What if you converted ticket buyers into members before they even reach checkout? 

The Australian Museum grew their membership numbers by 450% over time by doing exactly that. With Tessitura’s e-commerce platform, TNEW, “We can make membership more visible in that ticketing journey,” said Chanele Moss, Ticketing and CRM Manager. 

Chanele and her team configured their site to display free member tickets above standard admission prices. “That’s the hook,” she explained. They also display a membership upsell in the cart as encouragement to add one. And these tactics are working.  

Within just one month of launching its refreshed e-commerce site in late 2025, membership numbers began to climb. The museum continues to experience stronger, faster membership growth than before TNEW v16, and the positive impact is rippling across departments.

“It’s increased the donor base for the philanthropy department, and we’re getting more interactions with our school holiday programs,” Chanele reported. “That has helped build that base audience that you can always rely on to sell things to.”

“It's increased the donor base for the philanthropy department, and we're getting more interactions with our school holiday programs.”
_{— Chanele Moss, Australian Museum}

A cart that streamlines purchases 

A strong e-commerce solution should do more than give your visitors a streamlined purchase experience. It should actively open opportunities to engage the visitor. TNEW’s unified cart easily handles tickets, memberships and donations in a single transaction.

Pansy Cuevas Nicholas of the Palm Springs Art Museum explained how TNEW unified their online transactions. “We process all ticket sales, whether that is general admission, special events or rental events. […] They can purchase any level of membership through our website. They can also make donations through our website to multiple categories.  

Plus, TNEW automatically adjusts prices based on info such as cart contents or membership status. Member benefits are verified and applied instantly, even mid-transaction. 

“It’s seamless to our guests,” Pansy noted. She offered the example of a popular lecture series at the museum. “Members get a 15% discount. They are able to log in, put the event in their cart and automatically get the discount.”

Promotions for the general public also apply automatically. “We offer a bundle discount if you purchase tickets for both locations. The customers get a pop-up message. It’s very easy,” Pansy said. 

Simple benefit redemption reinforces the value of membership

Tessitura and TNEW also helped the High Museum of Art improve management of member guest passes, said Aisha Moss, Associate Director of Membership. They replaced their old, cumbersome system of paper guest passes with TNEW’s self-service portal. Now, members log in to see their available benefits. They can redeem their guest passes and reserve tickets for member previews.

Not only is self-service easy and efficient, but the digital benefits always stay up to date. “Our benefits run year to year,” Aisha explained. “Once your membership stops and you renew, we start your benefits over again.” That wasn’t always clear to members, but now they — and the museum’s staff — can easily see which benefits they’ve redeemed and which remain. 

Now members — and the museum’s staff — can easily see which benefits they’ve redeemed and which remain. 

On the back end, reports and analytics in Tessitura help staff track benefit usage. They can use this information to send reminders to their members, further reinforcing the value of their membership. And the more members take advantage of those benefits, the more likely they are to renew or even upgrade. It pays to make it easy. 

E-commerce that deepens audience engagement

Growth stalls when you miss your target audience. The data captured in TNEW sharpens your ability to attract and engage visitors — and power more personalized suggestions that build lasting loyalty. Because TNEW is built into your Tessitura system, real-time syncs with your CRM are guaranteed from day one. No missing data, no lags, no custom development needed.

For the team at the Michigan Science Center, TNEW’s self-service portal serves as an essential data source. There, members can update key info such as interests and contact information. “Having our members be able to tell us what their communication preferences are and the types of programming and exhibitions they’re interested in has been really fantastic,” said Melanie Depcinski, Director of Guest Relations. 

That data helps the team tailor promotions for different audience segments. “In our previous system, we weren’t able to customize those in a way that allowed us to distribute and limit them to the audiences we wanted,” she explained. “Now we can do special offers […] and know that we’re going to give that to people who are going to utilize it and be the audience we’re trying to bring in.” And, of course, TNEW is ready to handle those special offers seamlessly.

“We can do special offers […] and know that we’re going to give that to people who are going to utilize it and be the audience we’re trying to bring in.”
_{— Melanie Depcinski, Michigan Science Center}

Make your purchase path drive revenue and loyalty

Selling tickets alone is not enough to drive growth. Once someone reaches your website, how do you make the most of their attention? The right e-commerce platform helps you make the right first impression, drive revenue and build the foundation for future loyalty.

Cultural institutions like museums, science centers, botanic gardens, zoos and aquariums need e-commerce purpose-built for their needs. The purchase path has to make it easy to buy admissions. It has to suggest add-on items that increase the value of each visit. And it has to encourage visitors to step up their commitment with a membership.

TNEW does all this out of the box. It transforms the purchase path into your revenue engine. Its flexibility and scalability empower cultural organizations to deliver an online experience that aligns with what awaits their visitors.