Get More Registrants Clicking Submit With the Right First Impression

I have many memories of my studying days. Many are actually good memories but there is one thing in particular that has stayed with me because even then I knew my strategy should change. I loved my highlighters. Maybe they gave me a feeling of purpose. Highlighter in hand, by the time I got to the end of a page there would be huge blocks of yellow. Needless to say, these yellow pages did nothing to help my studying. Instead of snippets of information jumping out from the page, everything was lost amongst the yellow.

Less is more applies to most things in life and when it comes to your online registration form, we’ve found that it’s particularly tempting to load up on details in the header. The single purpose of the registration form is to get registrants to the bottom where they click “submit”. Highlight too much information right at the top of the form that fails to engage, overwhelms or distracts and registrants lose sight of the end goal.

A header that creates the right first impression and draws people in follows a few basic guidelines.

Brand your header but don’t overdo it
Familiarity makes us feel comfortable and confident. When registrants arrive at your online form and it looks like your website or event material, they’ll not only know that they have arrived at the right place but will feel comfortable submitting their information. And seeing as you’ve already invested resources into your graphics, why not include them in the form header where you know they’ll help capture interest?

But again, more isn’t always better. Images that are too big take up valuable screen space without adding value to the branding.

Include some detail but don't overwhelm
There will be details and probably a lot of them. But the header of the form isn’t the place to learn everything about an event. Use your website, invite or other event material to provide as much information as needed before arriving at the registration form. Once on the form, narrow it down to details that are important to know about when registering such as date, time and location. With less clutter, registering for your event will look simple and more people will click “submit”.

Be careful too about providing opportunities to leave the form by including links to hotels, directions and speaker websites in the header. If it is important to include a link, make sure it opens in a new window so that the registration form isn’t abandoned.

Despite all of this, there’s still a great way to get more information to registrants without overloading the form header. Every registrant automatically receives confirmation of their registration by email. Customized to include exactly what you want, the confirmation email is a great place to include information such as schedules and materials, special activities, hotels and transportation. The confirmation email also has the added benefit of being accessible even after the registration form has closed.

Keep the registration details in sight
The registrant should be able to look at the form and know what they are going to be doing next. If you have to scroll down to see the start of the registration details, then the form header is distracting from the end goal.
 

Please feel free to contact us if you have any questions or comments about this article.


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