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My Whova Review
Updated September 15, 2020

My Whova Review

Michael Clouse | TrustRadius Reviewer
Score 2 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User

Overall Satisfaction with Whova

We have been using Whova for upcoming online events/webinars. It is designed to deliver a unified mobile app and web app experience for attendees in person or remote. In our new virtual meeting environment, Whova is headed in the right direction with great features.
  • A singular schedule/agenda used online, in app, and on your own site
  • Simple to use
  • Agenda design options are limited. There are more things you can't do than you can do to the agenda.
  • Buggy -- does not work on iPads in vertical orientation.
  • Customer support is limited.
  • Don't expect to cancel an event and get your money back. I had clients decline the application after 1 week (months before the event)-- and Whova refused to issue a refund.
  • Whova branding is overpowering. Everything has Whova branding all over it. Your brand barely exists. Not one email has your brand on it and customers/moderators/speakers do not realize who Whova is or why they got the email. These emails need the ability to be modified.
  • Customer messaging goes out without warning and most messages cannot be modified.
  • Sponsor/Exhibitors is a half-baked implementation of a beautiful idea. Unfortunately, Exhibitors cannot see what their page looks like when done, so you have to send them a screenshot, thus obliterating the promised efficiency that you hoped to gain. You have to set up all sponsors manually. This needs to be a simple checkbox in the exhibitor area.
  • Pricing is decent for smaller meetings
  • Overall -- I will not be able to use the app because of the bugs and other limitations and unfortunately because of their horrible policy on refunds. I have very dissatisfied clients.
  • Easy to implement
  • When they fix the Sponsor/Exhibitor shortcomings, this will have a huge ROI.
Whova apps are okay (not great and not a dismal failure) and have functionality similar to CrowdCompass. Whova is a little more advanced in some ways than CrowdCompass because of its "one agenda delivered to the website/mobile app" philosophy. CrowdCompass was actually less expensive than Whova and is not nearly as buggy.
Hours are limited. It seems if my event was on the weekend, I would not able to get support. Seems like a glaring issue not to be able to get support in an industry that has a large percentage of its usage on weekends. In my limited exposure to the support staff, they didn't seem to care about my issues (reporting bugs, lack of functionality, lack of customization). I may have missed the opportunity to upgrade to enhanced support, but I currently do not think it exists.
It has extremely limited customization; it is buggy; it sends stray emails you do not know are being sent and that are not customized, leaving your clients/speakers/moderators confused. The Exhibitor and Sponsor sections are considered separate functions but are similarly set up and have different sub charges. Exhibitors can set up their own pages but Sponsors cannot. Neither can see what their page looks like unless you do it for them. There is no need for these areas to be separate--it's not like my sales team has a different sales rep for sponsor banners and exhibits. These areas need to be combined and they need to have a way to preview their setup. Having the Exhibitor be able to set up their own page is a HUGE benefit, but it's only half-baked in its implementation. It is a HUGE disappointment once you figure out the limitations eliminate the benefit.

Do you think Whova delivers good value for the price?

Not sure

Are you happy with Whova's feature set?

Yes

Did Whova live up to sales and marketing promises?

No

Did implementation of Whova go as expected?

No

Would you buy Whova again?

No

It's an OK app, but it's like a version .08 beta release. If you have a need for an app that works for hybrid events -- and are not concerned about the limitations -- this is a great app.