Export everything first, check that the files open and the counts match what the platform shows, and only then cancel. Once an account closes you may lose access to the data altogether, so the order in which you do things matters more than anything else.
The order that keeps you safe
- Read the agreement and the help pages to find out what happens to your data when the account ends, and how long you keep access.
- Export every type of record while the account is fully active.
- Verify the exports, as described below.
- Store the files in two places you control.
- Give notice to cancel, and ask whether a read-only period is available.
- Run one last export on the final day to pick up anything that changed in between.
What to export
A ticketing or registration platform holds more than a list of email addresses. Go through the menus one by one and look for an export button on each screen, because different record types tend to live in different places.
- Contacts: names, emails, phone numbers, and the answers to any custom questions such as dietary or access needs.
- Orders: order number, date, event, ticket type, price paid, discount code used, refunds and transfers.
- Consent and marketing preferences: who agreed to hear from you, when, the wording they agreed to, and who has unsubscribed.
- Invoices, payout statements and tax documents for every year you have traded on the platform.
- Check-in or scan records, if you use attendance figures in sponsor reports or for planning.
- Your own content: event descriptions, images, email templates and seating plans.
Consent records deserve particular care. A contact list with no record of who agreed to be emailed is much less useful than one with it. If you are unsure what you need to keep, ask whoever advises you on data protection where you operate.
How to check an export is real
A file that downloads is not proof of anything. Open each one in a spreadsheet and count the rows, then compare that count with the total the platform shows on screen. An export may be limited to a date range or a maximum number of rows without saying so, and a count is how you find out.
Then pick an event you remember well and check it by hand. The tickets sold should match the report you used at the time. Look at names with accents or apostrophes, at dates, and at long free-text answers to see that nothing has been cut short or scrambled. Finally, make sure orders can be tied back to contacts by an order number or an email address. Two files that cannot be joined are much harder to use later.
Keep a read-only period if it is offered
A vendor may be willing to keep an account open for viewing after the paid term ends. If yours offers this, take it. A customer will dispute a charge, or an accountant will ask about an old payout, and looking it up on the original screen is quicker than searching a spreadsheet. Get the length of the period and any cost confirmed in writing.
Before you decide to leave at all
An export is worth doing every year even if you stay, since it shows you how portable your data really is. If the reason for leaving is cost, put your per-ticket fees into our calculator for yearly and three-year software costs first, so you know the size of the problem. Our guide to renting versus owning software has a section on data ownership and export, and our page for event organisers covers what organisers rent and what can be rebuilt. When we build a replacement we move the existing data across ourselves, and a clean export like this one is where that work begins.