Event Registration Best Practices To Attract More Attendance

The success of an event depends on the quality and quantity of attendees. Ultimately, the goal of every event is to pass the intended message, be it a sales pitch, an educational seminar, or even weddings and parties. As an event planner, you need to ensure that your event is well registered by people interested in attending it. But how exactly can you do this? Here are some event registration best practises to boost attendance:

1. Create a compelling invitation

The first step towards attracting more audience for your event is to create an inviting invitation. A good invitation should be eye-catching and memorable. By this, we mean that it should have a unique design, a catchy title, and a clear call to action. It should also include all necessary information about the event, such as date, time, location, ticket price, etc.

Event planners often use event planning tools such as apps to make their work easier. These tools help them manage everything from invitations to registrations. You can find many free online tools that allow you to create beautiful invitations at no cost. For example, Eventbrite has a great tool called Invitations which enables you to create professional-looking invitations without coding knowledge.

Be sure to add value to the experience by highlighting additional benefits to participants in the invitation. These benefits could include free food, drinks, special offers, etc.

2. Customise registration form for easy registration

You must make sure that the registration process is quick and simple. While you might think that getting your potential guests to fill various fields will enable you to get more information, most of these guests have busy schedules and wouldn’t want to spend much time filling out forms. Therefore, you should only ask them for basic details like their name, email address, phone number, etc. You can then use those details to send them further invitations.

If you’re using event registration tools, consider adding features that make it easier for users to register instead of using the provided sample registration templates. However, advanced event registration tools will come facilitated to offer high levels of flexibility and customization. As such, you may not need to add additional features if they already exist.

3. Personalise the registration process

We’ve already looked at how we can make the invitation eye-catching and, more so, customise it to enhance ease of registration. But then, how can you further personalise the registration process? The goal here is to make the process flexible so that everyone can choose the most convenient registration process depending on their taste and preference.

Some examples of things you could consider doing include:

• Allow guests to select their preferred registration option: could be through email, website, text message, etc.
• Provide multiple payment options: credit card, debit card, PayPal, etc.
• Offer different pricing plans: one with a fixed price and another with a sliding scale based on the number of tickets purchased.
• Discounted plans: If you offer discounted rates for early bird registration, you’ll attract more audiences. This is because people tend to buy tickets earlier when they know there’s a big discount available.

4. Make it easy to share the event registration details

Sharing events is crucial because it helps spread awareness about your event. There are several options, such as creating shareable links, embedding social media posts, or even sending emails. However, it would be best to keep in mind that sharing too much information could lead to privacy issues. So, you should only share the minimum amount of information required to encourage others to attend.

5. Create a mobile-friendly registration page

Mobile devices are becoming increasingly popular. In fact, according to Statista, by 2021, over 50% of internet traffic will be coming from mobile devices. So, it makes sense to ensure that your event registration page is responsive. That means that it automatically adjusts itself to fit the screen size of the device being used, be it a simple smartphone, tablet or laptop.

6. Use reminders to encourage attendance

Reminders are useful because they remind attendees about your event. They’re especially effective when used in conjunction with social media promotion and discounts. Remind them about the event via emails, push notifications, SMS messages, etc. Autoresponders effective ways of communicating with your guests after they’ve registered.

Note that while you’ll be sending reminders, it’s equally important to send “thank you” messages to those who have registered. You may also want to add incentives like freebies or other perks to entice them to attend the event.

7. Have a clear cancellation policy

Cancellation policies help prevent last-minute cancellations. You can set up a specific date range for which you accept cancellations. For example, if you allow cancellations within 48 hours before the event, you’d be able to accommodate late registrations. After this time, you would need to reschedule the event, which might not be possible in most cases.

Marketing Tips to boost event registration

1. Promote the event using various channels

There are many ways to promote an event. Some methods include advertising, social media marketing, word of mouth, etc. Each method works differently, but all of them work together to create buzz around your event.

2. Consider offering VIP treatment

VIPs are usually treated better than regular attendees. They get access to exclusive areas, meet and greet sessions with speakers, etc.

3. Invite influencers

Influencers are individuals who have a large following on social media. They’re often known for promoting certain brands and products. So, inviting them to speak at your event could increase your reach.

4. Communicate urgency

You’ve probably come across “flash sale” when browsing through Amazon. The reason why these sales are so successful is that they communicate urgency. When users see a flash sale, they know that there won’t be any other opportunities to buy the product. In case of events, you can communicate urgency by creating limited-time offers (LTOs).

Conclusion

The key to successful event registration is to follow the best practises as outlined above. Have a strong call-to-action on your registration form. Don’t underestimate the power of easy and mobile-friendly registration. People love to register online, so ensure that your site has all the features required to drive more registrations. And don’t forget to provide incentives to get them to sign up! And because no one is a masterpiece, be sure to make reminders that should be sent to every registered guest at least two days before the event.