Spektrix is a popular ticketing system used by many arts, culture and entertainment venues. After building a number of integrations between Spektrix and WordPress, I developed a WordPress plugin which forms the basis of my integration service.
The plugin provides syncing of events from the Spektrix software to your website and keeps them up to date. On top of this I offer integration services to ensure that the whole ticket buying process is seamless.
My plugin automatically checks for new and updated events on Spektrix and adds or updates event posts on your WordPress website, ensuring that your website’s event listings are always up to date.
Each event is stored on your WordPress website as a custom post type with their own SEO friendly URL and attributes you add on Spektrix such as categories are stored as taxonomy terms, allowing for advanced filtering of events on your website. This also gives you complete control over the content as you’re able to enhance how the events display on your website by adding additional content to the WordPress posts.
Once an event has passed, it is automatically unpublished and hidden from view.
Because the WordPress plugin imports events into a post type and attributes can be added as taxonomy terms or custom meta data, we can implement advanced filtering from within your website. So in addition to basic filters like date, venue and category, events can also be filtered by attributes such as age ratings, signed performances and more.
Spektrix requires the checkout procedure to use their iFrame booking process, so once a customer clicks the Book Now button on your event, they’ll be directed into the booking flow.
I can provide styling services to ensure these iFrames match your website styling so the process looks seamless.
All of the Spektrix web components including memberships, merchandise, gift vouchers, the donation and sign up forms can be placed anywhere where you can add content on your website using our shortcodes. They can be easily customised within the shortcodes, for example to display specific donation amounts on the donation form and as they’re loaded on your website directly, they can be styled with CSS to fit in perfectly.
All the elements including iFrames and web components use shortcodes to display on your website. This allows you to drop the various elements anywhere that allow shortcodes which includes all page builders including Gutenburg, Elementor and Visual Composer.
All elements are templated which means that either me or your web developer can easily customise them to your requirements and design.
The CSS within the iFrame booking process can also be customised through my Spektrix CSS iFrame Design service.
My plugin requires a yearly support and updates fee. This gives peace of mind that you will be provided with support if things aren’t working as they should and that any changes to the API will be reflected in an updated plugin. We also handle the import schedule for you and do regular audits to check that the events match between Spektrix and your website.
Every website has different needs. The WordPress plugin forms a nice basis for the integration, however on top of the plugin you may want some additional integration. Below are examples of some of what I can offer, but if you have any specific requirements, please get in touch.
Ensuring that the booking flow within the iFrames matches the styling on your website is important to build trust and brand awareness with your visitors. If when they click the book tickets button, the website suddenly changes fonts, colours etc. it can cause confusion. Spektrix allows customising of the iFrame’s content with a custom CSS stylesheet, this allows us to change fonts, colours, buttons etc. to match the rest of your website. We can’t move things around or add elements within the iFrames but we can tweak how things look to make it fit in better.
Find out more details about my Spektrix CSS iFrame Design service here.
As a WordPress developer for 15 years, I have extensive experience in building WordPress websites. Therefore, I’m able to style the plugin on your website directly. This can include things like custom event listing grids, custom filtering, integrating with other plugins including merging event plugins, enhancing the events pages by adding additional components and much more.
If you use your Spektrix account to manage multiple venues, I can customise the integration to only show events from specific venues, filter between venues or I can build specific event listings pages for each venue.
It’s not just theatres that use Spektrix, it’s used in all kinds of arts, heritage and entertainment organisations including museums and leisure venues to handle the purchasing of tickets. So it’s not just about providing an events grid, I’ve built custom solutions for purchasing day tickets including choosing the date and dealing with supplementary event upsells.
If you have multiple mailing lists within Spektrix then I can create specific sign up forms for this.
Whether it’s custom seating charts, upselling of events or memberships in the checkout flow, providing day ticket functionality or anything else you can think of, it’s highly likely that I can help! So get in touch today and let’s see how I can help integrate Spektrix into your website.
Yes, if you do not need any of the additional integration services then you can just use the plugin. The plugin has an initial purchase and setup fee and then a yearly support and updates fee from the second year which will still need to be paid.
If you’d like to see how the plugin works from a developer/website builder point of view, you can view the technical documentation here.
I don’t go into specific details on pricing on the website because most of my clients have integration services which are specific to them so please get in touch if you’re interested and I’ll send you a document which outlines the process and the costs associated with the various options.
However, for just the plugin, it’s £500 for the first year and then £250 annual renewal for the support and updates each year thereafter.
Most of the users of the plugin have come to me through their web developer, this is ideally the best process as they’re best placed to help with the integration process or will just use the plugin and set it up for you.
However, there is no requirement for you to be an expert and the plugin and integration should be fairly easy for anyone to use.
The integration services will all be one-off costs and quoted prior to any work. The plugin has a setup cost of £500 and then a yearly support and updates fee which needs to be paid to continue receiving support and updates, this fee is £250/year and kicks in on the anniversary date of the setup payment.
No, I’m afraid not. I only work with and provide my products to UK based individuals and organisations.
Yes, in fact a number of users of the plugin do this. The plugin doesn’t have any reference to me in the client-facing parts (plugin name, description, options etc.) however there are references in the code to me and this website still.
I often get asked if I will come on board to a tendering contract. I’m afraid I do not do this as it often ends up being a conflict of interest as each time an organisation puts out a tender for their website which requires Spektrix and WordPress experience, I receive a number of emails from agencies asking if I’ll be part of the tender. If I accepted one of those then I couldn’t accept another and so I just have a blanket approach of saying no to all tenders. You are more than welcome to include in your tender application that you may be using my plugin and services, however you cannot claim that I’m a developer employed by you.
I provide comprehensive support for my plugins and will try my very best to jump on issues asap. Normally if you’re having an issue with my plugin then it’s likely that others are also having the same issue so it’s in my interest to fix those issues very quickly. I tend to work 9am – 5pm Monday to Friday so during office hours will jump on issues or reply to questions fairly quickly but I am just one person so can’t offer 24/7 support. For the small print on my plugin offering please check out the terms and conditions here.
Yes, if you already have Spektrix integrated and just want to get the iFrames styled to match your website then I can provide that service without the need for using my plugin. I have a page with specific details on this service here.
Yes, I can discount on the plugin fees if you have multiple websites, however integration work is charged based on time it will take to complete so that can’t be discounted.
Fantastic! The next step is to get in touch by sending me an email to simon@devupnorth.co.uk with details about your and/or your client’s organisation and what kind of services you’re interested in.
I’ll then provide you with a more in-depth document that has details on the process and the costs associated with it.
After that, if you’re interested in proceeding then I’ll set up a demo for you to check out the plugin, answer any questions and if required arrange a call to discuss further.
Please note, I currently only work with UK based organisations and individuals only.
