Did you know first impressions play a huge role in an attendee’s experience with your event?
Many people believe that first impressions begin on the day of the event, but I’d like to suggest that it actually begins during the registration process. As humans we tend to judge a book by it’s cover. The same is true for your attendees’ experience with your ticket sales page. Imagine the registration page is the cover of your book, and your event is the story on the pages.
1. It all starts with your marketing.
Consider how your potential attendees are hearing about your event. Are you putting posters up around town or are you posting information on your Facebook wall? Or possibly using Google Adwords to send folks to your website where they can get more info and sign up? Is it easy for your demographic to hear about your event? Are they immediately excited about the possibility to attend your event?
Once your potential attendees hear about your event they will take steps forward in registering. You’ll need to consider how easy it is for your attendees to go from hearing about your event to registering. Ideally, you will include a “Register Now” button on every page of your website ensuring it’s easy to locate when people are ready to sign up.
2. Next stop, your registration process.
Building your registration form can be fun. Not to mention, it’s your opportunity to make it shine and personable. Is your event a conference for business professionals? Then go with a clean and corporate look. Or are you hosting a fun halloween bash? Then spook up your form with colors, fonts and images! Whatever your awesome event is, tailor it to the style and theme and branding of your event.
3. Time to consider the more technical details of your form.
Is there too much text? Or possibly too many clicks or opportunities for distraction? Try having a form that is quick and easy to complete. Our motto is, “The fewer clicks the better”. People go through a gut check whenever signing up for something online. They will contemplate the legitimacy, efficiency, organization, and even consistent branding on your registration page.
They will not only look at how cool, fast and easy the process is, but they’ll be concerned about where their funds are going. Chances are, if they are confident going through the pretty and organized registration form, they’ll be even more confident that the event itself is going to be just as awesome!
4. After the registration process comes the confirmation.
It’s important to ensure that your confirmation page and email are all setup thoroughly. This is a breeze when you get set up with RegFox! You’ll want to make sure the information provided in their confirmation includes the address, date and time of the event so your attendees can know exactly when and where they should be.
Also, RegFox will automatically display all of their registration and payment details. If you want to add extra details to the confirmation email, don’t hesitate. Show your personality, and express your excitement for their participation with a short and sweet message.
5. Now it’s time to test your registration process before going live.
This is huuuuuuge! Perform some tests to confirm your form is flowing and functioning exactly as you wish. It’s best to know your sign up process before your attendees experience it. You can even send the link to a colleague and have them test it as well. Then, as you complete your form, ask yourself, did you get to hung up at any point? Was anything distracting? Will my demographic find it as easy as I did? Doing this will help solidify your attendees' first impression with you.
6. Finally, it’s time rock the check-in process!
Your check-in process is a continuation of your first impression with your attendees. You will want to do everything you can to streamline this process from the time they drive into the parking lot to the moment their registration is getting scanned. Have volunteers directing the flow of traffic and signage guiding where check-in is located. Once your registrants make it to the check-in line, have a system in place to make this as fast and smooth as possible.
Check out our state-of-the-art check in app to give your first impression with your attendees a cherry on top.