Cvent Review: Virtual Event Review, Pricing & Alternative

Cvent is known to be one of the leading companies in the virtual event industry but has been struggling to provide client satisfaction. If you’re someone who’s looking for virtual event companies that can deliver a great service for an amazing price, you’re in for a treat!

Finding the right virtual events company is not easy. Want to know which company can serve as the best Cvent competitor?

With this in-depth Cvent review, let us help you find out which company offers virtual event services that are seamlessly executed and are worth the price. 

What is Cvent?

cvent review

Cvent is a cloud-based solution that offers online event registration, venue selection, event management, and marketing and virtual, hybrid, and onsite event solutions. In addition, their solution provides an opportunity for event planners to keep track of their attendance and gather related data.

At Cvent, event managers can create event calendars where attendees can watch upcoming events and sync them with their calendars. This solution also offers budget management which assists in keeping track of funds for numerous events, calculating the expenditure for each meeting and the variable costs incurred.

With Cvent solutions, organizations can automate and streamline their event management process to enhance the event experience. By helping various clients worldwide, Cvent has had its fair share of stardom. However, when providing such a diverse set of solutions, it is crucial to ensure that your clients enjoy the same experience that you’re promising to deliver.

Over time things have taken a different course, and Cvent can be seen struggling to deliver. We firmly believe that finding a client might seem easier, but retaining them is what matters.

Cvent’s Key Features

  1. Event Management:

a) Registration

Cvent’s event planning software makes registration easy to use and monitor. As unique as events can be, this feature offers a registration system tailored to your needs. So irrespective of the size or intricacy of the event, users have all the tools you’ll need.

b) Event Promotion

Creating a buzz on social media and through emails is imperative for the advertisement of the event. The hype of the event can do wonders. With Cvent’s event promotion feature, users can market their event with email and social media tools, customized event websites, and event calendars.

c) Workflow Management

Managing your workflow can be an exasperating job. With several tasks to manage for the event, one platform that provides you with all the support you need can be a blessing. With Cvent’s workflow management, users can streamline their time-consuming processes, including appointments, contacts, exhibitors, budgets, and more, with ease.

d) Reporting and Insights

With event reporting and insights, users can track how each process is performing. With the option of basic and custom reports and dashboards, users can examine their data in real-time and export it into numerous formats.

  1. Meetings Management:

a) Meeting request portal

With Cvent’s meeting request portal, users can easily track their meetings to increase visibility and ensure the processes are compliant. In addition, with the standardized meeting request forms, users can get insights into any meeting happening at their organization.

b) Venue outsourcing

Users can customize their RFPs by including specific questions, ensuring they have ample information to make comparisons when deciding upon venues. This feature helps users make the right decision regarding venue outsourcing.

c) Reporting

With real-time reports, users can find out what, how, and why their business is impacted a certain way. Insights on key-value metrics include spending, savings, ROI, and volume, assisting companies with making the right decisions.

d) Internal planning calendar

Planning your events or meetings could never be more manageable. With Cvent’s internal planning calendar, users can now design, strategize and prioritize their tasks by customizing the calendar according to their needs.

e) Budget management

Want to keep an eye on your budgets? With Cvent’s budget management feature, users can obtain all the required data through the custom budget fields, including expenditure and savings. Payments have also been made simpler with the credit card option and Concur expense additions.

  1. Onsite Solutions:

a) Check-in and badging

When organizing an event, nailing the first impression is essential. With a smooth sign-in and badging experience, you can significantly impact the attendees. With this feature, attendees will be assisted for check-ins and badging, so they don’t have to wait in lines.

b) Attendee tracking

This feature provides security and makes attendee tracking smoother and quicker. Users can detect patterns, interests, attendance, and more by monitoring their attendees.

c) Social amplification

Social amplification feature allows users to create social media hype on the relevant social media platforms. Users can work on engaging content, social media posts, and photos.

d) Support & equipment

Cvent’s support and equipment feature provides hands-on support to its users. Whether the issue is big or small, they’re available for help.

  1. Room block management

a) Custom booking sites

This feature gives the users the ability to create their own branded website for the upcoming event. It can be customized according to the users’ needs, and they can develop, oversee and modify the changes from any device.

b) Registration integration

Cvent’s registration integration with the room block management lets the attendees book their rooms while registering for the event. This makes it easier for them to book a room near the event block.

c) Email campaigns

With automated reminders, email campaigns do the job of continuously reminding the attendees to book their rooms according to their preference.

d) Powerful tracking and reporting

With the tracking and reporting feature, users get immediate access to the rooming stats and the tools to view their reservations and room lists. With this feature, Cvent makes event housing easy.

