7 Registration Mistakes Event Organizers Make

When it comes to event planning, there are loads of things you have to be patient with and pay attention to. Organizers realize that getting people registered and attending is key to a successful event. Still, registration mistakes occur more often than you might expect, even when everything has been thoroughly planned for an event.

Given that, registration mistakes are costly. They change how people experience your event from sign-up to check-in. In this guide, we break down the 7 biggest and most common registration mistakes and offer practical ways to address them.

1. Unclear Ticket Types

When someone lands on your event registration page and sees five ticket options that all seem vaguely similar, they hit a mental dead end. 

Early access
Full pass
Academic pass
Industry pass
Student pass

None of these ticket names provides any clarity as to what attendees will have access to.

If a student cannot tell whether a student ticket includes workshops or poster sessions, they hesitate. If a sponsor cannot confirm whether their ticket includes speaking access or just floor entry, they reconsider.

When an attendee shows up with a ticket that sounds premium but does not grant access to half the rooms they expected, it puts your reputation at risk, too. This is especially true for international attendees or early-career researchers who stretched their budgets to attend your conference.

How to fix it

• Write ticket names that describe access
  “Full Conference Pass with Workshops” beats “Professional Plus” every time.
• List the most important access details right under each ticket
  Sessions included. Workshops included. Networking access. Social events. Virtual access.
• Use plain language, not technical terms that only your team understands
  Attendees should not have to know about your event structure to understand your ticket options.
• Show who each ticket is meant for
  Label each ticket with the intended audience, like “Student,” “Researcher,” “Speaker,” or “Sponsor.”
• Make upgrade options obvious
  If someone has a basic ticket and wants to upgrade, they should clearly see what they gain by upgrading.

2. Asking for Too Much Information

Someone who just wants to secure a seat should not have to deal with questions about job history, research focus, dietary preferences, and social profiles all at once. It creates a sense of confusion and skepticism as to why the form is asking for non-event-related data.

Then again, many of your potential attendees may either be students or early-career researchers, both of whom may fill out dozens of forms regularly as part of their academic work. A heavy registration page would likely feel like yet another task they don’t have the time or energy for.

How to fix it

• Separate the essentials from the optional questions
  Name, email, affiliation, and ticket choice usually belong in the first category. Everything else is subject to inclusion by necessity.
• Secondary questions are best placed later in the registration page
  Questions related to dietary needs, accessibility requirements, and session preferences should be asked after payment or as part of a follow-up message.
• Explain why you need certain information that is not relevant to the event
  Users will have increased trust and confidence in providing their personal contact information if you provide them with a reason.
• Make the form feel short even when it is not
  Breaking the registration into steps is how you keep the user moving forward.

3. No Real-Time Ticket Limits

When there are no real-time updates, the ticketing system continues to sell tickets based on previous information, even when a session or ticket type is already closed. This is how workshops are oversold, and breakout rooms end up with empty chairs that could have been filled. 

As a result, there are two different types of issues created: 

Overselling puts pressure on rooms, staff, and schedules.
Underselling wastes space that could have been offered to someone who wanted to attend. 

For popular sessions, people arrive expecting a seat and end up standing or turned away. Less prominent sessions continue to hold empty seats simply because the system never updates in time.

How to fix it

• Ticket counts should change the moment a ticket is sold
  Update your live inventory of available spaces in real time with each completed registration.
• When a workshop fills up, access to it should close automatically
  Connect the number of attendees allowed per session to the number of tickets available.
• Hold tickets for a short time and release them if payment isn’t done
  Take into account users who have initiated but not completed it.
• Provide clear ticket availability on your webpage
  People make better purchasing decisions when they see accurate available space.
• Sync cancellations and refunds back into the pool
  Spots made available from cancelled bookings or refunds should not require manual entry before returning to circulation.

4. Not Planning for On-Site Changes

No matter how well you set up your registration process, unexpected issues still come up on site. Attendees sometimes walk in, register at the door, or lose their name tag within a few minutes of receiving it. A speaker might want to upgrade their pass for a private session. This can happen at nearly every conference.

