The Swamp of Event Registration
Wading through the event registration swamp is nasty business. Quicksand and alligators are just waiting to bite or pull the unsuspecting association person under the water at a moment’s notice, taking a large chunk of potential revenue.
Instead of mosquitos, conference planners find they keep getting bitten by per-registrant, credit card, and service fees. You look at some of this stuff and wonder if the registration companies are copying the airlines’ business model.
Cost is why I spoke with a new client a few weeks ago. The board of this small association was at its wit’s end. They could no longer afford to pay the $5.00 per registration that their now ex-registration company wanted them to pay. They thought the cost was too high; honestly, I had to agree. Here is how the math was working out:
- 450 registrants x $5 per registrant x Credit Card Fees x Weird Makes no Sense Fee = Insane Amount of Money.
That weird fee was charging my client a fee to use their own credit card processor (what???). In my mind, that is a penalty… Not a fee. All this money is for simply gathering (accessible) data and using the client’s Stripe account.
A “New” Event Registration Alternative
That is when I started doing some digging and looking for options. This client can’t use WordPress so an easy, inexpensive plugin was out of the question. I looked, and I looked, and I looked. I am not sure how I found them without falling into the dark waters of Swamp Reg but I came across what I am calling a newcomer (even though they have been around a while)… RegFox.
RegFox has a simple cost structure. $.99 a registration + the standard 2.99% credit card processing fee (or you can use Stripe, we always use Stripe). That’s it. Nothing more. No weird fees, no hidden pits of liquid sand, no chomping alligators encouraging you to “pass along” fees to your attendees.
For this little fee, you get all of this (from their site)
RealView™ Technology
Build amazing forms without tech knowledge. With the drag-and-drop interface, you can build your form and see exactly what it will look like with our live preview. Effortlessly capture all the data you want.
Design Customization
Your brand and your design are without limit. Start from scratch or use one of our professionally designed themes. You get total control over branding, colors, fonts, images, and even the entire CSS.
Conditional Logic
Re-imagine possibilities with conditional logic. Using triggers and actions, capture additional data for certain attendees and even override visibility, pricing, requirements, and more.
Multi-Reg
Increase conversion rates and reduce abandonment with Multi-Reg, our proprietary technology architecture that seamlessly guides each participant through your registration form.
Deposits
Capture a deposit payment up-front and then the balance payment before the event. Automate the entire process and never chase balance payments again.
Social Media Integration
Powerful tools and integrations to make every registrant and every visitor is an opportunity to extend your audience like never before.
Instant Exports
All your data is in your hands within seconds. View gorgeous status reports, graphs, and charts instantly. Download it all to Excel in 3 clicks.
E-Commerce
Upsell products and merchandise natively within the registration experience. Track and control product inventory and more.
Not bad. And we know that this product is NOT for everyone. RegFox is just north of “simple event registration.” Kinda like moving from a Honda Civic to a Honda Accord. You know, a huge step up, but you are not getting an Infiniti or Acura. I wish they had a YouTube video to show off the product, but I can’t find anything recent. We are into our second wave of conference registrations, and so far, everything has been great… No issues, no hiccups, just registrations. Simple.
Check out RegFox
