Please be aware that Lyyti is developed constantly and your view might not match 100% with the view described in this article.

Have you sent an invitation through Lyyti and now you have issues with duplicate participants in the event or did you just send a reminder invitation to not reacted participants but it looks like people who are already on the registered list got the reminder as well?

No need to worry! This article will describe the logic why duplicate participants appear in your event and how to fix the situation going forward.

This article includes the following sections:

• Why do I have duplicate participants in my event?
  • Using the open registration link in invitations
  • Using the personal registration link in invitations
  • How do I know if I used the open link in my invitation?
• How can I remove duplicate participants?
• Fixing the invitation message
• How can I prevent duplicate participants in the future?

Why do I have duplicate participants in my event?

The most common reason why duplicate participants appear on the participant list in Lyyti events is that instead of using the personal link in the invitation email, the open registration link was used.

In Lyyti we have two different ways of registering: 

1. The open registration link = anyone with the link can register.  This link always create a new participant in the list.
2. The personal registration link = only invited guests can register. This link updates existing participants in the list.

Read more about their differences here: Open or personal registration link?

We always recommend using the personal registration link in events where the invitation for the event is sent through Lyyti's messaging tool to prevent duplicates.

The open link is meant to be used for example on social media and on websites as because anyone with the open link can register to the event. When a participant registers through the open link, a new participant is created to the event with the status "registered".

Using the open registration link in invitations

When the open link is used in the invitation you would first need to import the participants to the event as "not reacted" in order to select them as recipients of the invitation. Then when the invitation is sent with the open registration link, and the participant registers, a new participant is created in addition to the already imported not reacted participant. The end result is that you will have the same name and email twice on the participants page :

• registered participant > registration through the open link
• not reacted participant > imported participant 

Using the personal registration link in invitations

If you instead use the personal registration link, the imported not reacted participant will open the invitation and then go to the registration link where their email address is already filled in. They will fill in the rest of the form and register to the event. Technically, then the participant status changes from not reacted to registered and no duplicated will be created. 

• Not reacted participant (imported) > Registered

This way you will have the true list of not reacted participants and you are able to send a reminder invitation to those who have not registered yet.

Remember that the personal registration link is truly personal so anyone that has access to a participant's personal registration link can see their personal information. It is a good idea to communicate this with the participant as well to prevent them from forwarding the invitation to others.

How do I know if I used the open link in my invitation?

In order to check which link was used in the invitation we recommend going to the messaging section in Lyyti and opening the invitation message so that you are able to see the content of the message. You can then hover with your mouse over the "Register here" -button or hyper link to see which link was used.

The open registration link example:

https://www.lyyti.in/THE_EVENT_NAME_HERE_numbers

or

https://www.lyyti.in/%OPEN_ENROLLMENT_LINK%  

You can find the event specific open url address under event > registration link on the left menu if you are unsure how the link is supposed to look like.

The personal registration link doesn't have the event name in it so that is the difference between the personal and the open link.

How can I remove duplicate participants?

You can remove duplicates in two different ways: manually on the participants page or with the help of excel import. You can choose from these two alternatives which ever you feel more comfortable with. The wanted end result in both options is that all not reacted participants that are already registered are removed from the list so that you have a more accurate list and/or can send a reminder invitation to the correct people according to their status.

If you plan on sending a reminder, please make sure that you remove the duplicates right before sending the new invitation.

In addition to removing the not reacted duplicate participants you can prevent the same person registering twice to the same event. In this example the same participant can be found on the participants list three times: registered, registered and not reacted. In these cases we recommend removing the not reacted participant and checking with the registered participant if one of their registrations can be removed. This is a separate setting that you can activate on the registration page by editing the email question: Prevent double registrations.

Remove duplicate participants manually

1. Go to the participants page
2. Select to look at all participants
3. Sort the participants in alphabetical order by clicking on the email address heading in order to get the duplicates above each other
4. Select one page at a time the not reacted duplicate participants
5. Click on the right side of the page: delete

Remove duplicate participants with excel

1. Go to reports and create a participant report with only not reacted participants: Create a participant report / online report
2. Export the report to your computer
3. Go to participants page and view not reacted participants
4. Select all not reacted participants and delete them
5. Import the uploaded participant report with the not reacted participants through excel: Add participants from Excel. When importing select that there can only be one participant with the same email address in the event. This way Lyyti will automatically remove the not reacted participants that are already registered in the event during the import
    

Fixing the invitation message

If you want to send an reminder invitation from the event, we recommend editing the invitation in order to prevent new duplicate participants. If you don't need to send out any reminders, you can skip this part.

In order to add the personal link to the invitation the original invitation needs to be copied and edited:

1. Go to messaging
2. Copy the sent invitation
3. Edit the message in the email editor
4. Click on the registration button or remove the hyperlink in order to change the registration link
   
   For the button: Click on the right side of the editor under the URL filed on "personalisation links" and select "personal registration link"
   
   
   Hyperlink: Set your mouse where you want the link to be and click on the "personalisation links" button in the black/grey toolbox and select "personal registration link"
   
5. Save and close
6. You can do a test send to see that the link works as it should: Test e-mail sending

How can I prevent duplicate participants in the future?

To prevent duplicate participants in the future we recommend always using the personal registration link when sending invitations through Lyyti messaging.

If you need to provide a possibility to invite also other people to the event the open registration link can be added to the invitation in addition to the personal registration link if it is meant that the invitation can be forwarded to other people as well but event in those cases we recommend instructing the person being invited to register through the personal link and instructing them to share a different link to their colleagues or friends.