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Online Registration - the 3rd Generation
©2001 Corbin Ball Associates
The web is transforming the way meeting professionals do business, especially in the area of meeting registration. The current batch of registration represents a quantum leap in capability from the days of a basic online registration form. These products will revolutionize meetings marketing and promotion and transform customer service. The ability to streamline the registration process is almost just an added side benefit.
This article will cover the evolution of these new features and the features to look for when choosing these products:
Registration form appearance and customizability
The first online registration forms were custom designed by web programmers. The forms had a custom look and feel but were costly to produce and took production time to complete. The second generation allowed the meeting planner to design the form using a basic fill-in-the-blank registration template but with very limited amount of user customization. The current generation combines the best features of both - they have the ability for the meeting planner to build a new registration form in minutes and make it closely match their existing web site. Usually the options include a wide variety of colors, thematic designs, and the ability to use your company, association or meeting logos through a simple set of templates.
Registration Robustness
Past generations of registration products could not be used for complex meetings - they usually provided a basic form for a single event. The latest generation can handle some of the most complex meetings around. The following features are often included:
- The ability to build registration forms for complex multi-session, multi-day events.
- Multiple registration options (i.e. members, non-members, speakers, exhibitor, etc.)
can be handled, each with their own set of pricing and registration rules.
- Breakout sub-sessions can have individual pricing.
- Housing listing multiple hotels with room block management.
- Session capacities and wait lists can be monitored and automatically capped.
- Cut-off dates and early-bird registration pricing are priced automatically
- Multiple customizable fields can be included.
- The registrant often can edit or even cancel their registration online up to a specified cut-off date.
- Cancellation charges can be automatically processed.
- Some of the products offer the ability for group sign-up - with one individual having the ability to sign up multiple people from a department or group without having to laboriously fill out a separate form for each person.
Data Handling
In past generations, the registration data collected online often had to be manually integrated into an offline database for tracking, reports, badges, etc. These new products dramatically streamline this process offer the following features:
- A single online database for all registration, tracking, communication and reporting tasks.
- Data completeness and accuracy is improved through the use of user-selected required fields and drop-down registration
fields
- Prospective attendees and members already in your database can have their registration forms pre-populated (already filled in) simplifying the registration task, and improving accuracy and data consistency.
Communication Automation and E-marketing
Communication automation and marketing is perhaps the most significant new development. The new product lines commonly include the following features.
- All communication is personalized. Email is addressed to the potential registrant by first or last name, company and past history of meeting attendance can be recounted. The email has the appearance of being individually written to each person, although it is done automatically.
- Automatic email confirmation of the registration order is immediately sent summarizing the transaction, and giving the registrant the option to edit their request.
- Automated response tracking: Many of the products will track if the email message receipt and opening. If a potential registrant is not even opening their email, they need another way to contact them. Also, the number of response from an individual email marketing campaign can automatically tallied as well.
- Multiple media: Not everyone in your targeted audience may respond to email. Some of the registration products provide fax blast and post cards as alternate communication methods, all with the same look and feel of the web-based
products.
- Reminders and changes: Has the program changed from the original announcement? These products allow you to easily communicate the changes.
- Automated announcements can be made just before the early-bird registration cut of date, personalized to those that have not responded. These can be set up at the beginning of the registration campaign and can be targeted to audience segments.
- Automated surveying and registration demographics: Questions can be asked at the time or registration to capture demographic data. Questions can also be asked of those who decline. These surveys are automatically tallied and tracked.
- Audience profiling and segmentation: Many of these products have the ability to segment your audience and market them differently by sending different messages and announcements.
Accounting
E-commerce capabilities have also improved over the years. These new products typically accept all credit cards and automatically verify and process the payment in real time. Some of them also allow multiple payment options (purchase orders, checks, split payments, multiple currencies, etc.).
Reporting
These products offer a variety of standardized reports and can be queried at any time and from any location by anyone with appropriate password access. These reports typically include registration counts, attendee lists, revenue received, session counts, name badges, arrival/departure manifests, room reservation details, registrant history, cross-event reports, and more. . There is often the capability to build custom reports on the fly with the ability to sort on nearly any field collected.
Security
With recent hack attacks of Microsoft and high level meeting events, data security should be on every meeting planner's mind. The online registration products often offer advantages from an internally hosted online registration system. These products are commonly hosted on robust server farms with a full-time staff devoted to maintaining system integrity, security, data mirroring in remote locations, with regular system backups. They have robust firewalls and virus protection capabilities as well.
These third-generation registration products provide new ways to market to and communicate with potential meeting registrants. They provide convenience to the meeting attendees and streamline and automate the data collection tasks for the planner. They are some of the best examples around of how the Web can transform the business process for meeting professionals.
Here is a sampling (listed alphabetically) of this new generation of registration
products:
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