What is a white label event platform, and why should you use one?

When it comes to event platforms, there’s no shortage of choice out there.

Most have different strengths and weaknesses when it comes to features, ease-of-use (and of course price).

But if you’re serious about your brand and how your events are perceived in the marketplace, there’s one quality you should not compromise on. Whichever event platform you settle on – make sure it’s white label.

What is a white label event platform?

The simplest definition of white label is essentially anything you can fully rebrand and make your own.

In the world of event platforms, it means that, to your customers, clients and audience, everything they see and the technology they use – before and during your event, is bespoke and unique to you.

From the first marketing email to the event website, registration forms, transactional emails, check-in experience, badging, attendee app, virtual environment – everything should look like you own it, and like it was made exclusively for you.

No watermarks. Nothing to distract or detract from your organisation.

To be clear, white label does not simply mean personalised. Of course, you’d expect any platform to have an editor that’ll let you drop in your own content. You’d also expect any paid service to allow you to use your own brand colour palette and place your logo here and there.

But a true white label platform goes much further.

A logo is not your brand. Your brand is the sum of the experience your customers have with you – before, during and after your event. It’s your whole aesthetic. Your attitude. Your personality. A truly white label platform makes it easier to craft a solid and consistent event brand that will wow customers, attendees, employees and sponsors by reinforcing your identity across every touchpoint.

Whose event is it anyway?

Plug-and-play services like Eventbrite are notorious for plastering their brand identity all over your landing page, reg form and everything else. That’s their business model and it’s probably OK if you’re running a pilates class or organising a coffee morning. But if you’re running a business event with the objective of strengthening your brand, or generating revenue, you want to be taken seriously.

Marketplace-style platforms like Eventbrite can risk making your event look small-time – as though you lack the resources to present it on your own terms, in your own corporate voice.

Other legacy platforms (such as Cvent and Stova) offer the opportunity to pay thousands of dollars extra for something called a ‘branding package’, in return for which they will generously remove their branding from your website (you know, the one you already paid them $30,000 for). Gee, thanks!

Even if you pay up though, you’ll often find that your creativity is still hemmed in by clunky old templates, un-editable generic text on system messages and a bunch of other one-size-fits-all constraints.

We take the view that the only brand your customers and attendees should ever see is yours (and those of your sponsors). And we believe that every interaction point should be customisable and personalised to reflect your unique style, tone of voice and brand personality.

So here’s our hot take on what you should look for in a white-label event platform:

Event website

Too many platforms give you tired, generic landing pages based on static templates. You can change some colours but not much else. Insist on full control but without the need to actually code HTML or CSS. Demand a state-of-the-art CMS with dynamic templating that makes it easy to bring in your content, fonts, colours, graphical elements – and get the whole aesthetic exactly as you want it.

Fonts, images and colours

Your event website, emails and everything else should be customisable with with your brand colours, typefaces, logos and other visual assets.

Custom domains

Instead of using eventbrite.com or cvent.com in the event website URLs, you should easily be able to map your own custom domain or a domain supplied by your client. Your platform should take care of the details – especially security (SSL certificates, DDOS protection etc).

Virtual event space

A true white label platform allows you to brand your whole virtual event space – not just what’s in the video stream. The lobby, interaction tools and UI should all pick up your house style to make sure your branding stays consistent and on-point.

Marketing emails

Email performance is critical and your event emails should look exactly how your company needs them to – not how the platform designer thinks they should. Demand a fully customisable drag & drop HTML builder with advanced personalisation features within your event platform.

Transactional emails

The platform should allow you to you edit, style and brand all the transactional (system-generated) emails your registrants receive (confirmations, reminders etc.), so you can give your event brand real personality.

Custom ‘From’ email address

To reinforce your branding further, use your own email domain to send all the emails and notifications originating from your event platform. This also increases email deliverability and helps prevent emails from landing in spam folders.

Badging

Integrated badge-builder software should make it easy to design professional badges that reinforce your corporate brand, and print them on demand, in any size and format. Not just a generic template with a logo in one corner. The only limit should be your creativity.

Event app

From the initial splash screen, through to the programme details and networking tools – a white label platform should ensure the UX and presentation of your app content is automatically configured to match that of your event website, your emails, badging and everything else – down to the smallest detail.

Check-in app

First impressions count – and whether your checking people in staffed or kiosk mode, the welcome screens and interface they see should reflect your brand alone. The right platform will give you precise control over splash screen, messaging, colours and more.

Invoices

If you’re using the platform to automatically generate and supply invoices to paying registrants, those invoices should be fully customisable. That means your brand, your fonts, your details and even your invoice block sequence if required.

By its very nature, a white label platform is built and developed by a third-party provider. But the key is that it should be customisable to the extent that, for all intents and purposes, it looks like you developed the technology yourself.

In other words, it should give you all the advantages of a bespoke, in-house system – with none of the massive development costs and maintenance headaches.

Why does white label matter?

Think of your event as a cake.

Using a platform that isn’t white label is a bit like sourcing the best and freshest ingredients, then spending all day baking to a cherished recipe; but when your creation is perfectly decorated – instead of presenting it on a beautiful silver cake stand – you shove it into a Mr Kipling (or Little Debbie) box.

Surely you want your guests to know you made all this, especially for them?

Why make it obvious you’re using the same off-the-shelf platform as everyone else? Why leave your attendees wondering which supplier provided the infrastructure for your flagship event? Was it Eventbrite or Cvent or Hopin?

Give them an experience that is truly yours. One where every message, every detail, every memory is associated with your brand. No-one else’s.

Your brand is everything. It’s what moves your customers to action and differentiates you from countless competitors.

Don’t share the limelight with anyone else. Let your technology providers do their own advertising.