  1. Venue sourcing features

a) Search venues

Finding the perfect venue isn’t easy when you don’t have a lot of options to choose from. With Cvent’s search venues, users can choose the ideal venue for their event from our database, with more than 245,000 global venue options. Then, users can select the one that best suits them the best.

b) Compare bids

With this feature, users will be able to compare the venue bid side-by-side, making it easier to choose the one that suits them best.

c) Increase visibility

By keeping track of venue sourcing activity within the organization, users will mark their favorite suppliers within their accounts. This feature also helps with keeping track of RFPs.

Cvent Pros & Cons

Cvent provides solutions to the virtual events industry, and thus, managing it can be quite a hassle.

Pros:

Here are some pros of Cvent that will help you see the good in them:

a) Single platform for all your event needs

Whether it’s event planning, event registration, or just hosting events, Cvent knows how to provide a complete package. This gives Cvent a competitive edge and the clients a platform to fulfill all their event needs.

Cvent covers almost everything from marketing and managing events, connecting planners and venues, to providing solutions to suppliers. With this, clients looking for virtual events find them appealing and thus, decide to work with him.

b) Cvent academy

Cvent understands the importance of training clients for virtual events. Since this is a new concept, it is often challenging to train clients and employees likewise for the event procedures. These pieces of training work in correlation with the services that the clients opt for. With Cvent’s training academy, clients’ onboarding process becomes hassle-free and speedy, taking the burden off their team.

Cvent training is user-friendly and provides an exciting way to learn everything about virtual events. Although the modules are lengthy to finish and may take away one’s interest, they are a good source for getting a deeper understanding of virtual events and how to plan and execute them.

c) A user-friendly virtual event platform

Their customers rate Cvent platform as a very user-friendly platform. The best part is that one can see how much thought and understanding they’ve put in when building it as a user. They have thought of all the things a user can possibly need when working on their platform and have it sorted for them. As a result, many users consider it a one-stop shop for virtual event management.

Users’ reviews show that managing events has become seamless, hassle-free, and quick from end to end. In addition, with Cvent, communication amongst the internal teams becomes smoother and clearer.

Cons:

Here are some cons that you must consider before you make your decision:

a) Over Promised and under delivered

You must agree here; it isn’t easy to get clients on board. It takes all your time and energy not to forget the technical team you must hire. However, what makes or breaks your relationship with your client is the experience they have. 

One of the most significant ways to retain your clients is never overpromising and under delivering. This gives the company a negative image and makes the potential clients a little hesitant about choosing you as an events partner. 

A Cvent user on G2 has specifically mentioned that they were over promised and under delivered.

Overpromised and underdelivered. Frequent requests for support left us shaking our heads at non-answers, and frustrated when told there was nothing more they could do for us.” Administrator in Financial Services

At vFairs, our priority has always been client satisfaction. When getting the client on board, we keep our ground and do not let them have any unrealistic expectations. We do not overpraise ourselves to promise something our team cannot deliver because a bad client experience is our failure. 

Therefore, we take our clients very seriously. We make sure they enjoy their virtual events, gain some insight, and have an extraordinary experience. 

b) Weak customer service

When onboarding a client, it is essential to ensure that you’ve assisted them enough to understand how your virtual events platform works. If a client faces issues with understanding your platform and you’re not there to assist them, then this is a deal-breaker. 

A client heavily relies on your customer service, and therefore, if not guided well, a client has every right to be enraged.

With Cvent, a few clients on G2 has mentioned: 

“Reporting platform is inaccurate, a poor-quality final product, over 40 calls to customer support, unable to meet the needs we were promised…the list goes on!” Consultant in Airlines/Aviation

“Some of the customer service representatives are not very helpful and don’t seem to know the product very well. It is very difficult to get questions answered.” Rachel S – Events Coordinator

VFairs, Cvent’s competitor, has always been praised for its remarkable customer service. Our project managers and customer service personnel are always there to ensure our clients have a smooth onboarding process. 

We make sure our team answers every client’s questions, and we do not rest till our client is satisfied. The team at vFairs is instructed to keep clients at the priority. So even if a client has queries over the weekend, we’re there to help. 

c) Over-priced

A Cvent user on G2 mentioned about the hidden charges they’ve been charged with while having a contract with them. Therefore, when getting into an agreement with them, everything might seem straightforward, but they surprise you with some hidden charges.

“Sometimes the back end stuff is quite confusing. There are hidden charges to be able to get more features. The previous Cvent web creation was very confusing and hard to use when trying to make simple changes.” Administrator in Hospital & Health Care

Moreover, Cvent pricing is variable for event management and online registration solution keeping in mind the annual registration volume and any advanced features that you want to be activated for your requirements. Mobile apps, however, are priced per event.

