You’ve marketed your event, sent registration reminders, and called top prospects to confirm their attendance plans. Unfortunately, your registration funnel could still lose people before they complete the sign-up process. A long, clunky form, slow-loading pages, and complex payment methods aggravate registrants and create errors for some people.
Event registration software can frustrate leads and result in lost attendance. Below, we’ll discuss how to determine if your registration software is costing you attendees and provide some top-rated alternatives to consider if you’re looking for a new software solution.
How to Tell If Your Registration Software Is Costing You Attendees
The only way to tell if your registration software is costing dollars is by tracking users as they move through the buyer’s journey. Most registration platforms offer data to help you improve results. If you suspect the process is causing a decline in registrations, it’s time to examine specific factors to address the issue.
Each of these signs points to friction that results in lost attendees and revenue. Poor registration software frustrates the entire team and creates a barrier that prevents interested parties from accessing information. If you can determine the stopping points, you can assess whether your current registration methods are helping or hindering your event.
Conversion Tracking
Look at your registration path and picture it as a funnel, with the landing page being the widest part that appeals to the most people, but the layers narrowing as the right people work their way through and ultimately sign up. Some of the points on your funnel include a landing or event page with basic information. This registration form collects simple details, including name, email, workshop selection, payment, and confirmation.
Make each step a tracked goal to analyze the conversion rate more effectively at each touchpoint. Measure how many fall off at each step. For example, if you lose a significant number of people on the payment page, suddenly dropping by 75%, you may need to tweak and simplify the payment methods.
A/B Testing
Armed with an idea of where people are dropping off in the journey, you can then try a different form, payment methods, or other tweaks, testing each to see how it compares to the original. If more people are converting, then you’ve improved the registration form.
You can also test a hidden form that progressively discloses more fields as people complete sections. This will enable you to track a field-by-field abandonment rate more effectively and eliminate any unnecessary details that may be causing issues.
Load Time Improvement
People are impatient, expecting your page to load at the speed of light. People on mobile devices may have limited time on a lunch break or after work. They will grow impatient if your page takes too long to load. Ideally, the page loads instantly. Pay attention to any script errors, timeouts, or other issues that may frustrate users and cause them to leave your site. Test each page on various devices to assess its performance, and examine tools like PageSpeed Insights and GTmetrix for insights into its performance.
Payment Failures
If you lose a lot of people at the payment stage, ensure they aren’t receiving declined notices or failures. Many systems are picky about the data being entered exactly. While you can’t control what the payment gateway demands, you can tweak the instructions to make it more straightforward for the user to understand what they need to input and why.
What Are the Top-Rated Online Registration Systems for Events? 3 Best Options
The platform you choose can greatly impact each of the elements above. It’s worth researching which ones offer the most optimized experience. To ensure a positive user experience, each platform was evaluated for the following factors:
Evaluation Criteria
| Speed and Responsiveness | Form Ease |
| Intuitive Interface | Progressive Disclosure |
| Autofill | Payment Options and Failure Handling |
| Funnel Analytics | Onboarding and Customer Support |
Considering the factors above, a few registration software providers stood out as being the best option for registering conference attendees for your next event.
Below are the top five online registration platforms, rated according to the specified criteria and weighted scores. Each is a viable option that allows you to test, tweak, and get the highest conversion rate possible.
1. Regpack
Regpack is a cloud-based online registration platform serving over 7,000 global organizations. It handles everything from collecting user information to processing payments and facilitating workflow automation. Through conversion optimization, the provider stands out as boosting completed registrations by an average of 32%. It offers automated billing strategies to ensure payment completion.
Another way Regpack eases payment friction for event attendees is by allowing installment, recurring, and conditional payment plans. The company offers transparent pricing, including payment processing, so you’ll know the cost of each conversion upfront.
2. Eventzilla
Another cloud-based event registration and marketing platform, Eventzilla, is suitable for both in-person and virtual events. It stands out for its custom-branded websites. In addition to registering event attendees, organizers can create a call for speakers and check-in forms. Pricing is usage-based. Those running small events can use the free, basic tiers. For planners requiring automated emails, real-time analytics, and enhanced attendee tracking, pricing is based on the number of slots needed.
3. Cvent
Cvent has a long-standing reputation in enterprise-level event and meeting software services. Due to its history, the developers have created robust features to assist with venue sourcing and tracking large-scale agendas. For gatherings with multiple tracks and different layers of attendees, it integrates beautifully. It can be rather complex for smaller events and has a steeper learning curve than some of the other options on the list. The support can be helpful for new users.
Turn Registration Bottlenecks Into Event Wins
By trying one of the options above, you can A/B test your registrant journey and improve attendance without spending more on marketing. Monitor each change to see how it impacts your levels. Even a slight improvement in completed registrations can result in increased revenue and the continued annual hosting of an event.
