Your event is organized, your venue is chosen, and the dates are set. All that’s left to do now is to get people to register. Sometimes, that’s easier said than done. At the same time, you likely need to see a high turnout in order for your event to be considered a success. This is where creating and implementing a strategy to boost event registration sales is so important. Not sure where to begin? There are a few keys to success worth following to maximize your turnout!
Offer Early-Bird Pricing
A great way to encourage people not just to register, but to register early, is to offer an early bird discount. Once you’ve decided on the date registration will go live, choose a window of time that will entitle attendees to a discount. For example, it’s pretty commonplace for an early bird registration discount to be available for one or two weeks after registration goes live. The total discount you wish to provide is up to you, but this is a great way to drive registration and avoid lots of last-minute sales. Be sure to market any early bird promotion you offer, explaining that registration slots are limited to give people a greater sense of urgency.
Create Promotional Codes
You might also consider creating a few promotional codes that you can implement throughout the registration window, in the weeks and/or months leading up to the event. If there’s a certain holiday that will fall during registration (such as Thanksgiving), you might consider a “Black Friday” discount on registration for those who use a special promotional code. This is a great way to encourage people to register—especially those who may have been on the fence due to cost. Again, just be sure to market these special promotions and make it clear that the discount is only available for a limited time.
Encouraging Sharing
An effective yet simple way to spread the word about your event and encourage others to register is to offer those who have already registered the option to “share” that they’ll be attending the event on their social media profiles, such as Twitter or Facebook. This is easy to implement, as it only involves the implementation of a “share” button on the page after registration has been completed.
Consider Half-Day Options
If you have an event that will run for a full day or more, take into consideration that some people may not be able to realistically attend the entire event. This is especially common for events that span the course of an entire weekend or week, when people may have other obligations. Rather than excluding these people entirely from your event attendance, you may instead want to consider offering half-day registration or other “limited” registration options. These can allow attendees to visit for a half day, or to gain access to specific presentations they wish to see. Of course, this can also be offered at a discounted price. This is a great way to include more people in your event, even if it means they won’t be staying for the entire thing.
Turn to Your Sponsors
If your event has sponsors, the success of the event is likely just as important to them as it is to you! With that in mind, don’t hesitate to turn to your sponsors for assistance in marketing your event and encouraging people to register online ahead of time. Even a quick Tweet or a link on their website can go a long way in getting more people to sign up, especially if your sponsors have a large and captivated audience. Your sponsors might even consider running some special promotions or contests for discounted or even free registration if it’s in their budget to do so.
Reach Out to Influencers
You can also encourage more people to buy event tickets if you can get key industry influencers to post about your event on social media, on their blogs, or anywhere else in the public eye. This can be especially effective if you have industry influencers who will be speaking or presenting at your event. Consider reaching out to a few and see if they would be willing to market your event in any way.
Create Killer Content
Having great content promoting your event is so important, especially in terms of search engine optimization. Specifically, you’ll want to make sure you have plenty of quality, unique blog posts, articles, social media posts, and more providing details on your event. This content should always include a strong call to action at the end with a link to your online registration page. If you haven’t done so already, now is also a good time to craft a press release for your event and get it out there. The better your content, the more likely it is to be seen and shared, which will naturally spread the word about your event.
Keep It Quick and Simple
One of the most important aspects of getting people to register for an event is to make sure the actual process of registering is as quick and easy as possible. Your online registration page should be branded in a similar way to your website, which will help to promote brand awareness and consistency; if visitors can tell they’re being redirected to an unfamiliar, third-party page to complete their registration, keep in mind that this could scare them away—so the more seamless things are, the better. And ask for as little information as possible when having people register online. This should include a name and some very basic contact information; remember, you can always give them the option to provide more information later on. For now, what’s important is getting those registrations completed.
A little bit of planning and strategy goes a long way when it comes to selling event tickets. For more guidance on maximizing registration for your event or for assistance in creating a seamless experience for users, reach out to our team at Expo Pass today.