Cvent competitors do not all charge the same way. For example, at vFairs, clients are charged for specific feature add-ons, but we don’t charge by attendee volume unless they reach over ~10,000.

d) Outdated platforms with no flexibility in design

The virtual events platform at Cvent is a basic site and therefore doesn’t give enough room for changes in design or the flexibility to switch between different event types as mentioned by a G2 user. 

“Very outdated in terms of design flexibility and it isn’t very intuitive in both finding pages as well as editing look and feel. Just doesn’t feel like its a modern solution for event promotion. It’s easy for users to go off brand as although templates can be created, they can’t really be locked so colors and logos and images can be changed by event users a little too easily.” Sarah A – Graduate Marketing Assistant

A few users of G2 have mentioned how outdated their platform looks and feels like. 

“The system seems a bit outdated and could use some modernizing. Additionally, there is a lot of manual work on the web design side, and the program is not extremely intuitive.” Administrator in Medical Devices

Users, however, have always found vFairs much easier to use, set up, and manage. Users have also reviewed vFairs as the more liable option when comparing the features and roadmaps

Cvent Pricing

Cvent’s pricing for most of its solutions, such as event management and online registration, is variable. They consider the annual registration volume and the advanced features based on users’ particular requirements. Similarly, mobile apps are priced per event.

Cvent offers free trials to their prospects so they may have a taste of the services they will be opting for. However, they do not provide any variations or packages. Moreover, as mentioned earlier, the hidden charges for add-ons are heavy too. Thus, for most users, the package always includes an additional cost.

vFairs, being Cvent’s competitor, offers a variation of packages for its users. With three pricing levels, vFairs offers single-event, two-event and annual licenses. Clients at vFairs are charged for specific feature add-ons, but we don’t charge by attendee volume unless they reach over ~10,000.

Many users feel that the reluctance of choosing Cvent comes in when they share the prices. With their a la carte pricing structure, users are always under the pressure that they might be asked for more even after they’ve paid in full. Therefore, many users find it hard to sustain their services.

Final Verdict

In conclusion, we’ll have to agree that Cvent offers a wide variety of solutions, giving them an edge over its competitors. However, the question is, are Cvent’s clients satisfied?

Yes, some are. Nevertheless as mentioned above, a few user reviews show that small enterprises have had a hard time with them. In addition, users felt that they were over promised while services were underdelivered.

If you’re looking for an alternative to Cvent, vFairs is your answer!

vFairs: Cvent’s Better Alternative

 

Planning and executing events, be it in-person or virtual, is not a piece of cake. Hence when looking for a virtual events enterprise, it is essential to get some insights from the user reviews. Cvent can be an excellent option for you if you think you can easily afford a heavy price for your events. 

5 Reasons Why vFairs Can Be a Fantastic Alternative to Cvent:

1. Customer service? We got you! 

Our customer service is excellent! User reviews show that our professionals leave no room for ambiguity. Our team provides exceptional and efficient customer service. It is preemptive in explaining what we need from our clients, which facilitates them to better stick to the deadlines and recognize the urgency. 

In addition, our team is available at all hours to respond to any questions that a client might have. 

2. Our events platform is the most user-friendly! 

When comparing Cvent to vFairs, numerous users have found vFairs user-friendly and easy to set up and administer. Our platform is simple and very easy to navigate. However, if you need assistance, we’re with you every step of the way. 

3. Expensive? Not at all. 

We aim to cater to everyone from large organizations to smaller enterprises with our package options. At vFairs, what’s important is how satisfied you are with our services. 

4. We deliver what we promise.  

We always promise what we can deliver. We make sure our clients expect what we can offer, so there is no disappointment in the end. 

5. We hear you! 

Yes, we hear you! We have read every user review and have taken feedback from every client. We make sure to work on every little detail to provide you with a seamless service. For you, we’re constantly evolving and trying to make our services better, so you always come back for more. 

If you ever decide to choose vFairs, we promise it’ll be a worthwhile experience. 

vFairs vs Cvent

The comparison between Cvent and vFairs, according to G2 reviews, depends on a combination of factors.

cvent review

What Next?

Want to know more about vFairs? Check out our customer reviews and feel free to get in touch with us or book a free guided demo.

Cvent Review: Virtual Event Review, Pricing & Alternative

Amna Akhtar

Amna is a content marketer at vFairs and has been crafting all sorts of content for a couple of years. She's really into exploring various types of content creation – think blogs, paid ads, scripts, email marketing, you name it. She has a real passion for writing about a bunch of different topics, as it satisfies her ever-present eagerness to learn something new. Whenever she's not busy piecing together her latest project, you'll find her outdoors, capturing the beauty around her one snapshot at a time.

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