Bill Flagg - President

Bill Flagg Blog - Relocated

Here's the new location for my blog:
billflagg.blogspot.com

I've changed the location where I am posting for two reasons:
1. The Blogger interface is easier to use.
2. My posts have become less RegOnline-centric.

Bill Flagg Blog

posted Tuesday, February 26, 2008 9:47 AM by Bill Flagg | 0 Comments

Speaking at SXSW

This weekend I’m speaking on “Web App Autopsy”, a panel at SXSW, with Ryan Campbell, Josh Williams, and John Zeratsky. I’ll be presenting some interesting stats about RegOnline’s growth, and looking at comparable numbers from Wufoo, Blinksale, and FeedBurner. Drop me a line if you'd like to meet up in Austin.

posted Tuesday, March 06, 2007 11:23 AM by Bill Flagg | 0 Comments

Tell them "Why"

Event organizers who get hooked on the ease of having their attendees register online are constantly asking "How can I get more people to register online?"

As an experiment to try to help with that on our end, we added a "Why register online?" link to our registration forms. In a split test, it increased completed registrations by 1.3%. Not a huge number, but heading in the right direction in solving this challenge.

It also begs the question of what other Why's could we explain further in our communications that will increase conversions?

posted Friday, January 12, 2007 12:12 PM by Bill Flagg | 1 Comments

Proportionately Big

Make it easy for people to find/use what they use most.

If your search box is the most used item on your webpage then make it HUGE… like Amazon did here.

posted Friday, December 22, 2006 11:35 AM by Bill Flagg | 1 Comments

Why the SMALL is the new big

The Long Tail changed my life. I read it while on vacation and can't stop thinking and talking about its implications.

All the small stuff amounts to a lot more business than the big stuff.

More non-hits songs are sold on iTunes than big hits
More people buy non-best selling books than best selling ones
More people register for small events than big ones

It is such a gi-normous shift from the world of pop that I grew up in... Casey Kasem's Americas top 10, Happy Days, and The Detroit News... all overshadowed now by niche bands, hundreds of cable channels, and the internet. Love it!

Power to the little guys!

It's fascinating to think about what's changed:
1. Easier for more people to create music, books, movies, software and events because of technology.
2. Easier for people to get an audience for their content on the internet (Google, blogs, email, MySpace)
3. Easier to distribute content - no shelf space or massive distribution deals needed (Amazon, iTunes, YouTube).

So what does all this mean??
Businesses that focus on the small volume things/guys/products/events will thrive. Some of my friends are enjoying abundance in this new-world model...
StickerGiant sells all the little stickers that you could ever find on a bumper
ShipCompliant provides software that niche wineries have dreamed of having
Wufoo makes it easy for any size organization to create online forms of any kind
PaySimple automating recurring billing and payment processing for any size organization.

And of course, my favorite...
RegOnline makes it easier for the 1.5 million smaller-sized meetings and events to manage their registrations. ;-)

posted Tuesday, December 12, 2006 5:27 PM by Bill Flagg | 0 Comments

Walking in our client's footsteps...

I sense a growing wave coming upon us. It’s a need to get even closer to our clients and how they use RegOnline. What they like. What frustrates them. What could amaze them.

I believe the most direct way to do that is to walk in their shoes more. To sit down with them face-to-face. Even better, face-to-face in their own offices where they can show us their day-to-day.

Walt Disney did it. He demanded it. So can we…

http://imagineerebirth.blogspot.com/2006/09/walking-in-walts-footsteps.html

posted Thursday, October 05, 2006 9:12 AM by Bill Flagg | 2 Comments

Ways to Get More Attendees to Register Online

Two weeks ago I was talking to a client who was asked "How could we get more attendees to register online?" He said he would love it because it would make their administrative lives so much easier.

Registering online is so much easier. Easier for your attendees. Easier for you. Easier also means more success... getting more people to register online vs. offline will actually increase your attendance. People are more likely to take immediate action online and more likely to share your event with others. Why? Because it is EASIER to do both online.

