If you have ever been lost in the jungle of an automated phone directory while trying to reach customer service, “self-serve” doesn’t immediately sound like a particularly appealing option for an association.
However, your association is already providing self-serve options for your members during your online registration process. If designed correctly, that process should be quick and customer-friendly. There is no reason that on-site self-serve event registration cannot be just as user-friendly. As an added bonus, on-site self-serve registration for your association may also reduce your event costs and speed check-in times.
There are three important things to keep in mind with on-site self-serve registration for your association’s events:
1) Make your association’s on-site self-serve registration system just as user-friendly as your online registration system. It may be that you can use the same system for both online and on-site making this easy to achieve.
2) Have your association’s on-site self-serve registration system incorporate your member database. That way, members can simply enter their username and password or identifier and have the form pre-populated with their information. This will also allow you to continue to distinguish between association members and non-members in pricing and badge recognition.
3) Have an association staff person nearby in case someone does have questions or problems. One person may be able to cover several self-serve stations if everything is flowing smoothly. Having a live body monitoring the self-serve stations is equivalent to having a customer-service phone number on your association’s online registration form – but even better.
Offering on-site self-serve registration at your association events doesn’t have to be the equivalent of the unfriendly voicemail jungle. Instead, it can be a fast, user-friendly option that makes your association members happy. It may also have the potential to reduce overall costs, and integrate very nicely with your main association database.
Does your association offer self-serve on-site registration? Has it been warmly received by your association members?
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