Understanding customer groups
Learn how customer groups work, the difference between manual and automatic groups, and how they can be used to control access to sale items and discount codes.
What are customer groups?
Customer groups allow you to segment your customer base and control who can purchase specific sale items or use certain discount codes.
When a sale item or discount code is restricted to a customer group:
- Customers who are members of the group can view and purchase the restricted sale items or apply the restricted discount code.
- Customers who are not members of the group will not see the restricted sale item on the event page and will not be able to apply the restricted discount code.
Before you start: Customer groups are an optional feature and must be enabled for your company before they can be used. If you would like to use customer groups, please contact Support to have the feature enabled.
Customer group types
There are two types of customer groups available. Both types support time-limited membership, group-level expiry dates, and optional welcome emails when a customer is added.
Manual groups
Manual groups are managed by administrators, who add and remove customers directly.
These are ideal for groups where membership is controlled manually, such as memberships, VIP customers, or staff.
Automatic groups
Automatic groups use rules based on customers' purchase history.
The system periodically evaluates these rules and automatically adds or removes customers so that group membership always matches the criteria you've defined.
This is useful for creating dynamic groups without ongoing manual management.
Common use cases
Presale access for returning customers
Create an automatic group containing customers who have purchased tickets for a previous event or schedule. Restrict your presale tickets to this group so only returning customers can purchase during the presale period.
Members-only sale items
Create a manual group for your members and restrict selected sale items to that group.
Only customers within the group will be able to view and purchase those items. You can also enable welcome emails to notify customers when they are added.
Loyalty discounts
Create an automatic group for customers who have made a minimum number of purchases within a defined time period.
Restrict a discount code to this group so only qualifying customers can apply the discount.
Tiered event access
Create an automatic group for customers who have attended multiple events within a schedule.
Restrict premium ticket types to this group, creating a tiered access model where customers unlock additional benefits through continued attendance.
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