file a claim, taking the burden off of the Opendate platform and the businesses it supports.
The Results
The implementation of Vertical Insure’s embedded ticket refund protection proved highly successful. Opendate experienced an immediate boost in value for their venues, with nearly 80,000 policies issued since 2023. This surge in insurance adoption had no negative impact on ticket sales, attesting to the non-disruptive integration.
Technological Ease and Support: The technical integration was smooth, thanks to Vertical Insure’s user-friendly technical documentation and responsive support team. The insurance offer became a seamless part of Opendate’s checkout process in just one sprint, contributing to a positive experience for the product and development teams.
Additional Growth Lever: Embedded Ticket Refund Protection increases ticket purchase rates, giving users confidence that they won’t lose their money should unforeseen events happen. Growing policy attach rates produce hands-free growth for platforms.