This is an exciting time to be digging into the event data analytics generated from your events. With so many new tech tools and sophisticated insights, event planners can be very strategic in increasing the ROI from conferences, trade shows, and events.
To get started and instantly learn more about your attendees’ interests and behaviors, here are some important questions you should be digging into:
Question 1: Where Do I Find My Event Data Analytics?
Event analytics can be found in several different places. Your event website, registration platform, and your virtual event platform (where applicable) will all provide you with important data regarding performance and visitor interactions.
Your Event Website
Data from your event website will tell you a lot about your marketing. Is your message clear? Is all the relevant information about your event clearly and readily available on your site? Are people finding what they’re looking for?
To get answers to these questions, check things like how long people stay on your site, how many pages they visit, and where they go next after they leave your site. Also, what pages are they spending the most time on? Are they the ones they SHOULD be spending the most time on? Or is this a sign that your content is confusing to them?
The goal is to get people to stay on your site and spend time researching and navigating to the links you’re sending them from each page on your event website.
Ultimately, the end goal is to get them to convert and register for your event. Those conversions can happen in many different tools, depending on your event tech stack. We’ve separated registrations out since not everyone manages them from their event website CMS tool.
Your Online Registration Platform
There are many different tools you can use to take and manage your event registrations. (We wrote this blog on event registration software if you need help finding the right tool for you.) However you manage them, the data you can pull from them will help you understand more about the attendee experience. You’ll also be able to understand if you’re targeting the right audience with your event.
If users are making it partway through your registration flow and then bailing out, that could have a few meanings. Maybe your registration flow is too long. The flow could potentially get confusing. Or worse, maybe it’s broken! These are all things you need to follow up on and look into in order to ensure people are making it through your registration flow.
If users are bailing from your form, maybe it’s too long. Or maybe you’re asking questions people aren’t comfortable answering so early on in your ‘relationship.’ Only ask for the minimum amount of information you need to get the user registered. You can ask them more questions about themselves AFTER they’ve registered.
If your website visitor numbers are high, but conversions are low, consider doing some testing on different elements of your page and form to increase conversions. Wordstream is a great website with data-backed blogs on landing page optimizations, among other marketing tactics.
With Attendease, you can choose to just use our online registration tool as a standalone feature, or you can use it with our full suite of event management tools.
Your Virtual Event-Hosting Platform
If you’re hosting virtual or hybrid events, there’s a lot of juicy data to be had to help you understand how your event performed in your virtual event platform analytics. Check for engagement statistics when you share polls, Q&A, and chat, for instance. What percentage of people are engaging? How often are they engaging? What types of things are they engaging, more or less, with? Does the drop-off rate increase as your event goes on? What sessions are people staying to the end for?
The types of event data you can dig into with virtual events seem almost endless. You can use what you discover from your virtual event data to improve future virtual and hybrid events.
If you’re using a comprehensive event management platform such as Attendease, all of your event data analytics can be found in one place.
- TIP: Another (free) source of important online performance data is Google Analytics. Google Analytics is available to you no matter what type of event planning software you use.
Question 2: What Data Can I Get From My Email Outreach?
You can learn a lot about your pre- (and post-) event marketing by digging into your email analytics. There are endless email automation platforms on the market that event organizers use. The easiest way to manage it is to have email automation capabilities available in your event platform. Another way is to find one that integrates easily with your event platform.
Check for open rates on your emails first. Of all of your emails sent out, how many are getting opened? The more people who open your emails, the more you know you’ve found the right audience. And if a lot of users are clicking on the links in your email, that’s an even better indication you’ve hit your mark.
Open rates can also often mean that you just hit the nail on the head with a great subject line. What you really want is people clicking through on the registration links in your emails.
Check for unsubscribe and ‘marked as spam’ rates next. If you’re getting a lot of these, you’re emailing the wrong people. The good news here is that this can ultimately help your open rates in the future. The more people you get off your list who will never open your emails, the better. The bad news is if too many people unsubscribe, it could hurt the future deliverability of your emails, as you’ll get marked as spam by email providers.
- TIP: Don’t send your emails out to everyone in your database. Segment your list and only send it to people you truly think would be interested in your event so you don’t ruin your email deliverability.
Question 3: Why Is The Net Promoter Score So Important?
Feedback from event attendees is key in gauging the success of events. A robust event management platform will allow you to easily gather useful data, such as the “Net Promoter Score” from your attendees after they have experienced your event. This particular analytic is a gauge of loyalty and customer satisfaction. Net Promoters are your most important influencers and well worth knowing inside and out.
- TIP: Net Promoters are your loyal fans who will sing your event’s praises to their friends and colleagues. They generally account for about 80% of your referrals. Net promoters can also help you close new sponsors or exhibitors with their passion for your business.
Event data analytics will provide you with actionable information and deep attendee insights. Data on how your prospects and attendees interact with your marketing efforts will help refine your future marketing outreach. Get ready to take action on these insights. You’ll be able to translate them into responsive marketing strategies and create your most attended event yet!
For more about how to develop an analytics-rich event strategy featuring your event website, registration, and event apps, download our FREE Ebook Event Analytics: The Fundamental Guide to Executing Your Event Right
Attendease is a cloud-based marketing automation solution for corporate event managers and teams. We’re a modern, feature-rich event software that enables you to manage a wide range of events of all types and sizes.