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[F757]Free Online Registration Form

by Bill Flagg, Bil

With the introduction of integrated web analytics reports into online event registration software event professionals now have access to statistics that provide great insight into the way their registration forms (or don't work!). An important statistic for event professionals to monitor is the average 'time to complete' of their form. This telling number provides information on how easy it is for your prospective registrants to interact with your registration process.

So how do you find out what your time to complete is? A few of the leading edge online registration software packages now provide integrated analytics reports with their standard registration package. However, if you don't currently use a system like this, or are locked into a restrictive contract with another company, then you may be able to implement a free tracking program like Google Analyitcs to help you determine your time to complete. But the easiest way to get this information is to use an event registration company that has already done the work for you to give you the right stats.

What you really want to know is how long the entire process takes (introduction to confirmation) as well as how much each page of the form contributes to the total time. This is one of the great advantages that web forms have over paper forms: you can virtually be sitting over your registrants' shoulders watching their progress through the form.

Once you know the total average time to completion you can use it immediately to help increase completed registrations. By adding a line to your introductory page stating that "Registration Takes Only X Minutes" you can help your registrants better plan their time. This in turn will make them more likely to commit a specific block of time to your registration process.

The next step you should take is to break the registration process down into the specific components. This will help you to identify where there are specific sticking points within your registration process that can be improved. Are registrants spending 15 minutes on your lodging page? Maybe you can pare down the options a bit. Are they looking at the pricing options for an inordinate amount of time? Maybe you should look into providing more or less options so that they don't need to work around your system.

Finding out how long it takes your registrants to complete your form gives you great insight into where you can make improvements, and can also make your registrants more comfortable with the registration process. Putting it all together makes great improvements in your form.

However, when contacting meeting professionals who already employ an HTML-based form to help with registration, they are often under-informed or misinformed on what exactly an online registration system could offer them in addition to the functionality of their established HTML registration form.

In brief, here are just a few of the advantages to be gained by switching to an online registration system:

Superb Security
Because most online registration companies host your registration pages on their servers you can take advantage of the economies of scale and get expensive security measures for a fraction of their price. Hackersafe inspections, 128-bit encryption technology, TRUSTe verified privacy policies and PCI compliancy are all great programs you can take advantage of.

Customizable Reporting
On top of securing your data, registration systems often offer custom reporting capabilities so that you can slice your data any way you need. With some systems, you can also email reports to sponsors, colleagues, vendors or anyone else you need to keep in the loop, without giving them direct access to your accounts or data.

Flexible Forms
The best registration systems on the market today allow you to build your forms using a WYSIWYG (What You See Is What You Get) editor, meaning that you can build an entire web page without knowing any HTML code. This gives you the ability to add your logo, customize text styles, change colors and make changes on the fly, with no need to involve an IT department!

Automatic Emails
Event-reminder and registration confirmation emails are easy to build and send with online systems that do most of the work for you. In addition, top systems will have a mechanism which sends emails to registrants who abandon the process before completing their registration, affording you the opportunity to assist people who are confused, or help to convince them that registering for your event will be beneficial.

The biggest difference between online registration and HTML registration forms is that they are self-service. There a few registration companies that will let you try out their system fully before you commit to buying anything.

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Both Bill Flagg & Ryan Bell are contributors for EditorialToday. The above articles have been edited for relevancy and timeliness. All write-ups, reviews, tips and guides published by EditorialToday.com and its partners or affiliates are for informational purposes only. They should not be used for any legal or any other type of advice. We do not endorse any author, contributor, writer or article posted by our team.

Bill Flagg has sinced written about articles on various topics from Affiliate Programs, The Internet and Management Software Solutions. RegOnline, a leading developer of software, recently added website analytics reports to their already fully-featured software package.. Bill Flagg's top article generates over 2900 views. to your Favourites.

Ryan Bell has sinced written about articles on various topics from Computers and The Internet, Fast Cash Loan and Computers and The Internet. RegOnline.com is easy to use which helps you build great looking, great performing registration processes for your event.. Ryan Bell's top article generates over 5400 views. to your Favourites.