Ten Mistakes Event Planners Make When Using Online Registration

Published on this site: February 3rd, 2009 - See more articles from this month

Online registration helps many event planners save time and money and reduce stress related to event registration. At the same time, other event planners seem to experience the opposite effects from online registration.

We have identified ten common mistakes event planners make when using online registration so that you can avoid them and experience the many benefits it can offer.

1. Assuming people will register online:

Just setting up an online registration system doesn't mean that people will use it. You need to clearly communicate to event participants that online registration is available and that it is the preferred method. If your group is used to faxing or mailing registrations, you may need to offer some incentive to break old habits.

2. Assuming people can find the online form:

Just because you can navigate to the online from doesn't mean everyone can. The link to the registration form needs to be very obvious. Use large fonts, different colours or some other effect to make it stand out. You may even want to put the link on several pages just so it can't be missed.

3. Not allowing enough time to get set up:
   

If you are new to online registration, allow lots of extra time to get set up as it takes longer than you think. Set up times vary considerably depending on the complexity of your form and especially if you need to open e-commerce accounts etc. Allow plenty of time to get approvals from your clients, managers and/or committees and for the time it takes to make any necessary changes and get final approvals.

4. Not fully testing the system yourself:

Whether you use an online registration supplier or build something in-house, be sure to personally test the entire system to make sure it has the right look and feel. Programmers can verify that it functions correctly, but only a professional event planner will notice the finer points to make it perfect.

5. Making registration too complicated:
   
   Nobody wants to spend time trying to figure out how to use your online registration system. Some systems are very complicated, even for advanced users. Look at several different systems and you will be amazed at how different two systems designed to perform the same function can be.
   
   
6. Spending time and money on unnecessary options:
   
   Technology is great and almost anything is possible, but carefully consider what you really need and what your event participants will actually use before paying for special features. Just because it's possible doesn't mean it's right for your event.
   
   
7. Trying to collect too much information:
   
   Just because you aren't doing the data entry doesn't mean you should ask your event participants for lots of extra information. Your participants will get annoyed, especially if you have too many "required" fields. Find a balance between collecting enough details and keeping the registration form easy to
   complete.
   
   
8. Not being fully committed to online registration:
   
   For some events going online is a big step. When you decide to take it, make sure you are committed to promoting online registration and using the system to its full capacity to get your money's worth. If you or your event planning committee is only half committed you will see disappointing results.
   
   
9. Not making event participants feel comfortable:
   
   People are concerned about what happens to the information they submit online. Post a privacy policy, make the form match your website and don't ask for information that you don't need. Also, a big turn off for online registrants is creating an account with an online registration company before registering for your event.
   
   
10. Offering the wrong payment options:
    
    Know how your event participants prefer to pay. Real time online credit card transactions are efficient and cost effective, but if many people registering for your event don't have credit cards (or maybe don't have a company credit card) you will also need to consider offering "pay by cheque" or "send me an invoice" options.
    

Please feel free to contact us at eply.com if you have any questions or comments about this article.

Jim Romanik: Founder of ePly Online Event Registration http://www.eply.com.
We are online registration experts and treat your reputation as our own to build registration forms that help your events succeed and make people wonder how you did it. Download our Free Guide - "What Every Event Planner Should Know About Online Event Registration" at: http://www.eply.com/lp/articles.html.

This article was originally published here:
http://www.eply.com/event_resources/online_registration_articles/
ten_mistakes.html.