A Quick Guide To Event Registration Form Templates

You need to capture enough registrant data so you can promote and run your event.

But if you make the form too complex and lengthy, people may lose focus and abandon their entry. 

On average, 68% of online forms are abandoned by people after they’ve started completing them, which is terrible news for event planners.

Let’s look closer at the ideal length for your event registration form template.

A phone number can be useful data to have. 

You may want to call around before your event to sell ticket upgrades. But, the more personal information you request, the more likely registrants are to abandon your form.  

What’s more, if you set some personal data fields as mandatory for completion, it will also increase form abandonment. 

To complicate matters, the science on the ideal length for online forms is not clear cut. 

Conventional wisdom about form length is that short ones are best. The theory continues that longer forms require more effort to complete, so people are less likely to bother. 

But is this the case?

Marketing Experiments reported on a study in 2011, which is frequently cited to support claims that online forms are best when they’re shorter. 

A company A/B split tested the number of fields on a form to find out which version yielded the best response (pictured below).

They experimented with five, seven, and nine fields, all to register for the same online offer. 

They discovered that the form with only five fields had the best completion rate.

The more fields they added, the worse the completion rate became.

Source

If you stop your research there, you might conclude that short and sweet is the best choice for event registration form length. 

However, in 2014, digital marketing company Venture Harbour stumbled upon an interesting discovery about form length. They created a four-page multi-step online form containing 30 questions, which achieved a conversion rate of over 50%.

Source

Along with questions about extreme sports, the survey also included personal questions about salary and requested a phone number too. What explained this remarkable result?

Venture Harbour concluded that one reason for high levels of completion was the multi-page form design.  

The form didn’t indicate how long it would take to complete. It appeared that the more questions people answered, the more invested they became in finishing it. Instead of abandoning the form, the respondents powered on through.

In conversion rate optimisation, it’s a behaviour known as completion bias—people feel compelled to finish what they started. 

It helped that the survey started with easy questions that were quick to complete. And the form only requested personal details that could create resistance towards the end. 

This case study suggests a new approach to event registration form length. A longer form, collecting more information, can provide you with a depth of information you can use for event marketing and planning. 

But, consider the time investment a registrant will make when completing your form. If you’re running a short event, a short form is perhaps all that’s needed. 

Longer events require more registrant information, so you should be able to get away with a more extended form if you design it correctly.

• The length of your online registration form is important. Make your event registration form template as long as it needs to be, but no longer. 
• Personal information such as phone numbers can create a block for people in form completion. 
• Split longer forms over multiple pages to disguise the registration form’s actual length.

For smaller events lasting one day or less, a short online registration form template that captures basic attendee data is probably the right choice. 

Below is a sample event registration form for a short B2B event. The form only requests necessary information, and the phone number is not set as a mandatory field. 

The head of the form displays the event’s branding to give it that professional look, and the key event information is included. Registrants at-a-glance have all the information they need to decide whether to complete the form or not. 

The registration form captures sufficient data for the event organiser to segment and send targeted promotional and reminder emails about the event.  

If you’re running a multi-day event with many seminars and speakers, a long-form event registration form template is appropriate. 

Remember, you may get better complete rates if you don’t indicate how long the form is. On the other hand, try using a timeline to indicate to your registrants how far they are in the process.

Hopefully, once the registrant is past the first page, they will have invested enough effort for them to want to see it through to completion. 

Adaptive Insights felt their software demo signup form was converting as many signups as it could. They felt that the number of fields the form contained was scaring prospects away. 

They split test an underperforming single page form with a two-page form, as they didn’t want to remove any fields. 

The two-page form outperformed the single page one. Adaptive Insights speculated that even though the two-page form contained the same number of fields as the original, reducing the number of fields on view made the form appear less effort to complete. 

But, take care not to set too many fields as mandatory for completion with a little red star, especially if the information is personal. Only use this designation when you absolutely have to capture the data. 

In the example below, the first page captures the personal information necessary to attend the event.  The mandatory fields marked with red stars strike a balance between need-to-know and nice-to-have.

The second page captures information about workshops and other event programs. Again, only three questions are set as mandatory fields to reduce form abandonment. 

The mandatory questions will help the event organisers segment their attendees to send them more relevant messaging.

The final event registration form page deals with fees and terms and conditions. It’s not an insignificant sum to invest for any business, but with a few clicks, the form is complete.

Despite its three page length, the form only has 13 mandatory fields required for registration, and seven can be completed by ticking a checkbox or selecting a drop-down option.

Don’t waste time looking for editable event registration form templates in MS word. Switch to using online event registration form templates and online event management software to plan and manage your events

Once you’ve captured registrant data digitally, you can then use this data to send promotions and reminders about your event. 

Design the form fields on your registration form carefully. Don’t use more form fields than you need; consider your event duration and let that dictate the length of your form.

Event automation is a proven and effective way of scaling and improving your marketing efforts and is an integral part of your overall marketing strategy.

Swift Digital can help you to develop a professional and creative event automation strategy that will save you time and money and ensure your event is a success. Marketing automation is a powerful tool when used to its full advantage.

We have the skills and experience to help you create the perfect event management campaign and our automation platform ensures everything runs smoothly from initial promotion through to final follow-up. For more information on using event management and marketing automation, check out our complete guide to marketing automation best practices.

Swift Digital’s templates help you effortlessly create stunning emails and events communications using our drag-and-drop email and event builder.

You can raise engagement with embedded images, videos, polls, article feedback, and emojis and schedule messages to send at the right time.

Government departments’ unique marketing requirements are covered with Swift Digital, and full compliance with all anti-spam and privacy laws is guaranteed. Swift Digital is also ISO 27001 certified.

Swift Digital is Australia’s leader in marketing automation software and event management working with organisations like the NSW Government, ATO, and companies like Westpac Bank and Qantas.

Find out why we’re the Australian government department’s number one choice for their professional communications and events.

To find out how your business can get the best out of Swift Digital’s platform, contact our team today.

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