Swapcard Review: A Virtual Event Solution Review

It’s no secret that event organizers face numerous challenges when planning and executing events that deliver memorable experiences for attendees. From coordinating different logistical elements to ensuring attendees are engaged and invested throughout the event - the challenges can seem endless.

Thankfully, numerous virtual event platforms have emerged that simplify event planning, helping organizers to increase attendee satisfaction and generate more revenue for sponsors. Swapcard is one such virtual solution.

But is Swapcard’s virtual event platform any good? This Swapcard review will answer this question. We’ll examine Swapcard’s features and functionalities and deliver a final verdict on its effectiveness in event planning and execution.

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What is Swapcard?

Swapcard advertises as an all-in-one event management platform that simplifies event planning and execution. The platform is designed to deliver memorable experiences for all types of events, including in-person, hybrid, and virtual.

Swapcard streamlines the entire event lifecycle, from planning to execution and analysis. It does this with a host of features that help event organizers create and manage every aspect of their events seamlessly, including registration, ticketing, scheduling, and analytics. Beyond event management, Swapcard also facilitates efficient one-to-one networking for guests. It uses AI algorithms to suggest relevant connections based on attendees' profiles, interests, and individual event journeys. This way attendees can directly start a conversation with those they’re more likely to find a connection with. 

Swapcard Pros & Cons

Swapcard’s virtual event software is a good option, but it does come with some drawbacks. In this section, we’ll review both the pros and cons it offers:

Swapcard Pros 

• User-friendly interface. Swapcard has a sleek and intuitive interface that makes it very easy for event organizers and attendees to use the platform. For example, it has a centralized dashboard where you are able to manage every aspect of your events, and it incorporates drag-and-drop functionality into its interface to make customization easier where it can.
• Comprehensive event management tools. Swapcard comes with features for streamlining every aspect of event planning and execution. This includes features for managing registrations, ticketing, event agendas, and much more.
• AI-powered networking. Swapcard uses AI algorithms to connect attendees with relevant peers and exhibitors based on their profiles and interests. Matching people based on their interests can save an attendee time looking for the “right” conversation, while also increasing the number of meaningful connections made at your events. Beyond just recommending who to meet with, Swapcard also has tools, like chats and video calls, that allow people to interact and forge deeper relationships.‍
• Empower exhibitors to manage their profiles. In Swapcard, organizers can empower exhibitors to manage their profiles, content, and engagement tools directly. Exhibitors can update their profiles with current information and upload promotional materials without direct input from organizers. This can greatly reduce the administrative burden for organizers, saving them time and energy (that can be used for other aspects of event planning and execution).

Swapcard Cons

• Limited customization options. Unlike other event management platforms, like Remo, which has excellent customization options, Swapcard is quite limited in this area. For example, you may be unable to fully customize templates to align with your branding guidelines or create event assets meeting your desired aesthetics. So, for organizers looking to create fully branded virtual events or conferences, Swapcard may not be the right option for you.
• Over-reliance on integrations. Swapcard supports a number of integrations, which is usually good for an organizer. However, on Swapcard the bulk of their integrations are used to provide core functionalities, like audio-video streaming and networking. For example, Swapcard integrates with Remo for its superior networking capabilities.
• Limited attendee engagement features. Swapcard’s features for engaging attendees are limited to polls, session ratings, and Q&As. This can make virtual events boring, as it does not offer any exciting or innovative tools to interact with attendees. For example, vFairs offers gamification or Remo provides live quizzes and immersive sound effects to engage attendees. ‍
• Multiple parallels. Since Swapcard caters to virtual, hybrid, and in-person events equally, it must also allocate its resources to continuously develop and support features for each event type. This dispersion of effort leads to slower innovation for specific event types. For example, Swapcard may divert resources to meet the demands of hybrid or in-person events, hindering the deployment of the latest developments in virtual event technology.

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Swapcard Key Features

Now that we’ve covered some of Swapcard’s strengths and weaknesses, let’s move on to 6 key features Swapcard offers:

1. Event Widgets

Swapcard’s widgets allow organizers to embed dynamic content from the event platform directly into their own websites to enhance the event experience for attendees. For example, you can display essential event information such as the agenda, list of speakers, exhibitor list, and even floor plan. With this, attendees can access up-to-date event details without having to navigate away from the main event website.

2. Session and Event Rating

You can get feedback from attendees using Swapcard’s session ratings feature. The platform offers instant feedback both during events and post-event. Similar to Remo’s guest experience survey, Swapcard’s session rating offers organizers a real-time glimpse into how their attendees are feeling, so they can make live adjustments if needed and improve future events. Swapcard’s rating feature is comparatively more comprehensive as it allows attendees to rate different aspects of the event, such as speaker effectiveness, presentation quality, content relevance, venue quality, and more.

3. AI-Powered Matchmaking

Swapcard has integrated AI into their platform quite innovatively through matchmaking. While AI-powered matchmaking between attendees is becoming fairly common amongst virtual event platforms, Swapcard extends this functionality with exhibitor matchmaking. With these AI features, attendees can view a list of suggested attendees and exhibitors to connect with based on interests, preferences, and needs. For attendee matchmaking, not only does AI make networking more efficient, Swapcard also provides explanations for each recommendation so attendees have a great ice-breaker or conversation starter. As for exhibitor matchmaking, AI algorithms help to match attendees with relevant exhibitors. This facilitates buyer-seller connections, making it easier for attendees to find exhibitors or sellers they may want to connect with.

