Seven Characteristics of Effective Event Websites: Number 6
There is nothing I dread more, when I am the customer, than when I have to get into a call queue to get a question answered or a problem solved. Actually, what I might dread more is not being able to get into a call queue and only having access to a wiki or faq to try to solve my problem myself. Turns out I’m not the only one who feels strongly on this point, and we heard from event planners how much their customers valued the ability to reach a real person for help in registering.
This leads me to number 6 in our list of insider tips of great event websites.
6. LET THEM KNOW THAT HELP IS AVAILABLE
We all love that technology makes it possible for us to communicate with people all over the world on-line. But, we also want to be able to reach someone knowledgeable to get our questions answered right away. Include contact information for more information or assistance and assign someone on your team to be responsible for answering the emails and phone calls in a timely manner. It’s not necessarily critical that someone staff the phone line around the clock, but they have to respond within a reasonable time. What’s at stake if you miss the opportunity to answer someone’s question? You may not get them as an attendee. So, if you want to maximize the number of registrations you get, make sure you have a way for people to contact you with questions.
By the way, here at MeetMax we do things a little differently than other software vendors. Each of our MeetMax team of client support specialists works closely with her or his clients to customize their registration site, troubleshoot and answer questions along the way. If we can help you with online event registration software, please give us a shout at meetings @twst.com.
Monday, July 26th, 2010