#MobExAwards highlight: How WeTix enticed movie-goers with a one-stop shop for tickets

The e-wallet industry in Malaysia is a growing one, however, many brands are still unable to make the checking of one’s e-wallet into a daily habit of Malaysians. Moreover, it can be tough for brands to get through to their target audience in this huge and cluttered digital landscape and many may end up delivering ineffective and irrelevant results.

WeTix, a movie ticketing platform that consolidates all cinemas into a single platform, also wanted to facilitate e-wallet partners to build brand awareness, drive customer engagement and increase usage. It also grabbed the gold at this year’s MobEx awards for Best E-commerce Solution.

The brand aimed to target moviegoers willing to engage with an innovative platform and with an appetite to enjoy a better movie ticketing experience. It wanted to come across as the most convenient platform for a movie ticketing service, increase consumers’ engagement with e-wallets and create a new habit for consumers, all while creating a platform for brands and cinemas to effectively engage with their target audience via one platform.

Challenge

However several challenges presented itself to WeTix. For one, moviegoers found it inconvenient to buy movie tickets where they need to browse multiple platforms to buy one single ticket, from checking show times to making payment.

There was also a lack of channels for brands / cinemas to engage with their target audience who are movie lovers - most of whom are social-savvy Millennials. Many such platforms also had a cumbersome check out process where personal information and finance data needed to be put in which turned moviegoers off.

Strategy

Aiming to address all of these issues, WeTix was designed around the intersection of experience and marketing efficiency. Users were exposed to campaign marketing executions in the form of scrollable banners once they accessed the home page, but the overall user journey was kept simple and easy and within five steps from discovery to purchase. Users could also enjoy instant discounts, cashback and receive vouchers by just completing their purchases.

First, WeTix detected the location of the user and displayed the nearest cinemas as the top selection. On that same page, users could pick which date, movie and time suits them best. Once the user has decided on a movie showtime, they can immediately pick preferred seats, add food combos or bundles and proceed to complete the purchase with e-wallet payment. Every step is seamlessly connected to provide a single-view UI/UX throughout the entire journey.

By enabling consumers to view all movie showtimes in one single view, they can quickly select their preferred cinema for the day. At the same time, consumers can view movie trailers, synopsis, and ratings without having to leave their e-wallet app. The platform also allowed discounts, cashback, promo codes and gift vouchers upon payment. The e-ticket was issued as a QR code stored in the app.

The team also developed a self-serve admin portal to provide real-time data for all partners. Partners could review performance analysis, track payment and order status, retrieve sales report, view cinema and movie listing, upload promotional banners, manage customer service and contact WeTix support. With data gathered from WeTix admin portal, partners could perform retargeting and remarketing to improve marketing efficiency.

To further facilitate the collection of data, WeTix used Google Analytics to further understand consumer behaviour and convert it into actionable insights. By working closely with both cinema partners and e-Wallets, moviegoers ultimately benefit from the improved user experience, convenience, and seamless purchase journey.

Execution

During the development of WeTix, GO Language was used due to its system efficiency and high speed, which ensures the best possible user experience. To achieve its objective of user-friendliness, convenience and efficiency, the team strategically chose to integrate WeTix services within e-wallets, the most popular form of cashless payment in Malaysia. This allowed consumers to book seats and complete payment within the app instead of having to connect to another third-party app or website while booking movie tickets. 

WeTix connects with various movie and cinema partners to facilitate the process of providing an end-to-end service to consumers with real-time exchange of data. This means Malaysian consumers were able to instantly view the latest showtimes and seat availability of movies in their preferred cinema.

Furthermore, WeTix also provided rewards and offers for every ticket purchase so cinemas and brands could also implement their promotional messages. To date, a total of 15 campaigns with various partners such as Boost and WeChat Pay have been carried out. WeTix focused on understanding consumer preferences with the right data by generating relevant content to attract consumers while ensuring the best user experience.

Data insights from every user touchpoint within WeTix were collected, enabling partners to customise different campaign mechanics tailored for their target audiences thanks to the platform’s high flexibility. This allowed us to highlight relevant data and transform them into actionable insights that helped partners to reshuffle their campaign focus and execution in WeTix on a real-time basis.

Results

WeTix users range from 18 to 34 years old - the main target audiences of e-wallets. This precise targeting allowed WeTix to achieve remarkable results with 45,000 daily impressions and a user growth rate of 62% from January to December 2019 without any direct media investment.

Additionally, WeTix achieved the highest sales conversion rate of 4.50% while the average is 2.50%. This shows that year-long campaigns can significantly entice consumers to support the cinemas’ business while fostering user loyalty; the current retention rate is 52%. This proven result demonstrates how WeTix helps partners to achieve their objective of creating a new habit-forming activity among consumers.

In one year, WeTix has also been integrated within the top five local e-Wallets and connected with over 80% of cinemas in Malaysia. Combined with real-time data and high mobile broadband speeds, WeTix has truly brought home the meaning of convenience and user friendliness to the movie ticketing platform for both customers and brands.