As I gave it more thought, it struck me that a lot of our clients probably scratch their heads with a similar question. So, this past week I started digging into some ways to get more attendees to register online.

1. Fully promote the benefits of registering online everywhere that you mention your event. Why Register Online?

2. Give incentives for registering online

3. Create "online only" registration options

4. Send out more emails invites

5. Discontinue paper registration options

6. Provide more information that's available only online

7. Publicize an "online" goal for your event

We will be writing more detailed examples on each of these and then publishing a whitepaper to share. I'll repost it here when it's done. In the meantime, please let me know if you've discovered anything on your own that has caused more of your attendees to register online.

posted Friday, September 22, 2006 10:01 AM by Bill Flagg | 1 Comments

The Doctor's Wisdom

Be who you are and say what you feel, because those who mind don't matter and those who matter don't mind.
- Dr. Seuss

posted Friday, August 25, 2006 2:40 PM by Bill Flagg | 0 Comments

The One Number

If you could pick only one number to measure the vibrancy of an organization, what would it be?

Most business people I know pick growth rates or market share.

Three years ago I picked referral rates... the percentage of clients that recommend us to other people. It seemed like the one number that said something about how much people liked our product, people, and pricing.

To drive this number, I started some unconventional experiments. They were based on my experiences of what causes me to like a company more.

1. We cut RegOnline's advertising expenditures and instead hired more friendly, caring, smart support team members.
2. We eliminated commissioned sales compensation and hired more people who got pleasure from taking great care of clients (which several of my CEO friends told me I was crazy for not having sales commissions).
3. We even eliminated our Referral Incentives, and replaced it with a Thank You program where referrers unexpectedly received a gift after referring someone.

As we held our breath and watched what happened, our referral rates almost doubled! I thought I was really on to something original. Then a friend sent me a Harvard Business Review article called "The One Number You Need to Grow" by Fred Reichheld... the "one number" being a factor of "Would you recommend us to a friend?" The article outlines the strong correlation between a company's Net Promoter Score and their growth rate. In fact, huge companies like General Electric are implementing this new theory company wide.

I'm excited to see this, because I love being inspired by more companies like Southwest Airlines, and Costco, Whole Foods and Nordstroms who create raving fans out of their customers... and experience unprecedented growth in their industries!

I'd love to share more ideas and inspiration. What causes your clients to recommend your organization to more friends?

posted Wednesday, August 23, 2006 2:44 PM by Bill Flagg | 2 Comments

Mistakes & Opportunities

We recently announced that we were discontinuing the offline credit processing option due to a tightening of security. We had several clients using this feature that weren't happy with the announcement, and were even more upset that it was effective immediately.

The "Effective Immediately" notice was because we felt we had thought through all the ways clients were using the feature. Well, we quickly found out we hadn't. Many clients were using the feature to approve registrants and charge their cards once they were "accepted".

The opportunity that came from this is we are now designing a new feature that enables clients to "Approve & Charge" registrants in an easier way than the old work-around.

We also learned that no matter how much we think we've thought through changing or eliminating a feature, we need to give advance notice of the proposed change so we can hear their concerns... AND hopefully discover some more wonderful new opportunities to improve how RegOnline works for everyone!

We are sorry to all those that we unnecessarily panicked with this sudden change, and look forward to learning from this and doing better next time there's a change to existing functionality.

posted Thursday, August 10, 2006 10:40 AM by Bill Flagg | 0 Comments

Why does a president blog?

Is it for vanity sake?
That the president of a company decides to blog.

Do I have something unique and valuable to say to you and our world of RegOnline friends?
Hopefully you will let me know.

My plan is to talk about discoveries, epiphanies, and the realities
in my never-ending work of making RegOnline remarkably better for people.

Hopefully my words can give you something meaningful
in your mind, heart, and world.
Please let me know.

Bill Flagg
President
RegOnline

posted Wednesday, August 09, 2006 2:33 PM by Bill Flagg | 0 Comments

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