Registration Protection plans are essential for any event, class, program, or activity.
The goal of a registration protection plan is to protect your organization’s revenue as well as support your existing cancellation and refund policies.
Registration protection should be a free option you can offer to registrants that they purchase as part of the checkout process during the registration process. The cost is affordable, at around 3-5% of the cost of your event or activity.
In general, Registration Protection plans cover cancellation due to the death, accident, or illness happening to the applicant or a member of their immediate family.
Considering the peace of mind it offers to both you and your applicants, it’s an important feature to offer and can help protect your revenue stream!
Learn more about implementing a Registration Protection plan for your organization
What is registration protection?
When does my event or program need a registration protection option?
The cost of purchase protection options
What are the benefits of including purchase protection?
How does Regpack’s registration protection work?
How do I include purchase protection on my events, programs, and other offerings?
Conclusion
What is registration protection?
Registration Protection is a service that can be offered to your registrants that allows them to be reimbursed if they need to cancel unexpectedly due to health reasons.
It offers peace of mind to your applicants that their purchase is protected should a health emergency occur that requires them to cancel with you.
This peace of mind extends to you too! Last minute cancellations won’t affect your bottom line and Registration Protection is there to help to support your existing refund & cancellation policy.
When does my event or program need a registration protection option?
Registration Protection is a great feature whether there is a global pandemic going on or business as usual!
It helps to provide assurances to your cash flow and to your business.
As long as you have an event or activity with a start and end date – Registration Protection should be an option to your applicants.
In general protection plans are date specific. They have the flexibility to be purchased up until the date the activity begins.
The cost of purchase protection options
Cost is always a consideration, so below we’ve broken down the cost to both you and your clients for protection plans.
How much does purchase protection cost me?
Purchase Protection generally costs you NOTHING! It’s an add-on that registrants would pay for themselves. Your software should give you the flexibility to offer the protection plan as an option or require it as part of registration.
How much does purchase protection cost my clients?
The cost is generally a small percentage of the total order, not including orders of merchandise or non date based activities.
On a program order of $2500, the registration protection plan would cost around $100.
The cost of not having purchase protection…
The peace of mind alone is worth the cost of a protection plan. As with anything, a registrant takes the chance that they will have to cancel due to health reasons and they are at the mercy of YOU and your cancellation policy.
You want to find the balance of a cancellation policy that doesn’t upset clients but also don’t compromise your resources.
Purchase Protection takes the weight off you, and allows registrants to get their money while your revenue is protected.
What are the benefits of including purchase protection?
The benefits to you are clear! Keep your revenue while giving flexibility and reimbursement options to your clients in case of a health emergency. Protecting your business revenue is a top priority for ALL organizations!
For your clients, knowing they have the ability to get their money should the unexpected happen is vital. It also helps to promote trust in your business. They can plan for the best, and be covered if the worst happens.
For Events
Whether you’re running a conference, seminar or meeting – people get sick when it’s inconvenient, sometimes at the same time your event is happening.
Many event participants expect a purchase protection option when signing-up for your event, so make sure you are giving the option to them!
For Classes and Courses
It can be challenging for organizers who offer recurring classes or courses to lose a registrant due to illness. The time you put in to preparing for and organizing your class means that paying out a refund, especially last minute with no time to find a replacement, can impact your revenue significantly.
Waitlists can help to mitigate this, which allow you to move other applicants through the registration process so they are ready to go to fill in an open spot quickly – but that isn’t always an option.
If your class or course isn’t recurring, offering a credit for a future class or course isn’t always feasible, so purchase protection helps mitigate the negative effects of a cancellation for both you and the registrant.
For Other Programs & Activities
Offering the option of a credit for a future activity is a great alternative to offering a refund as it helps manage your cash flow and ensures you have money when you need it.
Sometimes, though, that isn’t an option and you need to have a refund policy when someone needs to cancel. A purchase protection add-on can help lower the financial impact to your activity or program when someone needs to cancel due to health issues.
How does Regpack’s registration protection work?
Regpack offers Purchase Protection to all date based activities and events.
It is automatically integrated into your offerings during your project setup so there is no configuration needed beyond inputting the dates of your event or class.
And like all of our other features in Regpack, there is no extra cost for you to enable and offer Purchase Protection to your applicants.
The cost of Purchase Protection is covered by registrants and added directly to their cart when they are paying for your activity. Regpack allows you to require purchase or make it optional.
How do I include Purchase Protection for my events, programs, and other offerings?
Purchase Protection is integrated directly with your event and activity offerings when you set up the system.
Applicants can add it to their cart and pay for it anytime before the start date of the event.
Purchase Protection is paid in full at the time of purchase and claims can be filed easily online through Regpack. This means you don’t have to worry about managing claims if an attendee has to cancel due to health reasons.
If a claim is not approved, your existing refund or cancellation policy kicks in to manage the request.
Conclusion
The beauty of a registration protection plan is two fold: it’s free to offer and requires no additional work, both financial or resource wise, on your part. Payments and claims are handled externally.
Registration protection protects your revenue and cash flow from unexpected cancellations or unforeseen health circumstances by offering reimbursement options rather than direct refunds.
You get peace of mind for you and for your registrants. Purchase Protection allows for a win-win scenario for everyone in the case that the unexpected does happen.
