Since the beginning of the COVID-19 outbreak, there has been a monumental shift in how our world functions. So many aspects of our lives have moved to an online/remote format since we cannot physically be in the same spaces. For individuals and businesses that primarily rely on in-person interactions and events, this shift has been difficult to navigate. One way that many have been able to still provide their incredible services during this odd time in our history has been through webinars and online courses.
We recently had the opportunity to work with Sandra C Smith (AlchemyWorks) in implementing a registration system on her website for one of her upcoming online courses. Sandra “a Certified Enneagram Narrative Tradition teacher, an Enneagram Consultant and an IEA (International Enneagram Association) Accredited Professional and Spiritual Companion. Sandra teaches the Enneagram throughout North America as a tool for personal and professional development and spiritual growth.” (Read more about Sandra/AlchemyWorks here)
Sandra and Guy Sayles are hosting an online course called ‘Weavers of What Might Be’ and is all about ‘Leadership in the Unknown’. As you can probably tell by the title, the course is all about how the COVID-19 pandemic has changed and will continue to change the “patterns of life and work”. You can read more about this event and even register for the course by going to the event page on Sandra’s website.
How We Developed the Registration Process
If you are familiar with WordPress websites, then you know how unique each and every site can be. A WordPress website is a unique combination of a hosting environment, a collection of plugins, a theme, and–in many cases–custom CSS, Javascript, and PHP. As a result, each website (in our opinion) deserve the same level of unique treatment when it comes to adding a certain functionality. For this project, AlchemyWorksEvents.com already had a plugin installed on the website that we could use to create an event registration process.
Creating a Registration Page for the Online Course
The first step of the process was creating a simple webpage where users could find out more information about the online course and where they could fill out a registration form. Designing this page was as simple as creating a new page in WordPress and adding the content that Sandra provided. We were able to use the Block Editor in WordPress to make a clean page. We made sure to properly tag the headings in order to help out with SEO, and we even added an auto-scroll button at the top of the page that instantaneously took users to the registration form.
Creating a Registration Form
The second step in the process was developing the actual registration form. Now, this step can be a little cumbersome depending on what plugins are already installed. If you go to the WordPress Plugin Repository and search for ‘forms’, you will find page after page of different form plugins. The options are practically limitless. Rather than installing new plugins to a site and risk breaking functionality, we noticed that AlchemyWorksEvents.com already had Gravity Forms (Pro Version) installed and activated. Gravity Forms is an incredible plugin with a bunch of incredibly powerful add-ons. With the Pro Version, Gravity Forms gives users the capability of connecting the plugin to PayPal to collect payments.
To build the registration form, we created a new form that would collect users’ Name, Email, Enneagram Type, and allow users to select which portions of the course they would like to purchase. We set the notification settings to send users a confirmation email upon successful payment. Additionally, upon successful payment, users would automatically be redirected to a separate Confirmation Page on AlchemyWorksEvents.com. We also enabled the form to send Sandra a notification every time somebody successfully signed up for the online course.
Custom PHP Snippet to Finish The Job
The last step in the process involved a fun (and very quick) development of a PHP snippet. Once we showed Sandra the draft of the registration form, she asked if it was possible to get rid of the default ‘PayPal Credit’ option that comes as part of the native Gravity Forms PayPal integration. In order to remove this feature and streamline the look and feel of the registration form, we simply inserted this PHP snippet (by using this handy plugin):
add_filter( 'gform_ppcp_disable_funding', 'ppcp_disable_credit' );
function ppcp_disable_credit( $disabled_funding ) {
$disabled_funding[] = 'credit';
return $disabled_funding;
}
What We Learned In the Process
Overall, this project enabled us to acquire an even better understanding of developing a registration process for an online event/course. As the world continues to learn how to disseminate high caliber teaching, education, and resources through an online format, we believe that our ability to create efficient registration processes will also become more necessary. If you have an online event or course coming up, feel free to send us a message on our contact page. We would love to help make sure that your next online event is a raging success!