You’ve planned your perfect event: you’ve booked the most ideal venue, you have the top speakers in the business headlining the event, and you’ve promoted the event on the best channels possible.
Yet, if you can’t get enough people to register for your event, all those efforts will all go to waste.
Having a simplified event registration and ticketing process will help you maximize the number of tickets you sell, and this is where having the right online event registration software solution is crucial.
In this guide, we will discuss all you need to know about setting up online event registration and how to use online event registration to increase the number of attendees for your event.
Let us begin right away.
Online Event Registration: Overview
A viable option for event organizers to set up an online event registration is to set up a fully-fledged website complete with an online registration interface and database from scratch.
However, obviously many event organizers don’t have the time and expertise to do so, and hiring an experienced software developer can also be very expensive.
Thus, a viable issue for this problem is to use dedicated event registration software. There are various affordable and even free event registration apps that offer an easy way to integrate online registration functions into a basic landing page.
However, there are also all-in-one platforms for event management like Eventtia that offer not only event registration functions but also other essential event management features like on-site check-ins, attendee tracking, ticket pricing management, event campaign management, team collaboration features, and so on.
With how there are many different options to choose from, choosing the right solution for your business can be challenging. Below we will discuss some key features you should look for in choosing between different online event registration solutions.
Key Considerations When Choosing an Event Registration Software
While you should choose an event registration solution based on your unique needs, there are four basic features to look for:
- Online payment reliability and security
It’s crucial to make sure potential attendees and securely and easily make online payments when purchasing the event tickets.
On the other hand, you’d want to make sure the solution allows you to easily collect payment directly to your own bank account. As we know, managing an event’s cash flow can be very challenging, and by having the capability of collecting money in advance, we can fund the event from ticket revenue.
The next thing to consider is the transaction fees. Typically most event ticketing solutions charge around ~ 3% of the price of your ticket so make sure the transaction fees charged are reasonable.
- Event ticket pricing
As we know, a unique thing regarding event tickets is the tiered pricing strategy where we offer time-based discounts (pre-sale, early bird, 2nd early bird, and so on). Also, it’s common to sell multiple types of tickets based on budget (VIP passes, member-only tickets, general admission, etc.)
A good online event registration software should accommodate this strategy by allowing you to sell multiple ticket types for a single event, and also to provide versatility for your attendees.
- Intuitive registration forms
A core aspect of online event registration is to have intuitive and easy-to-use registration forms to make sure attendees can register quickly. An ideal event registration software solution should offer the ability to customize your forms so you can include as few fields as possible (only ask what’s necessary). Make sure you can also optimize the placement and design of CTA buttons.
How To Set Up Online Event Registration: Step-By-Step
Step 1: Know and understand your target audience
You should design your online event registration function to accommodate your target attendees and not the other way around. If, for example, your target attendees are the most active on Instagram, you’ll need an event registration tool that can integrate with Instagram well.
Step 2: Choose an online event registration software
Based on the factors we’ve discussed above and your target attendees’ needs, choose the most appropriate event registration solution. As also mentioned above, make sure to review the transaction fees and overall fee structure before deciding on a solution so it won’t break your bank.
Step 3: Create a landing page
For an online event registration campaign to work properly, you’ll need a dedicated landing page or website for the event.
Include accurate information about the event: venue details, date/time, speakers/talents, and other details. Also include well-taken photos and video teasers of your event to maximize ticket sales. Optimize the landing page’s CTAs both in placement, design, and copy.
Step 4: Decide your ticket pricing and design
Design your tickets well, and decide what types of tickets you are going to offer throughout the event’s marketing timeline (free tickets, early-bird tickets, VIP tickets, last-minute tickets, and so on).
Step 5: Set up reliable payment methods
Consider the fact that different attendees might use different patent methods, so make sure your solution accepts different payment options: credit card, bank transfers, PayPal, and other relevant options used by your attendees.
Step 6: Promote your event
Use various marketing channels to attract target attendees to the landing page.
If you already have email list subscribers, then email marketing is an effective way to promote your event and direct them to your event landing page. Alternatively, you can use various other channels from social media, influencer marketing, event press release, and others.
Step 7: Monitor and optimize
Now that your online event registration is established and you start getting more event registrations, you should be able to gather more information like whether the actual attendees fit your buyer persona, which marketing channels attracted more attendees, and so on.
Use this data to refine your marketing campaigns, segment your audience, and optimize your event so you can start selling even more tickets.
Wrapping Up
Having a reliable online event registration function is crucial in today’s digital era so your target attendees can easily book your event from anywhere, anytime, and with any device.
By following the steps we have shared above, you can start setting up your online event registration in no time and start getting more attendees to register for your event.
