This guest post was contributed to us by the experts over at Regpack.
Your registration process is incredibly important. It’s the first impression many applicants will have of your organization or business when they’re registering for your programs. For that reason, a streamlined registration process is essential if you want to boost attendance and make your programs stand out.
You may already have a registration process in place, whether this is through a manual process or a combination of tools and software that you use. However, it may be time to take a look at upgrading your system and making it even easier on your staff, your applicants, and you.
There are several pieces that go into registrations: the basic contact information forms, waivers (if required), and payment information, for instance. In order to keep these pieces together, invest in a software solution that will help you with this. In this article, we’ll discuss the following ways you can track what you need and streamline your process:
Make a great first impression with an easy and straightforward registration process for your applicants, but make the process easy on yourself, too! Let’s take a closer look.
Whether you’re registering individuals for an event, a course, or even a summer camp, establishing trust with your applicants is a big step you need to take. If people are uneasy about your registration process (for example, if they’re sent to register on a third-party website), they’ll be less likely to actually complete their registration.
The most effective way to establish trust is by ensuring your applicants never have to leave your website when registering. This means you’ll want all of your forms to be embedded into your site. For example:
When you keep everything in one place, you’ll encourage more applicants to complete their registrations and keep their trust in you intact. This not only assures them that their information is safe, but also makes the process simpler on your end as well. Keep your registration page’s appearance consistent with the rest of your website’s branding, and you’ll bring in more applicants.
Streamlining your registration process doesn’t just involve making it easy for applicants to go through the motions. It also entails personalizing the experience for them. Whether this means sprucing up your digital waiver with videos that further engage applicants or sending out custom emails, you can offer your applicants an experience that will stand out.
For example, you can:
By personalizing your registration process and showing you care about your applicants’ experience, you’ll find more completed registrations. The ease and convenience with which individuals can register for your event, course, etc. makes a huge impact. Be sure to keep this in mind!
Just as your registration form and waivers should remain on your website, so should your payment collection process. Another part of establishing trust with your applicants means assuring them that their payment information is safe and secure, just like the rest of their information.
How can you do this? Look for registration software that offers the following features:
Integrating your payment system will streamline your entire registration process. Applicants will understand what they owe, when it’s due, and how to pay. You’ll also know what payments will be coming in and decrease your unpaid balances over time. Keep your payment process as simple as possible with these features.
Something that may be overlooked but can have a great impact on your registration numbers is the ability for applicants to register multiple people. This is known as group registration, and it an important feature that can increase registrations for your program due to its convenience, especially for employers or families.
Benefits of group registration include:
Let’s say there’s a family registering three children for a summer camp session. With Regpack’s camp registration software, they can save time by easily registering all three campers, paying on the platform, and even signing multiple waivers if needed.
Allowing for group registration streamlines your overall process, boosts registrations, and makes the user experience a positive one. This feature isn’t always offered on all software platforms, so be sure to choose one that will allow you to register groups of people at one time.
The last strategy you can incorporate into your registration process is mobile optimization. Mobile optimization means your content is viewable on any size screen or device, without the need to zoom in and out, rotate, etc. You’ve probably had a frustrating experience trying to view a website or form on your mobile device and abandoned the page as a result. Don’t let that happen to your applicants!
Mobile optimized registration forms are an excellent feature of your registration software because:
Mobile optimization is the key to ensuring people can access your form from anywhere and that they choose to stay on the form until it’s completed. Be sure to use a registration software provider that is mobile optimized and you’ll set your program up for success!
If you’re looking for a starting place in your software research, check out Double the Donation’s list of top Eventbrite competitors.
Making your registration process as easy as possible for both you and your applicants is the key to boosting your attendance and creating an excellent first impression. By ensuring the entire process takes place on your website, you’ll establish a sense of trust with your applicants. Personalizing the experience and offering easy ways for applicants to register will also lead to more completed forms.
Be sure to find a registration software solution that lets you do all of this, and you’ll be on your way to your next great program!
About the Author
Asaf Darash, Founder and CEO of Regpack, has extensive experience as an entrepreneur and investor. Asaf has built 3 successful companies to date, all with an exit plan or that have stayed in profitability and are still functional. Asaf specializes in product development for the web, team building and in bringing a company from concept to an actualized unit that is profitable.