[Events 2.0] Ability to Activate Event Without a Ticket, Ticketless Free Events

[BeckyC95]

PLEASE take out the requirement of showing a ticket.  We use CC for meeting registration and the meetings are free.  If all of our events look like they are "FREE" and they have to have a ticket, it will look very bad on our company.  If this doesn't change in the VERY near future, we will be leaving constant contact...and we have been with you for years.  This is NOT a good change.  Tickets should not be a requirement. 

[BeckyC95]

Thanks all for your feedback. We have heard your pain points and are actively working to address the feedback many of you have mentioned in this thread. We will take a multi-step approach to resolving these concerns, with the goal being to alleviate some of this pressure ASAP: 

1. Add "customizable" labels to Tickets, Add-ons, & Contact information headers in the registration flow so that they can be tailored to your event use case. (IN PROGRESS - releasing in May) 
   • Examples: Registration fees, Volunteer shifts, Meal choices, Class add-ons, etc. (IN PROGRESS - releasing in May) 
2. Revamp our registration flow and reporting pages for events with no associated cost. 
   • When an event has only free tickets & add-ons, we will tailor the Reporting pages, Registration flow, and Confirmation pages/emails so that they do not have any pricing-related language. (Order summary --> Registration summary)

What we are working to address longer-term (second half of 2024) is to rework the event platform so that we can offer a registration-based model that does not use tickets as its primary artifact. This work will be significantly larger than the first two changes I mentioned, so we're starting with those to provide a more immediate solution. 

Thanks for sharing your feedback so we can continue to improve the Events product! I hope you all can see how the work we've prioritized this year has been almost entirely guided by customer feedback. We can't wait until this is a product that you all "love!" 

[William_A]

We're updating the status of this idea to more accurately reflect its current status with our engineering team, and also made slight changes to the subject line in order for it to be more easily found. We can't guarantee a commitment to deliver on this feature request, but it should indicate some awareness that we have heard your feedback and could be taken under consideration for a future release.

[William_A]

Hello @BeckyC95 ,

As of September 30, 2023 the option to display a ticket for the registrant to print out / access is turned off by default.

"Tickets" is simply the terminology in Events 2.0 that denotes different registration types. Therefore, if you have the Generate printable ticket toggled off for a specific ticket, your registrants for that ticket won't receive or be otherwise implied that they need to provide one for attendance.

[NWVEG20]

I fully agree with BeckyC95.  I just want people to register.  "Order Summary" and similar language does not fit our style.  I want to have a block that says "Register here" and goes straight to a registration page, with no mention of tickets, because our events are all by registration - not ticketing.  If we have an event such as a dine-out or a potluck, we may want people to register so we have an idea on how many are coming, but having a ticket just is strange and not the image we want to project.  We may also look elsewhere for these sorts of services.

[serena1913]

I also would like to see updates to the new registration template. We don't like how "free" is called out on the registration page and how the process has been changed to a "ticketing" system (even for free events). We host many complimentary events and meetings and want the registration page to focus on event information and entering their contact details. 

[BrandiB480]

I do not like the requirement to set up a ticket. It is only going to cause confusion. In your next update, please consider removing the requirement. You used to be able to do it without a ticket, so I don't understand why you're forcing it now. We have used Constant Contact for years but if we need to look at other options which will be less confusing for our events we will do that.

[MissyMJM]

I saw the answer below to my question, however at better solution for your users would be to have the option to skip the ticket and payment option altogether. We have many events where tickets and payments aren't needed, so this is a clunky registration process for end users...they should be able to click REGISTER and enter their details right there...now it requires them to enter a ticket number and then hit CONTINUE to register...it's just an unnecessary step...

[BobbieJoM]

I am not happy with the new Events thing insisting on showing "tickets" on the registration page. We are a small non-profit and do a lot of completely free, no limit, anyone can walk in the door even if they haven't registered event and I don't want even a mention of tickets to appear on the registration form for fear of putting attendees off. If you offer an option to turn that off, I cannot find it. If you do not offer that option, you should. If you have no intention of offering an option to turn off display of tickets on the registration page, I will find another way to track our events. Please let me know.

[JohnnieMaeP]

I agree!

[GinaD098]

I have been using Constant Contact for many years and have repeatedly had problems with it lately. I just tried to create a simple event so that residents of our community can register for our Community Clean Up Day. We don't need tickets for this event we just need to gather names. Requiring tickets is ridiculous and makes the registration process overly complicated. 

[SuzanneD5]

I agree with all of the above. We too are a small nonprofit and have had several hours of meetings discussing how to handle this new change in your system, including the option of using a different service. One complication that I don't see listed here: We hold a training program twice a year where we want folks to register for the first event that is free to see if they like the program, then at the second event we charge a fee. We don't want to scare people away from the first event by listing that the event series costs money, but we don't want to say "free" because then it implies that the entire series is free, not just the first event -- so there is literally no way to be honest with our participants using your new system.