This feature is available for Enterprise and White Label Plans only
The Attendee Registration Approval Process
The Attendee Registration Approval feature allows you to review potential attendees before giving them a ticket. This feature can also be used as a waitlist if you're not accepting registrations at the moment. In this guide, you'll learn how to enable it and explore additional ways to use this feature to screen attendees before allowing them to register.
How Does it Work?
Once you enable attendee registration approval for a ticket type, everyone who selects it during registration will be screened before they can buy a ticket. The ticket types with registration approval enabled will have an "Approval Required" label on the ticket selection part of the registration process.
After they select a ticket, they will enter all the buyer and holder information and submit their application. Since this process screens them before buying, they are not charged yet if they select a paid ticket.
When you approve their request, the buyer will receive a confirmation that it has been approved. You can have the buyer claim the ticket(s) on their own or you can automatically give them the free ticket or automatically charge their card to get the paid ticket.
Best Practice
We highly recommend turning on the feature that allows attendees to register only once with a unique email address since having a unique email address is required to access the event. The email address is the attendee's identifier. If attendees are sharing an email address, they will have issues as they are sharing a profile. They may have incorrect names when they check in and claim their badge and when they log in to the app. You can also avoid duplicate registrations in your event.
Important Notes:
Registration approval works with recurring events.
Registration approval works using the simple registration widget.
Registration approval works with tracking links and UTM tracking.
You can still register attendees directly even if the registration approval is turned on for a ticket type, you can add them in the Add Attendees tab in the admin console.
You can turn off the registration approval and switch to regular registration anytime. If you enable it again, the requests will remain there.
Attendees cannot request for the same ticket type twice.
Attendees can select tickets that can be paid now and tickets that are to be paid after approval in the same order. When they check out, they will pay for the regular ticket and there will be a message stating that the selection requiring approval will be charged upon approval.
If a ticket type is associated with a discount code, the discount code can be applied when submitting the request if the feature to require them to enter a credit card is enabled.
Buying add-ons will only be available when they claim their spot after approval. If they select a ticket for approval, they won't see the add-ons on the registration page.
Only buyers will receive email confirmations in the approval process, ticket holders will receive the order confirmation email after the tickets are issued to them.
Only Buyers can claim tickets. Ticket Holders cannot claim on their own.
All tickets will be approved in the request, and the buyer can choose which ticket(s) they want to purchase. If they don't claim all the tickets all at once, they can re-use the same claim my ticket link to claim the rest of the tickets.
The Order Form fields will appear when they claim their tickets, giving them a chance to edit the information. This will also reflect in the order after they purchase.
Enable Registration Approval for Attendees
Go to Registration > Set Up Tickets
Select the Ticket Type that will require registration approval
Enable the toggle for Approval Required
Click Save
The tickets for approval will have an"Approval Required" label below the ticket name.
Require Payment Details and Automatically Charge Upon Approval
This is an optional step and will only work with Stripe or Authohrize.net connected.
If you don't require the payment details, they can enter the information when they claim the ticket after approval.
When requesting for a paid ticket, you can require the credit card information during the application process without charging. This feature will work only if Stripe or Authorize.net is connected as payment processor for the event.
Go to Registrations > Approvals
Click Settings
Enable Require credit card capture for Attendee approval
If this is enabled and a paid approval ticket is selected, the checkout page will be displayed at the end of the registration request process with fields to securely enter the credit card information.
When you approve and assign the request, the payment will be processed automatically.
When you approve only, they can claim and purchase their ticket on their own.
Customize the Status Emails
After submitting the request, an email will be sent to the buyer confirming that the submission request has been received. Whenever you change the status of the request to approved, denied or waitlisted, another email will be sent to let them know about the change.
You can edit these emails by clicking Approval Emails from Setup & Customization, this will redirect you to Confirmation Emails > Approval.
Customize the Confirmation Page
You can create a dedicated Attendee Approval Confirmation Page, separate from the standard registration confirmation page. If you have multiple approval tickets, you can create separate confirmation pages for each.
Submit a Request
When submitting a registration request and the Require credit card capture for Attendee approval setting is enabled, they will be able to enter the discount code and payment details on the checkout page before submitting their application for approval.
If it's a free ticket or a paid ticket but credit card is not required, this step is skipped, the request will be submitted after entering all the ticket buyer and holder information and clicking submit.
Note: When multiple ticket types are selected (ticket 1 to be paid now and ticket 2 is for approval) in an order, and a discount code is applied that is valid only for the approval ticket, the system will show this error message:
“Discount code is not applicable for this ticket type.”
