6 Features to Look For in Event Registration Software

Robust event registration software is an indispensable tool when planning and managing a large portfolio of meetings and events. It acts as a home base to focus your efforts—regardless of whether your events are virtual, in-person, or hybrid. The right software, therefore, should drive productivity, cut costs, and inject consistency into your event management workflow. 

Throughout busy event seasons, you need to be reassured that your event registration software can support your events’ requirements, from large to small, public to private, free to paid, and beyond. A solid foundational tool helps you build exceptional events at scale from the ground up and deliver a consistent attendee experience throughout.

But finding the right foundational tool can be challenging. To help, we’ve put together a list of 6 must-have features to look for in event registration software.

1.   Easy-to-use Event Websites and Landing Pages

Putting your brand at the forefront of attendees’ minds is crucial for a successful event. To encourage brand visibility through every step of your attendees’ journey, you need event registration software that allows you to develop and publish fully white-labeled event websites.

A white-labeled service gives you complete control over the look and feel of your event website rather than having a vendor’s logo plastered everywhere. You can integrate your brand’s fonts and colors throughout so that your attendees receive a seamless branded experience. If you are responsible for multiple events, event registration software that allows you to clone your landing pages is key for an efficient, repeatable workflow.

Easy-to-use event website builders also let you build, manage, and update the website workflow yourself, avoiding reliance on external agencies, developers, and designers. When every minute counts, avoiding tedious back-and-forth interactions with third parties saves a ton of time and increases the efficiency of your team.

2.   Automated Event Email Marketing & Communications

Just like you, your attendees have busy lives and sometimes need a reminder (or two) that your event is on the horizon. Your event registration software should help you promote your event through email marketing and be able to create fully branded emails to make your communications cohesive. As with websites, having your brand front and center in your email communications helps build trust and brand awareness.

Another must-have feature is email marketing automation. Fully branded templates help you to streamline your marketing campaigns. Whether you need to send confirmation emails, important news, or a post-event recap, being able to select a template to build upon quickly saves precious time and reduces pressure on you and your team.

The best event registration software goes a step further still, allowing you to segment your automation so your emails go only to those to whom the information is relevant. If your event is multiple days or sessions, this helps eliminate the potential for confusion amongst your attendees.

3.   Flexible Event Registration Forms

Great event registration software will contain a flexible online registration form built into the platform. Since forms are a key pillar in registering and managing attendees, this only makes sense!

If you typically plan many events over the course of a season, look for the support of global fields. With global fields, an attendee can register for all your events without having to fill in their information repeatedly. Event registration software that supports this feature helps reduce friction and is a detail that will be much appreciated by your attendees!

Conditional logic is another detail your attendees will appreciate in online forms. It’s a feature of smart forms where the form reacts to if-then conditions. Using conditional logic, your attendees will only have to answer questions relevant to answers they’ve already given. While this feature is invisible by design, your attendees will see and appreciate that your forms are always concise and easy to use.

End-to-end integration is one of the main benefits of using event registration software for your forms. Look for solutions that can integrate with your existing CRM so that you can seamlessly flow attendee data from your registration solution right into your CRM of choice. 

4.   Advanced Ticketing and Pass Management

One of the most important pieces to any event is the ticket itself. Because without a ticket, your attendees wouldn’t be attendees at all!

Modern events offer a variety of ticketing options to entice potential attendees. These can include presales, promo codes, group passes, and a variety of pricing categories to cater to different attendee needs and budgets. The event registration software you choose should be flexible enough to manage these scenarios and more. This flexibility should extend to your registration forms, too—if each event or session has unique ticket and pass options, your registration forms should not be one-size-fits-all.

Finally, while no one ever wants to undersell any event, the opposite is just as much of an issue for promoters and event planners. Be sure to look for event registration software that can manage event and session capacities with ease. Waitlists can help give everyone the opportunity to register for their favorite session in case of a sell-out scenario. 

5.   Scalable Event Registration

When you have to shift from planning intimate webinars or training sessions to massive recruiting events or conferences at a moment’s notice, flexible event registration will help make your role easier. The best event registration software doesn’t just aid the attendee journey—it helps make your journey in event management seamless, too!

If you’re planning corporate or training events, the option to send private invitations, be it to a specific group of people or a department within an organization, is a terrific option to have in addition to public sales. If business partnerships are a priority, the ability to facilitate group registrations is a must-have feature in your event registration software. The important thing is to take the time to understand the requirements for your events so that you can make a decision that works for you.

Finally, if you’re migrating from another platform, search for software that enables you to import attendee information to your event, saving you from rebuilding your database from scratch.

6.   Security & Compliance

In today’s digital world, data privacy is an increasing concern for event attendees. From GDPR compliance to data encryption, two-factor authentication (2FA), and more, the event registration software you choose should be able to meet and exceed key security requirements. 

Secure payments—including contactless providers like Stripe, Microsoft, Apple, and Google Pay—allow your attendees to pay for your event directly without concern. If attendees can no longer attend your event, the ability to manage refunds securely and efficiently helps build loyalty for future events.

Accessibility requirements are another important consideration. International standards for web content accessibility (including WCAG 2.1) ensure that digital content can be accessed by people with disabilities.

Attendease takes security seriously, and it is an integral part of what we do. Our software complies with the latest in security and compliance requirements to serve the enterprise market.

Start Building Outstanding Attendee Experiences

Still on the hunt for the best event registration software for your organization? With an easy-to-use website builder, robust email marketing, flexible event registration, easy-to-use secure payment gateways, and more, Attendease is the perfect foundational event software for building outstanding attendee experiences. Book a demo today!