
Events for businesses can be a big investment and a big risk. As with any investment the aim is to maximise your ROI (Return On Investment).
When planning an event for your business, you need to pay extra special attention to your ROI to ensure you do not lose focus and the event becomes unprofitable. Note that a Return On Investment doesn’t necessarily have to be financially motivated, it could involve website visits or leads captured.
But first, what is the importance of evaluating your event ROI?
• Drives Strategy: Analysing ROI shows what is working well and where there is room for improvement.
• Helps to Quantify Value and Impact: Statistics and hard metrics justify the investment and resources needed for events.
• Focuses Budget: Tracking your ROI helps you to allocate your budget wisely to optimise results. You learn to put your budget into high ROI events.
• Allows for Benchmarking: Comparing ROI event to event highlights trends and progress. This will allow you to learn and improve ROI on future events.
Now you know the benefits, how do you maximise?
Focus on your business goals
Establish your goals before you start planning an event. This will ensure you are clear on what you’re working towards so you can achieve greater success. Decide on your event aims, is it driving lead generation? Strengthening client relationships? Boosting brand awareness? These aims will help to set the foundation for measuring ROI effectively.
Value Factors in Event ROI:
• Event Revenue: Normally from ticket sales or registration fees.
• Lead Generation: New potential customers or clients identified during the event.
• Pipeline Value: Potential business deals that arise as a result of the event.
• Number of Attendees: A larger audience signifies greater reach, influence, and ticket sales.
• Sponsorship and Partnerships: Collaborations that can offset costs or offer additional event benefits.
• Press Mentions and Social Media: Media coverage and social media shares enhance brand visibility for you and your business.
• Marketing Content Generation: Events can provide a whole host of marketing content. The sessions you record can be broken down into smaller promo videos, photos used on year-round marketing materials, customer testimonials and more.
Figure out how you’re tracking ROI
Now you know what your goals are for your event and business, you want to figure out how you’re going to reliably track your ROI. For this there is a range of software out there designed to help you, one of these is customer relationship management software or a CRM for short. This software helps you to track information about customers and your relationship to them. One of your ways of tracking ROI might be how many customer details you can obtain in your CRM and so you will be focusing your event on lead capture to get the highest ROI.
Google Analytics is also useful for website traffic data, it allows you to track user activities, link clicks, and form submissions. You might be measuring your ROI by how many visits your website gets during and after an event, in this case Google Analytics is your best friend.In a financial sense, selling event tickets online can help you track data in multiple ways, from seeing your ticket sale profits to seeing how customers came across your event and honing in on that channel in the future as it’s proven to drive conversions.
You can track live engagement at your event using a variety of technology and by creating interactive experiences. Integrate event apps, live polls, or virtual Q&A sessions. The data gathered can give you insights into what resonated most with attendees, allowing you to refine future events.
Event Goal | Event ROI Indicator | How To Measure |
Generate Leads
| Number of leads collected, lead-to-customer conversion rate | CRM, event automation platform |
Increase Brand Awareness | Social media reach, hashtag mentions, web traffic | Google Analytics, social media listening tools |
Drive Product Engagement | Product demo views, trial signups, purchases | Website analytics, sales database |
Enhance Customer Experience | Satisfaction ratings, feedback comments | Surveys, interactive event apps |
Grow Community
| Social followers, membership sign-ups, engagement rate | Social media analytics, membership platform |
Maximise Attendee Networking | Participation rates for networking activities | Event app metrics, post-event surveys |
Boost Partner Relationship | Number of partnerships formed, partner revenue contribution | CRM, partner management system |
Having clear business goals, knowing the best tracking methods, and strategic optimisations are key to successful event ROI in event marketing. By continuously tracking ROI across events, businesses can enhance their event success and gain valuable insights for future projects.
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