Event Registration Best Practices

Five principles for a registration flow

Most registration problems come from one of these five. Check your flow against them before you open sales.

1. 1

   Ask only what you will use

   Every extra field costs completions. For each question, name the decision or message it feeds. If you cannot, remove it.

2. 2

   Make the ticket choice obvious

   Show what each ticket includes, its dates and its end of sale in plain words. Do not make people compare options in a long paragraph.

3. 3

   State the total before payment

   Show what the attendee will pay, including any add-ons, before the payment step. Surprises at the last click lose registrations.

4. 4

   Confirm immediately and clearly

   Send a confirmation at once with the event, date, place or join link, and what to do next. Attendees should not wonder whether it worked.

   Event ticket confirmation guide
5. 5

   Test it on a phone

   Many people register on a phone. Complete a registration yourself on a small screen, on a normal connection, before you publish.

Which fields to ask for

Split fields into what you must have, what helps you plan and what you can collect later. Name and email are almost always required. Everything else should earn its place.

Ticket types and pricing rules

Keep ticket types few and distinct. Common types are a standard ticket, an early ticket with a closing date, a group ticket, a speaker or sponsor pass, and a free or complimentary ticket for guests you invite. Add-ons such as a workshop or a dinner should be separate choices, not hidden inside a bundle.

Eventdex's ticketing pages describe early bird, add-on, group and private tickets, and promo codes. Write your pricing rules down before you build them: who gets each ticket, when it ends, and what happens if someone needs a refund or a name change.

• Set end dates and limits

  Give early tickets a clear end date and, where capacity is fixed, a quantity limit.

• Use codes for known groups

  Promo codes let you offer a rule to invited groups without a public discount.

• Publish your change policy

  State refund, cancellation and transfer terms on the page. Eventdex's registration page says organizers can cancel, modify and refund registrations, and that attendees can be allowed to do so themselves.

  Eventdex ticketing features

Payment, confirmation and mobile

Payment is where the flow is most fragile. Offer the methods your audience uses, show the total early, and confirm by email as soon as payment clears. Eventdex's registration page says it integrates with more than ten payment gateways and describes the platform as PCI compliant. Ask Eventdex which gateways are available in your country.

A good confirmation names the event, date, venue or join link, ticket type, amount paid and a contact. Add a way to change the registration, and tell people what comes next, such as how check-in works.

• Handle walk-ins

  Decide how people who arrive without registering will pay and be added. Eventdex's registration page describes walk-in registration with payment collected onsite.

  Onsite registration

• Check the numbers as they come in

  Watch registrations by ticket type against your plan, and look at where people stop. Eventdex's registration page describes real-time registrant data you can monitor and export.

• Connect registration to your CRM

  If sales or membership teams need the data, set up the transfer before launch. Eventdex's registration page says it integrates with leading CRM solutions.

Pre-launch checklist

Run through this list with a colleague who has not seen the page. Fix anything they hesitate over.

REGISTRATION FLOW CHECK

Page
[ ] Event name, date, place or join link at the top
[ ] One clear button to register
[ ] Ticket types listed with what each includes and its end date

Form
[ ] Every field has a stated use
[ ] Required fields are marked, optional ones are not
[ ] Error messages say what to fix

Payment
[ ] Total shown before payment
[ ] Refund, cancellation and transfer terms visible
[ ] Test payment completed and checked

Confirmation
[ ] Email arrives within minutes
[ ] Contains date, place or link, ticket, amount and contact
[ ] Link to change or cancel, if you allow it

Devices
[ ] Completed once on a phone
[ ] Completed once on a laptop

Data
[ ] Registrations visible in your list
[ ] Export or CRM transfer tested