Despite us totally supporting the automation of training companies, for the good of both the trainer and the delegates, we do accept that it can be a bit tricky to get started once the main switch over is made.

Administrators are likely be somewhat tentative and reluctant to becoming exclusively online, while attendees continue to use the booking and payment methods that they have traditionally associated with you - no matter how imperfect and unsatisfactory that process was. But, where training management system is concerned, it’s crucial to get people on board as soon as possible, like with most things new, the sooner you dive in and start making small mistakes here and there, the sooner you’ll realise just how much more efficient you can be, as well as your services can be for clients.

So, because we’re the ones responsible for all the automation, here are four tips on getting your course attendees on board as quickly and smoothly as possible…you can also watch our video on the four tips.

1. Go 100% online: Don’t give your attendees a choice. Stop offering alternative booking methods. When you are booking a flight online, airlines don’t also give you the option of booking your ticket via the phone. As a result we all book our flights online without a second thought. The vast majority of people have internet access so this really shouldn’t be a problem.   

2. Get your marketing focus right: To maximise your online registrations make your marketing emails short and punchy – a paragraph in length. See it as a short trailer for your whole event. Give a concise overview of the event highlights and make your ‘register now’ button very highly prominent. Make the button impossible to miss and ensure that when it is clicked that it links to the event registration website.   Your marketing email is about persuading your attendees to visit your registration website and not for displaying all your event information.  

3. Always be linked in: Always include the URL link of your registration website in your emails. Always send several emails to potential attendees for each event and include the link in every one.   Always include your URL link clearly and prominently on your corporate website. Include the link in emails about your event to your social networking groups such as Facebook, MySpace and LinkedIn. Talk about your event and include the link on online forums or on Twitter or on your Facebook updates.   Make the link a clear ‘call to action’ for the attendee such as ‘register now’ or ‘register here’ or ‘to register for the event click here’.   

4. Create incentives for online bookings: Offering online registration discounts encourages early attendee adoption, so make it clearly financially beneficial to book online. It is, after all, generally accepted that you get better deals via the internet no matter what product you are buying. You need to tap into that mindset.   Similarly, consider offering discounts for early online registration.

Dave Evans - Commercial Director, accessplanit
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