Having the right marketing strategy, creating the perfect buzz and offering an easy online registration method will not matter if you can't close the deal instantly. One of the key causes behind abandoned registrations online is the inability to pay. Let me clarify… I do not mean that your pricing strategy is faulty or in any way mean to indicate that your tickets are too expensive. I simply mean that not every customer has MasterCard or Visa.

India's credit card holding population is substantially larger then it was 5 or 10 years ago. But, it is nowhere close to the figures that countries like the United States, Australia or Singapore boast. Moreover, Indian banks, on an average, have 56 per cent active cards as against 80 per cent in Australia and 75 per cent in Singapore and a low transaction frequency of 14.7 per active card per year as against 53.1 in the US and 37.8 in Argentina. Furthermore, according to RBI's latest data the number of outstanding credit cards in February-end 2009 declined to 2.55 crore as against 2.83 crore as of April-end 2008. (Figures Source: Reserve Bank of India, India Card Council)

Moral of the story, if you want to close registration instantly online in India, in addition to credit cards you have to offer alternative payment options such as debit cards, direct debits, cash cards etc. This may sound expensive and time consuming. And, it would be if you had to go out and tie-up with separate banks and financial institutions every time you organize an event.

Instead of signing up with a bank, that limits your customer base to Visa and MasterCard cardholders and possible direct debits from the bank's own customers, an advisable and financially feasible option is a neutral third party solution. There are players such as EventAvenue in the market that offer a range of customized online event management tools designed to maximize the reach and profitability of different types of events. By signing with such as solution, you get access to not only tools that will make managing your event easier but also an online payment gateway with a wide variety of payment options.

For example: EventAvenue wide range of payment options include 7 major credit cards, more than 50 net banking payment options (20 Chinese net banks, 30 Indian net banks and 3 Singapore net banks), cash cards and mobile payments. It has also recently introduced a payment option - debit cards. Currently, it has 12 Indian debit cards with 2 being added in the near future.

The benefit of offering multiple payment options, you open up your event to all types of audiences rather than limiting registrations to individuals possessing a credit card.