September 29, 2025
Getting people to register is the lifeblood of your event — no matter how great your program or speakers are, none of it matters without attendees in the seats. But drawing in those sign-ups isn’t always easy. Marketing takes time, ad budgets can be tight, and your team already has plenty on their plate.
That’s why Whova has been adding smarter ways to help organizers attract registrants. Whova’s early bird ticketing creates urgency with discounted rates. Registration retargeting has helped recover over $6 million by automatically following up on incomplete registrations with your customized email reminder. And with built-in social sharing, attendees naturally promote your event by posting ready-to-share images on their own feeds.
Now, you can take word of mouth even further with Whova’s new Registration Referral Contest — a fun, gamified way to turn attendees into your event’s best promoters. Here’s how it works:
- Every registrant gets a unique referral link and code that they can share by email, text, or on social media.
- Each new sign-up through that link is automatically tracked, so you’ll know exactly how many registrants each attendee brings in.
- A live leaderboard lets you track performance in real time, making it easy to spot and reward your biggest promoters.
- You decide the rewards — free tickets, swag, VIP perks, or other prizes to motivate participation.
- Automated reminders and updates make it easy to keep attendees engaged until the contest ends.
The result? A snowball effect of buzz and new registrations — without extra marketing spend or staff effort. Attendees feel excited to compete and proud to share, while you enjoy increased exposure, more ticket sales, and a stronger community vibe around your event.
With a dedicated dashboard, you stay in full control: monitor results, remind participants, and announce winners in just a few clicks.
Whova’s Referral Contest doesn’t just help you grow registrations — it creates an engaging experience where attendees become active partners in your event’s success.
Setting Up the Contest
Running a referral contest in Whova is simple. Everything you need is already built into the registration system, so you can launch and manage your contest in just a few clicks.
To find the Registration Referral Contest, navigate to the “Ticket Marketing” dropdown in the “Tickets” tab.
Set up the Registration Referral Contest right from the Ticket Marketing dropdown.
From there, you can quickly set up the contest in three simple steps:
1. Modify the settings. Here, you can choose your contest end time, as well as select which ticket purchasers can participate. For example, you can exclude VIP attendees if you don’t want them to receive contest communications. If you have multiple registration pages (such as a main conference page and a pre-conference session page), you can decide where the new registrants from the referral link should land.
2. Create a prize. To set up prizes for contest winners, add a prize name and description. You can even upload an image to make the reward more enticing. A clear, appealing prize – like a $50 gift card or a complimentary pass to next year’s event – will get your attendees excited to participate, and encourage them to share the event with their friends.
3. Customize email invitations and reminders. In your personalized emails, you can add details like how to participate, what prizes are available, and any other important information. You can also highlight benefits such as networking, exclusive sessions, or special giveaways to make sharing even easier for participants.
Tracking Referrals
Once your contest is live, Whova makes it simple to monitor performance with built-in tracking tools that show exactly who is driving registrations and how effective each referral is.
Organizers can monitor progress through the Referral Leaderboard. The dashboard shows:
- Each participant’s name
- How many registration page visits their referral link has
- How many tickets have been sold through the link
- How much revenue has been generated from their referrals
Track referrals with key data like link visits, tickets sold, and contributed revenue.
You can also send additional reminders directly from the dashboard. Simply click “Send reminder” to craft a customized email that encourages attendees to keep referring and climbing the leaderboard.
Selecting Winners
When it’s time to wrap up the contest, selecting winners is smooth and simple.
You can sort the leaderboard by different rankings, such as by the number of tickets sold or by total contributed revenue, which makes it easy to identify who should win. Once you’ve reviewed the results, you can simply select the winners by checking the box next to their names.
Easily select winners right from the Registration Referral leaderboard based on metrics like tickets sold and contributed revenue.
Note: Winners are not automatically notified when you select them. Organizers can congratulate them and provide details on how to claim their prize by customizing a ready-to-go message.
This process ensures an accurate and efficient way to recognize and reward your most effective advocates.
How Do Attendees Participate?
Of course, a referral contest only works if attendees know how to join in. Whova makes the process simple by automatically providing each registrant with the tools they need to start sharing right away.
First, attendees will automatically receive their personal referral link and code in the confirmation email right after they register. Then, a reminder email with the same details is then sent the next day. Referral information is also accessible in the registration portal order history.
To join the contest, attendees simply share their referral link or referral code with their friends and colleagues. Each new registration through their link boosts their chances of reaching the top of the leaderboard and winning a prize.
Participants can also track their own progress by checking their referral stats, including visits and registrations, directly in the registration portal.
Use Registration Referrals to Grow Your Event
The Registration Referral Contest is a great way for organizers to grow attendance, increase ROI, and engage attendees even before the event begins. With just a few clicks, you can gamify registration, leverage social proof, and maximize event success without extra marketing spend.
Ready to boost your event registrations? Log in to Whova today to set up your first Registration Referral Contest.