How to Capture Order Attributes for Certain Events

Order Attributes allow you to capture additional information against an order made online and can easily be customized to collect all the details you need.

Order Attributes are a useful way to capture Student ID numbers for a special student event or capture a customer’s dietary requirements for any dining options purchased, for example.

Sometimes, you might need to capture order information for just one particular Event or several specific Events. This article will show you how to set this up.

 Before you read this article, make sure you’re familiar with:

• Attributes 

Setting up an Order Attribute

After navigating to the Settings Interface, you will immediately find yourself on the Attribute Templates page. Select Order Attributes from the bar on the left-hand side, then scroll to the bottom of the page to click New Attribute Template.

Fill out the following fields:

• Name - The name of your attribute will be visible to customers on your website. This is a required field, denoted by the yellow line on the left side of the text box.
• Type - This is the kind of information you’ll be gathering from your customers, options are: Text Field, Currency, Date, Dropdown List, and Check Box.
• Description - This is visible in the Sales Interface to your Box Office but not your website.

Leave the following checkboxes unchecked so that you can limit which Events ask for this additional information in the online checkout flow (you will be able to select these fields later): 

• This attribute is visible in your API integrations
• This attribute is visible in your iframe integrations
• This attribute is always required
• This attribute is protected

PROTECTED DATA: The last checkbox might be greyed out if you do not have the Can view and edit protected data user role, which allows users to view and edit Attributes that have been marked as protected. You can learn more about user roles in Adding and Editing Users.

If you are collecting data using the Text Field you can set a character limit. The maximum number of characters a customer may use in their response is 255. Note that this is also a required field, so you must enter a numeric value. 

There’s also the option to check the box that says Ensure users enter a unique value for this attribute. This will only allow unique values to be submitted and will prevent users from entering duplicate data. 

Adding an Order Attribute to a Certain Event

In the Admin Interface > Events, find the Event you want to attach this Order Attribute to.

• Open up the Event and select Order Attributes from the Event Details menu on the left.
• You will see all of the available Order Attributes listed. Select Edit.
• To make an Attribute appear in the purchase path online, select the On Web checkbox.
• If you want the attribute to be a mandatory field, select the Required checkbox. This means the order cannot be completed online or in the box office without the user filling in the Order Attribute.

How to test your new Order Attribute

To make sure your new Order Attribute looks and works how you want it to, head to your organization’s website. Log in to your account and add a ticket for the event linked to this Order Attribute in your cart. Proceed through the checkout flow where you will find the additional Order Attribute field in the Additional Information section. 

An example of how a customer might encounter the Order Attribute when booking online.

Examples of Order Attributes in practice

You can use Order Attributes to customise the information you collect from customers in many different ways. Here are two examples of how they can be used in practice.

• You need to capture the student's ID number for a graduation event that is only open to students.

  1. Create an Order Attribute called ‘Student ID’
  2. Set the maximum number of characters to 10 (the number of characters in each ID) and select the Ensure users enter a unique value for this attribute checkbox
  3. Go to the event and set the Attribute to be available online and required

  Anyone booking that event must now fill in their student ID before checking out.

• You are hosting a gala where the attendees will receive a catered dinner. You need to capture the guests’ meal preferences.

  1. Create an Order Attribute called ‘Preferred Meal’
  2. Create a checklist containing the available options, for example, Meat, Vegetarian, and Vegan.
  3. Go to the event and set the attribute to be available online and required

  Anyone booking that event must select from a drop-down menu of the available dinner options.

You should now be able to use Order Attributes for specific Events in Spektrix.

For more information about Setting Up and Editing Events, see the Setup Events, Offers, Subscriptions, and Merchandise section of the Support Centre.