RegOnline by Cvent (Discontinued) vs. Webex Events (formerly Socio)

RegOnline has been well-suited for providing registration for participants as well as payment options in the same place. That is literally all that my department uses it for, and it is very well-suited for this purpose (though pricey). And although it is pricey, it was one of the only approved options by my university to accept credit card payments for our annual conference, as other options could not be properly tracked by the university. So for this purpose, RegOnline is very well-suited. I think that if someone needed to build an event registration page that did not require payment options as a necessity, then RegOnline would be less suited for use. It still can easily track participants, but I think there are better options out there for those who only need the most basic of services. I also think that since RegOnline has provided additional formatting capabilities, that it does handle the registration pages better than it has in the past. However, these still need improvement, with the ability to rearrange the order of required and optional questions.

Incentivized

I think it would work for:

• Workshops with many people.
• Quarterly's meetings with people all around the world.
• If you want to create a digital training with lots of participants...

I feel like it's not as needed in videocalls that can be fixed with webex teams because of the number of participants or at events that need a more personal approach where you need everyone constantly interacting.

Incentivized

• Easy set up for simple and complex registration events.
• Looks very professional
• Reports are easy to set up and download
• Cost per registration is reasonable

Incentivized

• It has quite a few optional and customizable features that can be utilized.
• It's easy to integrate your existing tools like Zoom, YouTube, Vimeo, and streaming services.
• It's flexible in the way that you upload content in that you can enter things one at a time on the website, or use a spreadsheet to upload a larger amount of content.

Incentivized

• One of the areas that RegOnline could improve on is the price. Because of the expense $3.55 per registration, the Department is unable to use the software for other events. We have mine training classes that we couldn't use RegOnline for because of the expense.
• RegOnline was not able to directly deposit registration fees collected from participants for other events and as a result we are unable to use it for those events.

Incentivized

• The standard template to build out the community is pretty rigid. We had to adjust some of our styling and graphics to account for what Socio's template allowed.
• Inability for event admins to make account changes for users. Several times we had users change jobs, therefore, changing their emails. Each time, we had to go through Socio support to get them access to their account.
• Documentation and knowledgebase could be more substantive.

Of course something could happen to our orgs ability to put on a conference or Socio could fundamentally change their product or their customer service - but barring any magor shift there is nothing that is even close to competing for our attention here.

Incentivized

Some Android users could not get the app to work, so they had to use the web-based version of our conference guide. Most functionality was still there, but they could not pull up the QR code, which impeded the registration process. The presence of the log in with Apple ID button caused issues because most work emails were not attached to Apple ID, which caused access issues.

Incentivized

We've never had an issue they couldn't resolve in one phone call.

Incentivized

Socio (now WebexEvents) is one of two products I use that gets customer service right. Not only can you get an answer from an actual person quickly during business hours - but if you are asking after hours, you know the response will be waiting for you in the morning. Not only are they fast, but they are also smart about their products and customers. There is very little back and forth trying to explain the problem I am having, or the new way I am trying to use their product, that may even be novel for them.

Incentivized

The Department also uses RegFox for training events as well as conferences. One of the main reasons they use RegFox is because of the price, it only charges $0.99 per registration whereas RegOnline charges $3.55 per registration. Because we are a state agency, that can make a big difference to our budget. That being said it is easier to build multi-track events in RegOnline.

Incentivized

WebEx Events has the same functionality as many other platforms, but with a more affordable price tag. I have also found it to be more intuitive and easy to use on the user side. I don't have experience on the administrative side with other platforms but we have been very satisfied with our experience with WebEx Events.

Incentivized

• RegOnline has been a major time-saver. Before RegOnline, we were getting emails and calls all through the registration window. Now, 99% of attendees are able to register independently and manage their own registrations.

Incentivized

• We had more sponsorship applications than usual due to using Webex and the multiple sponsorship capabilities.
• We had more attendance than in previous years due to using Webex since it is so incredibly user-friendly.
• We increased ROI by using Webex over other platforms due to pricing and features.