| Have you ever registered or attempted to register | | | | participants through the form and give warnings if |
| to an event and spent half an hour trying to figure | | | | something is wrong |
| out what you needed to do? | | | | 4. Have appropriate payment optionsIf you have a |
| Or have you used an online registration form that | | | | fee associated with your event, make sure the |
| lost your data or was so complicated that it seemed | | | | payment methods you offer are appropriate for the |
| like more work than faxing the form? | | | | people registering. For example, large companies may |
| When used properly, online registration is an | | | | require an invoice before a cheque can be issued and |
| extremely powerful tool that makes registration easy | | | | some groups of people may not have credit cards |
| for event participants. If not used correctly, event | | | | 5. Display your privacy policy |
| participants can be left extremely frustrated and in | | | | Many people are concerned about who will have |
| some cases reluctant to attend the event | | | | access to their information and how it will be used. |
| We have put together a list of nine design ideas to | | | | Make sure you have a privacy statement available on |
| help you create user friendly registration forms and | | | | the online form to reassure participants that you are |
| give your event participants a positive registration | | | | protecting their information |
| experience | | | | 6. Anticipate questions participants may haveDo not |
| 1. Make the registration form easy to accessMake | | | | overload the form with information, but have |
| the link to the online registration form very obvious. | | | | information on the form that you think may be useful |
| Event participants may not be familiar with your | | | | when registering such as prices, dates or special |
| website and will become frustrated if they have to | | | | instructions. It is inconvenient for participants to have |
| look for the registration form. If you are sending a | | | | to click back to search for the information on your |
| URL (web address) in printed material make the | | | | website and in some cases clicking "back" will delete |
| address as simple as possible so participants aren't | | | | the data in a partially complete form |
| entering a long string of characters. Also, only put a | | | | 7. Only request necessary dataThe less information |
| registration form in a password protected part of | | | | people have to provide the more comfortable they |
| your website when absolutely necessary. People | | | | will be with the process and the quicker they will be |
| often forget their passwords, which will cause more | | | | able to complete the form. If you are asking for |
| frustration and possibly generate calls and emails to | | | | personal information such as birth date it helps to add |
| the event planner | | | | a note saying why you are requesting the |
| 2. Make your form familiar and secure | | | | information |
| Event participants need to be reassured that their | | | | 8. Do not over use mandatory fields |
| data is secure. A good way to do this is to brand the | | | | Mandatory fields help to get fully complete |
| online form to match your website. This way, the | | | | registration forms, but too many mandatory fields |
| transition to the online from is seamless and event | | | | can frustrate an event participant. This is especially |
| participants will remain comfortable with the process. | | | | true if there is information that is not readily known |
| Also, make sure that appropriate security icons such | | | | such as the fax number for someone else in their |
| as the lock symbol in your browser appear when | | | | group |
| collecting credit card numbers | | | | 9. Avoid making participants sign up with another |
| 3. Make the registration form clear and easy to useA | | | | company before they can register to your |
| well laid out and visually appealing registration form | | | | eventSome online registration companies require |
| encourages event participants to register. On the | | | | people registering to events to first sign up as a |
| form, keep text to a minimum and make it clear | | | | member with them. |
| what you want participants to do. Use logic to guide | | | | |