21 Oct Event Registration – The Best Practices
Planning an event is not always simple and straightforward. Your event registration process should be! The goal of any event registration is to maximise the conversion rate from prospective to registered attendees. So how can you make it efficient and effective?
We’ve broken down the event registration process into nine strategies that when executed effectively, will lead to an efficient event registration for your attendees.
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Have a clear call to action.
This is your big conversion point. Simply put, you can’t have guests wondering “where do I go to register?”. Make sure there are clear call-to-action directing guests to your event registration form, especially if you have a full event website with tons of information.
Provide instructions along the way.
Even if the registration seems pretty straightforward, it never hurts to have a line or two of instructions to walk guests through the process.
Test, test, and test again.
As you’re making updates along the way, test out the form as if you are a prospective attendee. Not only is it important for you to make sure there aren’t any potential issues or points of confusion, but you’ll want to know the process so you can walk anyone who needs it through the steps! It’s also a good idea to ask a friend or colleague to test out the registration so you can get a second opinion. They might point out something you didn’t even think of, or a small spelling error you totally missed.
Collect only important information.
It can be tempting to ask a lot of questions in your registration but opt for simplicity here. Only gather the details you absolutely need from attendees. A few important ones typically contact information and dietary restrictions or allergies if the food will be served.
Put questions into groups or steps.
Grouping details or breaking them out into steps can prevent guests from getting overwhelmed by the amount of information required. Additionally, putting questions of similar nature (for example a meal preference and dietary restriction) together will help prospective attendees flow through your form with ease.
Create a sense of urgency.
There are a number of ways you can urge attendees to submit their registrations right away. Early bird discounts, special offers for early registrants, and a clear registration deadline are just a few great ways to create that sense of urgency for attendees.
Be descriptive.
While yes, you want to keep it simple, you also want to be clear! Make sure your registration includes all the important details of your event. If attendees will be making an investment to attend the event, make sure to outline what value they will be getting and a description of the different tick types or packages that are being offered.
Send a confirmation email.
If there isn’t an email receipt, guests may be left wondering if you received their registration. Don’t skip on sending a confirmation email to guests once they hit submit! If possible, this is also a great place to add important event details and FAQs for their reference.
Make sure it’s mobile-friendly.
Today most platforms you would use to collect event registrations are innately responsive across mobile devices. That said, it is still an important step to pull up your registration on a mobile device! Run through the process on a cell phone to ensure it looks good, as many of your guests will likely register from a smartphone!