The world is now vertical. The internet has the entire world scrolling through 6-inch-long screens. Google Analytics’ Benchmarking feature reported that more than 60 percent of all web traffic worldwide comes from mobile phones. And the proportion of individuals browsing on laptops is less than ever. In fact, statistics show that this could soon plummet even further.
Therefore, if you do not have an event website that is mobile-optimized for seamless registration, you perhaps do not have a functional website at all. All your marketing is getting unnoticed by your viewers. That being said, building a minimal mobile-optimized website barely suffices today. Your viewers want nuance, convenience and flexibility. They want to be able to browse from anywhere in the world and at any point of time in the day or night. Make sure your websites do not shut down at night or deteriorate because of large traffic.
You probably already have a truckload of information on what to do when it comes to building mobile-optimized websites. So in this blog, we’re telling you what not to do, what to watch out for and what to fix at the earliest. Here are some commonly overlooked mistakes by event planners:
Form Length and Field Reduction
On a desktop screen, a registration form with dozens of fields looks and feels manageable. But on a smartphone, which has a significantly smaller screen, numerous fields sit like a puzzle the browser has to piece together. This kind of website for any event platform is sure to induce a migraine for its users.
When working to cater to vertical screens, event planners should be as minimal as they can. Ask yourself every single time you add a new field:
Is this information truly necessary at this point of the event?
Or can it be collected afterward?
If the answer is yes, cut down the field.
Mobile Keyboard Optimization
Every input field you put on a registration form should be able to immediately trigger the correct keyboard type on mobile devices.
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- An email field should automatically bring up a keyboard that includes the @ symbol.
- A phone number field should present a numeric keypad.
- A name field should trigger autocapitalize for the first letter.
This level of detail is handled through HTML input type attributes like email, tel, number, and so on. This is also often overlooked when registration pages for event platforms are built quickly or even adapted from templates. Event platforms that give organizers control over form markup or that natively handle these attributes provide a meaningfully better experience for mobile registrants.
Page Loading Speed on Mobile Networks
A registration page that loads in two seconds on a broadband connection may take 8 seconds or more on an average 4G or 5G mobile network. Sometimes a little longer in areas with poor signal coverage. But page load times that go beyond the average result in dramatically higher bounce rates. This means that your viewers will simply head right out of the tab.
Event managers often have no control over the underlying infrastructure of their event platform, which is why choosing the right event management platform matters so much.
Mobile Payment and Ticketing Flows
For paid events, the payment step is where mobile abandonment rates spike most dramatically. Any payment process that adds dozens of unnecessary steps is losing participants. It is necessary for mobile-optimized event platforms to support modern payment gateways like Apple Pay. A ticket confirmation should also be immediately accessible on mobile and easy to save to a phone’s wallet app.
Responsive Design That Actually Works
There is an important distinction between a registration page that is technically responsive and one that is genuinely mobile-friendly. Many pages use responsive design frameworks but still present mobile users with cramped layouts, overlapping text, horizontal scrolling, or form elements that don’t scale correctly. Event managers should personally test their registration pages on multiple actual devices.
Confirmation and Follow-Up Communication
The confirmation email, the calendar invite, and any pre-event communications are all part of the mobile registration process. If these messages don’t render properly on a mobile email client, then the process simply fails.
Event platforms should generate mobile-responsive confirmation emails with large, tappable buttons for actions like adding the event to a calendar, viewing event details, or managing registration. QR code tickets should be sized and formatted for easy scanning directly from a phone screen without requiring the attendee to print anything.
Mobile Analytics and Abandonment Tracking
Finally, event managers should be actively tracking where mobile users drop off during the registration process. Without this data, optimizations are guesswork. Most event platform solutions offer some level of conversion analytics, but few organizers make full use of this capability. Knowing that a good amount of mobile users abandon registration at the payment step or that a significant number exit when they reach the session selection screen, gives event managers some truly specific and actionable information.
It is perhaps a great let-down if event planners do not act upon this. Make the most use of your datasets. And use it to support iterative improvements for your event platforms.
Choosing the Right Event Platform Makes All the Difference
For universities and academic institutions, the bar is even higher when it comes to mobile-optimized websites for attendee registration. A university event management system needs to integrate with existing campus infrastructure and meet the level of present institutional accessibility standards. It also has to cater to the needs of a diverse attendee population that includes students, faculty, researchers, and external guests. And many of them, as we know via statistics now will register using a phone.
The mobile device is the greatest, most powerful marketing device for the contemporary event professional. To learn more about building websites that are accessible and functional on mobile devices, visit our website today. Schedule a free demo.