The Importance of Continuity in eCommerce

As an avid Washington Nationals fan, I frequently use StubHub’s mobile app to purchase game tickets. It is very easy to select a section/row where I would like to sit and  then pay instantly — all accomplished with just four to five taps of your finger. While the purchase process is seamless and very easy, the app experience takes a dramatic nosedive soon after. After payment you are emailed with a link to download your tickets to PRINT AT HOME. Seriously? The link requires you to log back into your profile — outside of the mobile app — with a web browser. This then prompts the user to call up each ticket within a browser to print individually.

My question: What happens to the person who is out and about before the game without access to a printer? They can buy tickets right from their phone, but then need to frantically find a printer. This is where there’s sometimes a disconnect in eCommerce: While some venues and teams support paperless ticket technology via Passbook, some — like the Nationals — do not.

Going paperless would make the process much more streamlined for the user and, I assume eventually, the venue. A barcode could be emailed or even texted to you and scanned off of your phone at the gate. Airlines, Amtrak and some sports teams have been using this technology for years now, proving its success for people on the go.

However, some fans actually want a true ticket stub to commemorate a special game, not a folded piece of paper. The going rate on eBay for a used ticket to Stephen Strasburg’s first game is $20. I can’t help but think that these are the people who wouldn’t mind standing in line at the ticket office and are not the casual and convenience-oriented fan served by mobile apps.

StubHub offers a great service, but it could be even better if more venues would get on board with paperless tickets.