4. Meeting Request

Swapcard’s networking features extend beyond chats and instant calls. It also provides an in-built meeting scheduler that allows attendees to view another users’ available meeting slots and directly book time. This is a particularly great addition if you are hosting events for lead generation, as the inclusion of immediate meetings booked can greatly speed up the buying process. Additionally, exhibitors or sellers can also use the number of meetings booked to calculate ROI easily. 

5. Contacts Scoring

Swapcard also allows attendees, exhibitors, and partners to add tags, notes, and scores to people they connect with to make future interactions more relevant. These let attendees organize their contact lists while jotting down important details to personalize follow-ups. Scoring contacts, in particular, can be extremely helpful to exhibitors as they can rate the contact’s level of interest and use this to know where to focus their follow-up efforts.

6. Push Notifications 

Swapcard also offers a push notification feature that allows you to send event-wide updates to attendees. Beyond just for sponsor/exhibitor advertisement, these can also be used to send notifications about important announcements, session reminders, and welcome messages. Like Remo’s host announcements, Swapcard’s push notifications appear as pop-ups on the screen, making them difficult for an attendee to miss.

Swapcard Pricing

Swapcard offers three paid plans (Starter, Professional, and Enterprise):

• Starter Plan: Starting from $520 per year, this basic plan gives you unlimited events, 200 attendees, and 5 exhibitors throughout the year. Though you can pay extra to add up to 1000 attendees and 30 exhibitors if needed.
• Professional Plan: This plan starts at $4379 per year and comes with unlimited events, 1000 attendees, and 10 exhibitors over the year. Again, you can top up your attendee and exhibitor limits to 10,000 and 100 respectively. With this plan, you also get access to the basic exhibition features, like virtual booths, exhibitor meetings, and more. If you’re interested in virtual exhibitions though, check out our list of best virtual exhibition platforms for a more comprehensive comparison.
• Enterprise Plan: This is a custom plan, ideal for large-scale companies looking to host events all-year round. Since it’s built according to your needs, prices will vary so it’s best to get in contact with their team for an accurate quote. With their enterprise plan though, you get access to advanced functionality, like custom integrations, exhibitor lead qualification, and gold-level service support.

Two important things to note about Swapcard’s pricing – firstly, that they only offer yearly subscriptions. So, if you decide to go with Swapcard, it is a long-term commitment unlike other platforms. For example, Remo's pricing offers per-event pricing or quarterly subscriptions, in addition to annual subscriptions. Secondly, Swapcard’s attendee and exhibitor limits are set for the entire subscription period, not per event as most other virtual event platforms do. For example, the Starter plan offers 200 attendees over the year, not 200 attendees per event. It is also unclear how they charge for repeat attendees (those that attend multiple of your events). This means you must carefully consider your event needs for the entire year upfront, otherwise you risk paying more through top-ups or upgrades for additional attendees and exhibitors.

Final Verdict

Event organizers need solutions to help them overcome the many challenges that come with planning and executing events that deliver memorable experiences. From this Swapcard review, you can see that Swapcard is a user-friendly platform with a good set of features for simplifying event planning and execution. 

However, it has limited customization options, so you may be unable to fully customize event assets to meet your branding guidelines or desired aesthetics. Additionally, Swapcard excels at helping attendees forge meaningful connections between 2 people, but lacks the robust audience engagement features or small group networking capabilities that you’ll find in top virtual event management tools like Remo. Thus, it may not fully serve all your virtual event needs.

Remo: Swapcard Better Alternative

As more events go digital, it’s becoming increasingly important to find a virtual event software with robust tools to keep virtual audiences engaged and invested throughout the event. Thankfully, though we’ve got just the platform – Remo. Remo empowers organizers to create virtual events that feel as real and engaging as face-to-face gatherings.

Remo is an innovative event management platform that revolutionizes virtual and hybrid events by offering a dynamic and interactive event environment. It provides a virtual event space that resembles real gatherings. You can customize the event layout by creating your own themed floor plan and configuring seating arrangements. Attendees can also move freely between different conversations, exchange contact info, and engage in real-time audio-video conversations, mimicking the spontaneous networking present at physical events.

Beyond networking, Remo also provides a host of tools that encourage active participation from attendees. These include the standard tools, like polls, whiteboards or Q&A, to more innovative ones like multiple screen shares, immersive sound effects, and on-stage attendee interaction. These interactive tools (and more) keep attendees on Remo engaged during events and enhance their overall experience.

Like Swapcard, Remo is also easy to use for both the organizer and attendee. However, Remo’s customizable event layouts, interactive networking features, and real-time collaboration tools make it far superior for creating immersive and engaging events that drive meaningful connections among attendees. Remo helps organizers facilitate meaningful attendee connections through authentic conversations, real-time interactions, and attendee freedom. 

While Swapcard has a lot of benefits, from its user-friendliness to its comprehensive event planning, it may not serve all your virtual event needs. Especially for virtual events where you need the audience fully immersed throughout your event. In these cases, Remo emerges as a better virtual event platform with its immersive environment that makes virtual events feel real and engaging.