This is an edge case, however if this is a possibility for your event, please ask your registrants to purchase the tickets separately.
Search and Filter Requests
All requests can be found in Registrations > Registration Approval > Attendee > Requests.
The latest request would show on top of the list. Use the search field or filter options to find requests based on status, ticket type, or order form answers. You can also add more columns to easily see data in the list instead of clicking on a request.
Show the Buyer's Answers in the Request List
If you want to see the buyer's order form answers, click Edit Column to show those fields in the Requests tab so you can easily review them before changing the status.
See Ticket Holder Answers
To see the ticket holder's information, click the request to open the side menu and then click the Ticket Holder tab to see the order form answers.
Check the Requested Ticket Types
Hover on the Ticket Type column to see which ticket types they requested. Or you can open a request to see the ticket type and other request information.
Add Internal Notes
In the side menu, you'll see the option to add notes about the request. The note can also be viewed in the request list.
Requests in the Orders Tab
Even before approving, the requests can be seen in the orders tab. The Payment status will update accordingly when the request status is changed.
Request Status | Payment Status in the Order |
Pending | Applied |
Waitlisted | Waitlisted |
Denied | Declined |
Approved | Approved |
Registered | Paid |
Approve Requests
If it's a new request, the status will be Pending. Click the dropdown on the Status column to change the status from Pending to Waitlisted, Denied, Approved, or Approve and Assign Ticket.
Every time the status is changed, the buyer will receive an email. After you Approve, they will get a second email to claim their spot, which will be valid for 72 hours.
When you Approve and Assign, the credit card is automatically charged (if available) and the order is created. They will not receive the email to claim their spot anymore as it's automatically done. They will receive the order confirmation email if you have it enabled.
Notes:
The Approve and Assign Ticket option is available only if the request is for a free ticket and if the credit card information is required for paid tickets.
The Approve and Assign Ticket option is unavailable if the setting that requires ticket holders to have a unique email address is enabled.
Once you approve, you can no longer change the status.
Currently, if they have a pending or waitlist status, they cannot buy another ticket even if the other ticket does not require approval. We are improving this feature; stay tuned for updates.
Approved Requests
When the request is approved, the buyer will receive a second email with a button to Claim Your Spot, where they can purchase the allotted ticket. If you choose to Approve and Assign the Ticket, the attendee will receive the Order Confirmation email.
Note: Only Buyers can claim tickets. Ticket Holders cannot claim on their own.
Claim Your Spot
All tickets will be approved in the request, and the buyer can choose which ticket(s) they want to purchase when they click the button to claim their spot. If they don't claim all the tickets all at once, they can re-use the same claim my ticket link to claim the rest of the tickets.
If you're selling add-ons, they can also select add-ons when they claim tickets.
If it's paid ticket and they did not enter a discount code when requesting, they can enter the discount code when they claim the ticket.
Note: If you're testing using your admin email, you may be asked to enter all your information again when you claim your ticket. Please use a non team member email address to test accurately.
Resend the Claim Your Spot Email
If the registrant has been approved and has not claimed their spot (less than 72 hours), you can click the 3 dots in their request and click Send status email to remind them to purchase the ticket.
Note: If the claim your spot page is not accessible when you test as an admin, try registering with an email address that's not associated with the event.
Resend the Approval
If the tickets are not claimed after 72 hours, the link in the claim your spot email will be invalid. To give them a valid link, click the 3 dots and click Resend approval.
You will know it's past 72 hours when you see the orange circle 🟠 next to their name.
Assign the Tickets after Approving
This option is available for free tickets or paid tickets if credit card is required. If the request is "Approved" and the buyer hasn't claimed the tickets, you can assign the tickets instead of waiting for them to do it. Click the status dropdown and select Assign Ticket.
If it's a paid ticket with credit card required and they have not used a discount code, you'll have the option to enter a discount code when you assign.
Note: You can assign the tickets only if none of the tickets in the request has been claimed. If at least 1 ticket is claimed, you won't be able to assign the rest. The buyer has to use the claim my spot link to claim the rest of the tickets.
History Log
In the History log, you'll see the status change history for the request.
Download Approval Requests
Click Download under the Requests tab of Attendee Approvals. It will download a CSV file with information on registrants that have requested to be approved as an attendee.
When downloading from the Approvals tab, you can choose to export either Buyer Information only, or both Buyer & Holder Information.
Receive Request Notifications
Go to the Approval Settings tab and enable the toggle to Send email when an approval request comes in. The select admins in Manage Receivers will receive email notifications for every registration approval request.
