When you first launched your events, you chose the simplest (and cheapest) tool to track registrations: a spreadsheet. But as your event has grown, your event registration spreadsheets have quickly become a liability instead of a helpful tool.

If you’re still using spreadsheets to track your event registrations, you might not realise how much extra work you’re doing — and sales you could be losing. Here are four ways you know you’ve outgrown your event registration spreadsheet.

1. You spend more time on new tasks

As your event grows, so do your spreadsheets. Your once manageable lists become colossal documents. Perhaps you’ve added additional ticketing options. Or you’re tracking repeat attendees versus brand new ones.

Suddenly, you’re spending as much time managing your spreadsheets as you are planning your event. And, as this responsibility balloons, it becomes easier to make mistakes.

Manually inputting every ticket purchase is an archaic way to manage even small events. When you work with an event ticketing platform instead, all of this work is automated. When someone buys a ticket, their information is automatically added to reporting documents. The mistakes made by manual input are eliminated, and at any time you can quickly access accurate reports.

2. You don’t have access to up-to-date numbers when you need them

That ability to pull up accurate reports is essential to your planning. The number of people who’ve purchased tickets — and the types of tickets they’ve purchased — is critical information. You need it to order food and drinks and merchandise. You need it to properly staff your event. And, if you don’t have easy instant access to that information, it slows you down.

Event registration spreadsheets must be updated manually, so finding time to update them can hold you back. On the other hand, if you use an event ticketing platform like Eventbrite, your lists are always accurate.

Right from your smartphone or computer browser, you can see how many people have registered for your event, along with who purchased VIP tickets or other special ticket types. Enabled with that detailed information, the rest of your planning is more accurate.

3. You have a poorly managed entry process that frustrates attendees

When you rely on spreadsheets to check in attendees, you’re rifling through lists of names manually to admit each person. And what happens if you lose the list? Or if there’s a mistake?

Your event’s reputation suffers.

An event ticketing partner, on the other hand, helps facilitated quick, stress-free entry. Your lists are available online, and you can use an event app like the Eventbrite Organiser app to quickly scan attendees’ tickets. If an attendee loses her ticket, you can pull it up for them immediately.

This high-touch service reflects well on your event brand, and it also ensures that attendees get the smooth, stress-free experience they signed up for.

4. Your marketing strategy is damaged by bad data

How many people are registering for your event but not showing up? How many come back to each event, and how many are brand new?

Knowing these insights is vital to form your event marketing strategy. But with just a spreadsheet for each event, you’re in the dark about who attended and who’s MIA. With event ticketing software, on the other hand, you can generate explicit reports to help you assess the state of your attendee lists.

Even better, you can sync that data with other apps to act on the information. For instance, you can take advantage of Eventbrite’s partnership with SurveyMonkey to send strategic follow-up surveys to people who didn’t show up, people who did show up, and people who’ve come multiple times.

Ready to move onto a better solution to collect event registrations? Create your next event on Eventbrite today.