Cvent is a cloud-based enterprise event management company with nearly 4,000 employees and over 300,000 users worldwide. Cvent offers software solutions to event planners and marketers for online event registration, venue selection, event management and marketing, onsite solutions, email marketing, and attendee engagement. Cvent's suite of products automate and simplify the planning process to maximize the impact of events. Cvent provides hoteliers with an integrated platform, enabling…
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OneCause
Score 9.1 out of 10
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OneCause, headquartered in Indianapolis, offers their fundraising solutions supporting mobile bidding for auctions or peer-to-peer giving, Text2Give, and support for ticket sales for fundraising events. OneCause pricing plans support various service levels, including feature breadth for large giving organizations or smaller entities.
Ultimately, OneCause was the only system that we looked at that was able to combine event registration and ticketing, silent auction bidding and alerts, and a seamless checkout experience in one platform. We were unable to find another platform that did all of this under one …
Cvent Event Management works great for events for which we need to collect registration fees. If you have a large-scale event that requires complex registration/data collection, and payment processing, Cvent Event Management is the best solution out there! It is comprehensive, can handle complex, multi-step registration forms, and has features for customizable and branded accompanying website and marketing opportunities (social media, event emails, etc). It is a one-stop-shop for creation and promotion of an event. That said, for "free" events, because there is an associated cost per registrant, it makes more sense for us to use another platform (we use Eventbrite, GoogleForm, or WordPress Gravity Forms) to collect RSVPs. The cost-oer-registrant is outlined upon contracting (and can vary based on the terms of your contract), but it is a fixed cost, rather than a percentage of the overall fees. Again, depending on the cost of your program for a participant, this can either be a good thing or something that would persuade you to use another system in that scenario.
The OneCause auction platform works well for events of seemingly varying sizes (we are a mid-sized organization, but it seems to scale well). You can run a variety of things within the platform (live auction, silent auction, fund appeal, raffle, etc.), but one should be aware that there are limits to the software and we were forced to worked around these limitations.
Allowing more in depth paths for registration questions (i.e. drill-down questions as needed)
Hotel widget does not model in a user-friendly way, allowing for customer confusion and cumbersome work-arounds
Flex Email customization widgets need to integrate into the emails more smoothly and be able to customize to have the same look, feel, font of the written text. At this time it does not allow for the same level of customization.
Options to personalize the text descriptions used in the registration process. Some of the wording is confusing and there's no option to edit those text boxes.
The set-up for the silent auction options is not exactly the easiest to follow for new users. Having some concrete examples or use cases to consult when first setting up would be helpful.
It would be great to have a "check for errors" functionality when you're going through the auction set-up. For example, for some reason when our live auction was set up, two items didn't have "Apply Sales Tax" checked and so they got erroneously listed without the sales tax. Given that ALL the other items had sales tax applied, it seems like it should be easy to have something run in the background that flags potential errors for review.
We are very pleased with the features that Cvent gives us. The ease of use and the immediate support when something does stump us. Cvent provides us with everything that we need to run a successful event. The only reason I did not Rate Cvent as a 10 is the cost
Overall, Cvent Event Management is a highly usable platform, with a user-friendly interface and a wide range of features and tools to help plan, promote, and manage events. The platform is designed to be intuitive, allowing users to easily navigate and access the various features and functionalities. One of the key benefits of Cvent Event Management's usability is its high level of customization. The platform offers a range of customization options, allowing users to tailor the platform to their specific needs and branding. This can include custom registration forms, event websites, email communications, and more. Additionally, Cvent Event Management provides robust data analytics and reporting, enabling users to gain insights into attendee behavior, event performance, and ROI. The platform also offers real-time reporting, which can be particularly useful during an event, allowing organizers to monitor attendance and event progress. While there may be a learning curve for some of the more advanced features, overall, the platform is highly usable and intuitive and we have had positive experiences with the platform's usability, citing its ease of use, customization options, and comprehensive feature set as key benefits.
I give it this rating because when I first started using OneCause, I was concerned it might be complicated and I could make mistakes that would negatively impact our organization. OneCause's usability has made me feel confident and stress-free in every event we use it for because it is easy to use.
Cvent does go down pretty frequently. And while it often doesn't impact day to day use usually, if it does go down at the wrong time, you may not be able to access very important event information when you need it. Usually outages do not last very long, but it could still be a very bad situation if this happens at the wrong moment
I have very rarely needed support, but when I did, it seemed that there was an underlying push for a webinar, training session, or multiple phone calls. If I have a question or a need, that should be addressed nothing else.
They have a fantastic tech support team who typically responds to your questions and concerns within minutes. They are available for emails, phone calls, and have also created videos that walked me through my problems. When you initially get started with their peer2peer platform, they provide you with a consultant whose job is to walk you through setting up your first campaign. You al so receive a specific to you Customer Success Manager who is there for any and all questions and will help you until you find the answers needed!
Our on-site trainer was very knowledgeable in the product and gave us very important pointers on best practices and how to perform tasks in the simplest manner
It would have been nice during implementation if we had received more pointers on how to organize our parked report folders, libraries, etc. to avoid the mess we find ourselves in today. If we had known ahead of time the limitations we could have planned better.
I don't know if my insights are key but I can say that implementation was done in-house without any outside support for the solution. The staff influencing the solution had very little technical expertise and ability as well which showed just how easily the software was to implement.
Our existing relationship with [Cvent Event Management] led us to stick with them when it came time to choose a virtual platform, and it certainly delivered and showed that it had the capability to be the polished, yet simple, platform that resonated best with our audience. The new virtual offering was still going through some growing pains when we used it, but it has the potential to be a major competitor in the virtual event space, and they're already well established in the in-person event management space.
We had used GiveSmart in the past and had issues with connectivity during our event, when our contract was up we decided to investigate other platforms, we looked at more than just those 3, but can't recall the others. Givebutter - I absolutely LOVE Givebutter, so simple to use, but it does not offer an auction component and we didn't want to have 2 different systems to use. Classy - this platform seemed nice but extremely pricy and we still had to do "add-ons". We could not afford it. We went with OneCause in the end because of the simplicity, and training provided and wanted to give the product a try over sticking with GiveSmart. We are so happy to have made the switch.
Once we joined OneCause for our event fundraising platform we never looked back. Each year we've experienced growth with not only the funds raised but also in the improvement of the event execution.
We've learned a tremendous amount for in-person fundraising success through the OneCause team and that has led us to explore virtual and campaign options.
The onsite event support has proven so valuable to our event success we have begun budgeting to have that same level of support at all our in-person events. The OneCause event team guides you well during the planning phase and then provides top-notch support and peace of mind the night/day of the event.
