The Latest Trends in Event Registration
Online registration is the pivotal starting point of the attendee experience. It has the power to drive conversion, engage participants, inform budgets, and ensure attendance. To explore how data, technology, and community fuel event success for leading brands, we look at how registration marks the initiation of the data collection process, which is essential for shaping the event and personalizing experiences for diverse attendee groups. Whether individuals attend for technical insights or networking opportunities, effective registration ensures we capture their interests. This data enables us to facilitate connections and tailor learning opportunities.
As tools become smarter, faster, and more comprehensive, event marketers are unlocking new potential for registration data. Katie McIntyre (Director of Strategy and Event Technology) and Brad Rankin (Sr. Solutions Architect) from Opus Agency share the top trends that will transform your event registration process.
1. Web-Based Event Applications
Brands continue to leverage mobile apps for events, particularly for managing fluid, complex schedules. However, investing in mobile apps may yield lower returns with single-track events. Enter web-based applications. Accessible via URL, these apps eliminate the need for downloads, making access much more convenient for attendees, especially onsite.
The versatility of web-based apps allows users to access them from any device or browser, regardless of operating system. Uniform access ensures a seamless user experience for all attendees, whether desktop or mobile, Windows or Mac, IOS or Android. The trend toward web-based event apps increasingly appeals to brands navigating modern event management as event organizers seek more control and flexibility with their tools.
2. Phased Data Collection
There is a significant trend toward phased data collection to drive registration and conversion. Phased data collection breaks down information collected from attendees into stages during the registration process and through the pre-event period. This approach prioritizes hyper-focused, difficult-to-abandon registration pages.
Phase your data collection so the attendee completes registration before moving on to any secondary selections. Any time a prospective attendee needs to make an additional decision or take an extra step, there is another opportunity for them to abandon registration. Often, the attendee may not have an approved hotel budget or wants to wait and see where their colleagues decide to stay. If they can’t bypass this step to complete their registration, they will have to return later, increasing the risk of them abandoning registration altogether.
Data Collection Strategy
The following table illustrates how to categorize information during the phased registration process:
| Phase | Information Type | Data Points |
|---|---|---|
| Primary (Registration) | Vital Information | Name, company, job title, contact info, and payment information. |
| Secondary (Post-Registration) | Experience Enhancements | Content preference, rooming selection, accessibility requirements, dietary needs, emergency contact, and networking interests. |
Best Practices for Maximizing Registration Data
It’s important that planners ask the right questions at all phases of the registration process. To ensure high conversion and valuable insights, follow these guidelines:
- Be Specific: Instead of asking, “Why are you attending?” ask, “What are the topics that most interest you?” or “What do you hope to learn?”
- Avoid Redundancy: Instead of asking, “What do you hope to gain from attending?” and, “What topics most interest you?” simply ask, “What would you like to learn about most?”
- Keep It Concise: Limit the number of pages and questions in your registration form. Remember, all secondary questions can follow once registration is confirmed.
Only ask pertinent questions that yield valuable insights, and exclude unnecessary ones that don’t impact the experience. Understand the purpose of each question and how you will use the data. Giving attendees a “profile” to complete after registration provides an opportunity to collect data that isn’t mission-critical, but still adds to the experience.
3. Single Customer Records
Leading brands leverage single customer records to further enhance the data collection process and create a unified view of the attendee journey.
