Customers' experience of purchasing event tickets: mining online reviews based on topic modeling and sentiment analysis
International Journal of Event and Festival Management
ISSN: 1758-2954
Article publication date: 30 October 2020
Issue publication date: 19 January 2021
Abstract
Purpose
In search of creating an extraordinary experience for customers, services have gone beyond the means of a transaction between buyers and sellers. In the event industry, where purchasing tickets online is a common procedure, it remains unclear as to how to enhance the multifaceted experience. This study aims at offering a snapshot into the most valued aspects for consumers and to uncover consumers' feelings toward their experience of purchasing event tickets on third-party ticketing platforms.
Design/methodology/approach
This is a cross-disciplinary study that applies knowledge from both data science and services marketing. Under the guise of natural language processing, latent Dirichlet allocation topic modeling and sentiment analysis were used to interpret the embedded meanings based on online reviews.
Findings
The findings conceptualized ten dimensions valued by eventgoers, including technical issues, value of core product and service, word-of-mouth, trustworthiness, professionalism and knowledgeability, customer support, information transparency, additional fee, prior experience and after-sales service. Among these aspects, consumers rated the value of the core product and service to be the most positive experience, whereas the additional fee was considered the least positive one.
Originality/value
Drawing from the intersection of natural language processing and the status quo of the event industry, this study offers a better understanding of eventgoers' experiences in the case of purchasing online event tickets. It also provides a hands-on guide for marketers to stage memorable experiences in the era of digitalization.
Keywords
Acknowledgements
The author would like to express his gratitude to Joanne (Chung-En) Yu based in Salzburg University of Applied Sciences, for her support and assistance with this research project.Conflict of interest statement: NoneFinancial disclosure statement: None
Citation
Celuch, K. (2021), "Customers' experience of purchasing event tickets: mining online reviews based on topic modeling and sentiment analysis", International Journal of Event and Festival Management, Vol. 12 No. 1, pp. 36-50. https://doi.org/10.1108/IJEFM-06-2020-0034
Publisher
:Emerald Publishing Limited
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