Strategies To Promote Online Registration

With today's technology, offering online race registration is a no-brainer. Actually, some races only offer the option of online registration. This frees up a lot of time for the Race Director, eliminating the typical data entry hassles. Also, participants have access to sign up for an event 24-7. And the Race Director doesn't have to worry about bounced checks or trying to track down payments after the race has already happened.

Here are some of the most common ways to promote online registration.

1. Prominently advertise the availability of online registration on your website. NEEDTORACE Online Registration Buttons are available on our site for you to grab.
2. Mention in any printed materials that online registration is available through your website or at NEEDTORACE.com.
3. Some races even take it to the extent of not providing an entry form on their advertisements, directing them to their website or NEEDTORACE.com for registration. You can also offer a printable version of your entry form at your website.
4. Make sure your event voicemail message mentions your website address and that online registration is available there.

However, the most effective way to promote online registration is price differentiation. The more attractive you make online registration, the more runners will use the service. However, you don't want to make the online registration option cheaper, you want to make the mail-in process more expensive. Also, the last thing you want to do is make the race-day registration cost the same as the other two options. The less race-day registration that occurs, the smoother your race will go.

For example, if the current price of a typical event is $15 then make the online registration fee $15, the mail-in fee $18, and the race-day registration $20. That way you will bring in about the same revenue but drive the majority of runners to the online registration service. To encourage the race to pick up the online processing fee, we charge less to do so. In this case, it would be $1.50 for the race rather than $2.00 for participant to cover the processing fee.

As a rule of thumb, we encourage the race director to close their event's online registration on Thursday at midnight. This gives them time on Friday to verify everything and allows time for the Timing Company to get the data into their system before the event on Saturday or Sunday.

A way to increase participation for next year's race is to require them to provide their email address on the entry form. That way you can email them prior to next year's race and provide them with a link to your website.