If your system only works for people who registered beforehand, it falls apart when someone needs support. 

Sometimes, an attendee will hear about your event at the last minute and come prepared to purchase tickets. However, if you don’t have an easy way to sell tickets on site, they either leave or get waved in without proper tracking. 

How to fix it

• Ensure on-site ticket sales are easy
  Staff should be able to sell a ticket, take payment, and issue access within seconds.
• Simplify badge reprint options
  The search box for printing a new badge should bring up an attendee’s profile and allow for a quick reprinting.
• Allow attendees to upgrade without having to start from scratch
  Attendees shouldn’t have to register again just to attend additional workshops or events.
• Test each of these processes prior to opening the doors
  Run fake walk-ins and lost-badge scenarios so no one is caught off guard when they happen in real life.

5. Poor Email Communication

Attendees typically do not remember which ticket tier they picked or whether workshops were included. If the confirmation email just says “thanks for registering,” without listing the benefits included, they begin to question the details of the registration.

The issue worsens when there are multiple emails. Emails may be sent from: ticketing system, event platform, marketing automation tool, and so on. If these communications do not align, the person receives three different versions of reality. When this happens, attendees arrive at an event believing they have purchased a full pass, only to find that the system shows they have not.

How to fix it

• Repeat the event dates and location in every main email
  People will either forward these messages to their calendar or to their manager, keeping everything on track.
• Provide a hyperlink to their personal registration page
  A page for them to check at any time what they purchased and what they have access to.
• Send reminder emails with the access details
  By that point, people should know exactly how to find their ticket information without having to search for it.

6. Ignoring Payment Options and Security

Once an attendee reaches the payment screen in your registration process, he or she will be focused on security issues, such as entering their credit card numbers and personal information. Thus, at this stage, it’s important that your website feels trustworthy. 

A student may only be able to make a purchase with their debit card or another local payment option. A researcher may want to purchase using a corporate card or an invoice. Therefore, limiting payment options will only push away buyers who are ready to buy.

Further, asking for sensitive data without clearly explaining why it is required or how it will be protected can create uncertainty.

How to fix it

• Provide multiple ways for people to make a payment
  Credit cards. Debit cards. Invoices. Local payment methods. 
• Give users an easy way to repeat a payment failure
  A retry link/button allows users to attempt making a payment again with minimal disruption to their workflow.
• Use well-known and established payment gateways
  Payment gateway logos are instantly recognizable and build instant trust, as there’s no need to explain what they do.
• Explain why you’re collecting sensitive user information
  A few words explaining how your site handles user data can help alleviate some of the anxiety associated with providing personal and financial information.
• Send payment confirmation right away
  People relax when they see proof that the transaction has gone through and that their spot is secured.

7. No Data Checks Before Going Live

Most data checks are skipped because testing is often done with insider knowledge. The person testing already knows which ticket to pick. They know which fields are optional and understand the event structure. 

The registrant does not have this same level of insight, nor do they have the ability to troubleshoot. As a result, even one confusing step in the process will slow the registrant down. 

Plus, incorrect limit rules can cause a workshop to be oversold or block a ticket early. 

How to fix it

• Have one team member test without guidance and observe where they hesitate, because those are the areas where registrants will also hesitate
• Run one complete test registration for every ticket type
• Test the same flow on mobile and desktop screens
• Confirm the ticket closes at the right moment and the message makes sense
• Check if all information listed in the email (name, dates, access) matches registration
• Test add-ons/upgrades from start to finish
• Export reports before launch and review them as if it were event week

Modernize Event Management with Smarter Registration

By the time an attendee arrives at the front desk, they will likely have already made up their mind about your event. The right access level and a quick check-in tell them the conference is running the way it should. If you’re able to maintain that level of control, your teams can stay focused on the task at hand.

The same kind of control is what Dryfta has been built for. With Dryfta, all your ticket, form, payment, and check-in functions are integrated into one system, so when someone enters information, it appears automatically as needed without extra work or any tedious copy-paste workarounds. If you want to see how event registrations work in real-time, book a free demo with Dryfta today.