Data has become so central to every part of every business, that none can run efficiently without it. That’s indisputable.
More controversial: not every business knows how to leverage the data they collect- and it’s no different in the events industry.
Event data that you collect at virtual or hybrid events can help you understand if it is helping to achieve your overall business goals. Event analytics can gauge if your attendees are enjoying the event, and what kind of content is resonating with them the best. It can tell you the kinds of products or services your attendees are interested in, and whether or not they are performing critical actions and completing the tasks that lead them along the customer journey.
There’s a wealth of information available. You just need to know what you can do with it. Read on to learn how to start.
Data to be collected at every stage of your event
Before we move on to how to use your event data, let’s take a moment to highlight what data you should already be capturing at every stage of your virtual or hybrid event.
Pre Event
- Registration - Virtual event registration data that you can collect via ticketing or landing pages is a great way to get as much information about your attendees as possible, such as their demographics, and interests about your industry and product/service. So don’t forget to collect the following:
- Data of the attendee (Name, Job title, Name of the company they work at, Email address, Industry they work in, etc.)
- Data of their plus one
- Secondary data (Personal information, Preferences - eg. their favourite product)
- Data of people who declined to RSVP
- Promotion - Collecting details from your pre-event campaign promotions can help you get more information about awareness, reach, interest, and potential footfall at the event.
- Source (how they found out about the event)
- Engagement (clicks, opens, etc.)
- Event website (views, bounce rate, conversion rate, etc.)
Day of the event
The primary data you need to collect during the virtual or hybrid event is event engagement data. And the best way to do this is through the use of a virtual event platform like Zuddl which has the ability to track attendee traffic, engagement, and buyer intent across the event, all in real-time. Things you can measure include:
- Traffic (at which sessions or event zones are your attendees spending the most time)
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- Engagement (which content drove the most interest and participation)
- Buyer intent (see which Expo Booths had the most traffic and the most interest (see how many attendees clicked ‘Register Interest’, what questions they asked at the booth, what marketing material was downloaded the most
Post-event
The event doesn’t end when the last visitors leave the venue. You can send out surveys (click here to learn what questions will get you exactly the information you need to collect) and solicit feedback via email or on social media to learn if they liked the event, what was the best part, and what was a big no-no.
- Feedback (favourite speakers, favourite sessions, etc.)
- Promotion - Engagement (clicks, opens, etc.)
How to use this event data to drive leads and sales
- Import your data - Now that you’ve collected the data, the next step is to use a tech tool or integration that can take the data and import it into workflows that you can use to follow up with your attendees. (Click here to read about the most important integrations your virtual event platform should be able to accommodate) It’s important to look for integrations and a virtual event platform that enables the following:
- Captures event data easily and consistently.
- Syncs data in real-time to the existing system.
- Sync bi-directionally with all systems for easy collaboration.
- Ability to scan cards and import data automatically to the system in real-time.
- Add new registrants easily to ensure data is collected from late participants.
- Automate and segment your attendee list - With the help of software that can automate communication and segmentation of event data, you’ll be able to group attendees in different buckets in a way that helps you better understand their background, pain points and business needs. For example, if you hosted an event on medical technology and had medical professionals as your attendees, the software should be able to segment them on the basis of the department they work for, their designation, the city they live in, etc. You can then look at your engagement data to determine which attendees are high, medium or low intent.
- Send out personalized follow-up post-event emails - Marketers will already know that regular communication with attendees via email is critical to nurture leads from the event. This can be as simple as a three email sequence, starting with a simple ‘Thank you for attending the event’ email that reminds them of the event’s highlights. Don’t forget to add a link to the post-event web page that has more resources and information for your participants to access such as video recordings of sessions. In this email, you can add a link to a post-event survey to learn even more about the attendee’s opinion of the speakers, session, event content and platform. You can also email people who RSVPd for the event but didn’t turn up, albeit with a ‘Here’s what you missed’ angle to it. Let them know they were missed and highlight the resources that they can still access. It’s a great way to build goodwill and can motivate them to register for your next event. Follow-up emails can share more personalized and targeted content based on an attendees behaviour at the event - which we’ll cover in the following points.
- Share relevant content - Based on your insights on attendee behaviour - the questions they answered via Polls, the Expo Booths they expressed an interest in, the sessions that were the most attended, you should be able to get an idea of what matters most to them in reaching their goals. (This is information your sales teams should have too). In your follow-up emails, you should therefore share content that shows them how your product or service can help them. This can be in the form of videos, ebooks, case studies etc, which will be especially effective with medium intent leads. Prompt high-intent attendees to sample your product by signing up for a demo, or make a direct purchase in your emails. To sweeten the deal, you can offer attendees exclusive discounts or premium offers on your services, gift cards, and even a VIP invitation to your next event.
- Engage attendees on social media - Thanks to integrations like Taggbox which lets you display a social media feed populated by attendees’ posts and tweets, you’ll have a goldmine of user-generated content (click here to read more about Zuddl x Taggbox’s social media display integration). You can reshare this content to highlight attendees’ favourite moments of the event, follow up with attendees post-event to keep conversations around the event going. It’s a simple but effective way to raise more awareness about your event, brand and partners, and stoke FOMO for your next event.
- Invite attendees to your next event - Use the feedback data you collected to improve your strategy for the next event you plan to hold. If you are able to finetune everything based on attendees’ suggestions and recommendations (and communicate that too), they’ll be more likely to join in. Think of your virtual events as a funnel to find out which of your attendees are the most invested and engaged. Using events data from each concurrent virtual event will help you discover this.
To sum up...
Your virtual event metrics and event-based analytics will only be helpful to you if you are able to gather the right data, analyze it thoroughly, and use it effectively.
Yes, it will take a lot of careful planning to ensure that your data is not lost in a sea of spreadsheets. But keep in mind that you’ve made a significant investment in organizing your event and you need to use event analytics data properly to make the most out of this investment. Those who are able to do so will have a considerable advantage over the competition
Zuddl is a unified platform for events and webinars that helps event marketers plan and execute events that drive growth. The platform has clients across the globe, such as the United Nations, Kellogg’s, Microsoft, HSBC, VMware, Google, StackCommerce and Cipla amongst others. In January 2022, Zuddl announced that it closed $13.35 mn in Series A funding.
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