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From ticket lines to taps: How Atom Tickets streamlines sales with Amazon Pay

Discover how Atom Tickets enhanced the user experience by integrating Amazon Pay into their social-first movie ticketing app.

The experience of going to the movies has changed dramatically over the past century. From standing in long lines at the box office to purchasing a digital ticket at home, each iteration aims to be more convenient than the last. Atom Tickets, an award-winning mobile ticketing app, not only streamlines the ticket buying process but also enhances the social aspect of planning a night out at the cinema.

“We were founded as a disruptor in the space of movie ticketing,” says Michael Amouyal, Senior Director of Marketing and Partnerships at Atom Tickets. “Having social-first, user-friendly experiences is what we’re all about, and that’s permeated every aspect of what we do, from user design to marketing to the partnerships that we pursue.”

When Atom Tickets was first launched in 2014, integrating digital wallet solutions was already on their road map. In 2019, the startup added Amazon Pay into their checkout process, helping moviegoers complete their purchases quickly and securely.

Making movie night seamless with a convenient, social-first app

Through their mobile app, Atom Tickets lets users search for films, buy tickets, preorder concessions, and more at theaters across the United States and Canada. The company also serves as the exclusive ticketing partner for IMDb; when users browse movies and TV shows, they can purchase tickets through Atom Tickets in a seamless, co-branded process.

From the beginning, Atom Tickets wanted to create a platform that not only simplified the ticket purchasing process but also integrated social features so that friends could plan movie outings together. Every aspect of their service, including the checkout process, needed to be unique, modern, and, most importantly, simple to use.

Atom Tickets integrated Amazon Pay as one of their first digital payment options, letting users seamlessly purchase tickets or concessions using their Amazon account information. “It’s all about making payments as frictionless as possible,” says Amouyal. “With Amazon Pay, our users don’t need to get their credit card number—the integration with Amazon speeds things up.”

Providing users with frictionless checkout and cross-promotional offers

When customers use Amazon Pay on Atom Tickets, they can complete their purchases quickly and securely, whether they are buying tickets for just themselves or with a group. The startup uses the Sign in with Amazon Button to further streamline the process; with the click of a button, users can sign in with their existing Amazon credentials to create an account or access their existing Atom Tickets profile. The efficiency of this integration is evident in the numbers: Amazon Pay customers, on average, buy 10% more tickets per order versus the Atom average.1

“You can complete a purchase in maybe three or four clicks, sometimes even less than that,” says Amouyal. “In terms of the social aspect, we have an ‘invite a friend’ feature where you can invite your friends to a movie, but each member of the group can purchase their ticket separately and still sit together.”

The integration also opened up opportunities for cross-promotional activities with Amazon, helping Atom Tickets attract new customers and increase user engagement through special offers and promotions. These collaborations include exclusive discounts for Amazon Pay users, such as buy-one-get-one-free (BOGO) ticket offers, and joint marketing campaigns targeted toward Amazon’s large customer base.

These promotional efforts have proven to be a powerful tool for Atom Tickets to acquire and retain new customers. By using Amazon Pay for special offers like BOGO deals, the company has seen a two-time increase in the share of Amazon Pay transactions, primarily driven by new-to-brand customers. More importantly, these newly acquired customers show strong loyalty, with Atom Tickets observing up to a 25% retention rate for those who initially purchased through an Amazon Pay promotion.

Planning future innovations with Amazon Pay

Soon, Atom Tickets will be upgrading their Amazon Pay integration to Checkout v2. This integration will empower them to take advantage of advanced features, like improved decline handling and strong customer authentication.

“We always want to be seen as innovators not only in the consumer space but also the tech space,” says Amouyal. “We plan to continue doing more promotions and marketing initiatives with Amazon Pay and the entire Amazon network of services, which are great. We can bring new customers in and convert some of our previous customers to loyal Amazon Pay users.”

1 Analysis comparing average ticket sales between customers using native checkout and those using Amazon Pay between 2019 and 2024.