University Extension programs are some of the most useful public programs in the country: Master Gardener training, beekeeping and food safety courses, pesticide applicator certification, workshops for farmers and families. We wanted to know how easy it is for someone to find one of those programs on a Cooperative Extension website, sign up and pay. So we audited the Extension websites of land-grant universities against the same 498 checks, and published the results as The State of Digital Extension 2026.
This post covers four findings from the report and what we would fix first. If you manage registration, events or online payments for a university, our page on higher education ecommerce shows how we build those systems.
How easy is it to find university Extension events?
We looked for each university's Extension events the way a member of the public would. At 6 in 10 of the 43 universities we searched, our standard search of the site found the events listing on its own. At the other 4 in 10, events took extra searching through menus, county sites or site search, or we could not locate them at all.
That is a findability problem, not a supply problem. Where the extra searching paid off, there was substantial programming behind it. The events existed. People just had to work harder than they should to reach them.
The usual causes are simple. Events sit under a department menu instead of the main navigation. Each county office runs its own calendar. Program pages describe a course but never link to the dates. Each one adds a step between interest and registration.
Extension program registration usually leaves the university website
In 25 of the 31 registration journeys we could follow (81%), clicking to register sent people to another domain. Across every journey we followed, we counted 22 different third-party registration, ticketing and payment tools.
Third-party tools are not the problem on their own. Many universities rely on them for good reasons. The trouble starts when the handoff is abrupt: a different look, a different name in the address bar, a new account to create, and no clear sign that the person is still dealing with their university. Every jump to a new website is a moment where people hesitate.
Program pages that stop short of a sign-up
On 29 of the 84 program pages we sampled, the page described the program but offered no register button or registration link. People had to work out the next step on their own.
These pages often rank well in search because they are detailed and useful. That makes the missing next step more costly: the page does the hard work of attracting the right person and then leaves them without a way to act.
Payment options at checkout: digital wallets were rare
Every one of the 8 checkouts where we could see the payment options took credit and debit cards. Only 2 of the 8 offered a digital wallet like Apple Pay or Google Pay.
Most Extension audiences register on their phones. A wallet button saves typing a card number and billing address on a small screen, which is where many registrations stall.
How to make Extension events easier to find and register for
The fastest gains rarely come from new programs. They come from removing the steps between someone's interest and their registration:
- Put Events in the main navigation. One click from the home page to a single, searchable list of upcoming programs.
- Give every event its own page. One URL per event, with the date, time, location, price and audience in plain text.
- Show a register button on every event and program page. If registration is not open yet, say when it opens and offer a reminder.
- Add event schema markup. Event structured data tells search engines the name, date, location and status of each program, so they can show it in event results.
- Treat sign-ups like conversions. Track registrations the way an online store tracks orders, and make the flow as easy as a good checkout.
- Offer the payment options people expect. Cards are the baseline. Apple Pay and Google Pay shorten checkout on a phone.
- Use attendance best practices. Confirmation emails, calendar invites and reminders turn registrations into people in the room.
Frequently asked questions
What is The State of Digital Extension 2026?
It is a free research report from IWD Agency. We audited the Cooperative Extension websites of land-grant universities against 498 checks across 8 areas, from finding an event to paying for it. The full report is at The State of Digital Extension 2026, with no form to fill in.
How many universities had Extension events that were hard to find?
40% of the universities we searched. At 17 of the 43, events took extra searching through menus, county sites or site search, or we could not locate them at all. At the other 26, our standard search found the events listing on its own.
Why does Extension program registration leave the university website?
Most universities use outside tools for registration, ticketing and payment. In 25 of the 31 registration journeys we followed, clicking to register sent people to another domain, and we counted 22 different tools in total. Outside tools can work well when the handoff keeps the university's name and look, and asks for as little as possible.
What is event schema markup, and does it help Extension programs?
Event schema markup is structured data added to an event page. It describes the event's name, dates, location, price and status in a format search engines read directly. It makes each program eligible for event features in search results, which helps people find programs without knowing which university site to visit.
What should a university event registration system include?
A page for every event, a register button on every program page, a short checkout that works on a phone, card and digital wallet payments, and automatic confirmations and reminders. It should also report registrations by program so teams can see what is working. Our page on university event registration software covers how we build this for Extension programs.
How can my university see how its Extension website compares?
Book a 30-minute walkthrough and we will show you how your site compares across the areas in the report and where we would start. Book a time on our contact page.
If your university runs registration and events for Extension programs, see how we build program registration, events and microcredentials for universities.