Improving the Return on Customer Events

Is it realistic to expect a return on investment in customer events?

A customer event is just one of many methods of communicating with prospects and customers. It must therefore be measured and compared with alternative strategies. That means it must meet measurable objectives such as raising awareness or improving relations with key decision makers, or reward loyal customers, for example.

Is it more cost-effective to use an event management company or manage an event internally?

Depending on the size of the event, it may be more cost-effective to use an event management company. Their expertise in organizing and managing events can save you money. They buy event services in bulk and should be able to obtain discounts for you. If you have to find these services yourself, you would incur hidden costs in terms of time, labor, transportation, telecommunications.

Set Measurable Objectives

Before you consider ways to improve return, you need to decide how you will measure the effectiveness of an event. There are a number of possible metrics:

• number of visitors to the event
• number of inquiries at the event
• number of new contacts resulting from the event
• number of new sales leads resulting from the event
• changes in awareness of your company following the event

Decide Whether to Organize or Participate

If you have the resources and the budget, you can organize your own exclusive customer event over which you have total control of the arrangements and the return. Alternatively, you may prefer to participate in a relevant industry event, inviting your customers and prospects to attend. Although you have less control over the event, you can influence the return on your investment by taking actions before, during, and after the event. The recommendations in this checklist apply whether you are an organizer or a participant.

Sponsor an Event

External event organizers offer participating companies the opportunity to sponsor the event at a number of different levels. Typically, these are platinum, gold, silver and bronze sponsorships. Each level provides different benefits, all helping to raise the company profile and increase awareness among the target audience. Organizers generally limit the number of sponsors at each level and charge a premium rate for the higher levels, so it pays to look closely at the costs and the potential improvement on return.

Provide Quality Keynote Speakers

Providing quality keynote speakers at a customer event can help raise your company’s profile and increase awareness. If you are participating in an external event, organizers publish dates for submission of conference papers so make sure you are aware of those dates and provide suitable material. If your speaker is selected, promote their presentation in pre-event publicity and publish their papers in your post-event communications.

Encourage Registration

The more customers who attend an event, the better your potential return. Using e-mail to manage registrations can speed up the process, reduce costs, and increase take-up. Do not rely on a single invitation; follow up the initial invitation at intervals with reminders to ensure customers register in time.

Simplify Registration

Make it easy for customers to register. Your e-mail invitation should include a simple registration form or a link to a Web Site where visitors can register online. Keep the registration form concise and do not ask for unnecessary detail. It is tempting to use the registration process as a data gathering exercise, but this may alienate some potential visitors. The key elements are:

• name;
• position;
• company;
• telephone;
• e-mail address;
• preferred times/dates (if there is a choice).

Offer Registration Incentives

You can increase registrations and attendance by offering incentives. These could include:

• discounts for early registration;
• free copies of a special report or high-value document;
• promotional offers such as free meals or theatre tickets.

Advertise in the Event Guide

If you are participating in an external event, include your details in the event guide. Some organizers provide only basic listings of participating companies; others offer opportunities to place advertisements or more detailed entries. If you are sponsoring an event, there may be different levels of entry in the guide. Where space allows, you can include information on your company, your product range, and any new products that will be featured at the event. If you are providing a keynote speaker or hosting an exhibition stand, provide details.

Issue Press Information

Make sure that your event is publicized in your press releases and other public relations activities. You can either produce specific releases about the event or incorporate a message at the end of more general releases, such as, “Find out about our latest product developments at xyz event.” If you are participating in an external event, there may be previews in relevant trade magazines. Contact the publication with details of your participation and products.

Set Up an Event Web Site

You can reduce your event costs and improve return by putting event information and registration online. If you are organizing the event, your Web Site should include the following content:

• event description
• event dates and times
• travel directions and accommodation
• event program
• speaker details
• online registration form

If you are participating in an external event, you can place relevant details on the organizer’s Web Site. You could also set up a temporary “micro-site” within your own Web Site. The micro-site should have a unique address so that visitors are taken straight to the appropriate page. The micro-site would promote your own presence at the event and would enable you to track registrations and capture contact details of participants. As well as benefiting you, online information like this also improves convenience for customers and event visitors.

Raise Internal Awareness

The success of an event is influenced by the commitment and enthusiasm of the people who are managing it or representing your organization. Make sure that everyone involved is aware of the objectives of the event and understands their role in its success. You can do this either by holding a pre-event meeting or circulating a briefing document. When you have details of visitors who have registered for the event, give the information to the sales team so that they can plan their contact strategy. On the day, make sure that everyone is aware of their individual responsibilities.

Distribute Literature Cost-Effectively

Event literature can be a significant cost factor, so reducing distribution costs can help to improve the return. Although events and exhibitions attract many genuine prospects, they can also attract visitors who simply collect information. You can reduce costs either by controlling distribution to genuine inquirers, which can be difficult, or by taking visitor details and sending literature after the event.

Issue a Post-event Report

A customer event can be the starting point for building or strengthening relationships with customers. Issuing a post-event report is an important element in a communications program. The report should provide details of the attendance and summarize the key findings of the event. This helps to reinforce the importance of the event and may encourage participants to return to other events in the future. You should also send the report to any key contacts who were unable to attend.

Follow Up with Visitors

To turn event prospects into paying customers, it is essential to capture data on visitors and follow up with important prospects.

• Set up a process for capturing data on all visitors.
• Consider incentives to ensure high levels of data capture.
• Set up a database of event contacts.
• Use telemarketing to follow up all event contacts.
• Offer to arrange sales meetings or send further information.
• Use the database to plan and monitor a contact program.

You Get the Level of Investment Wrong

Although you could improve return simply by investing a minimal amount in an event, or trying to cut costs wherever possible, this could represent a false economy. An event is an excellent opportunity to meet and influence customers and prospects, so you must ensure that you allocate a budget that will allow a quality result.

You Rely on Your Own Resources

Managing an event is a complex process. Unless you have a very busy program of events, you are unlikely to have skilled event professionals in your team. It may be more appropriate to use the resources of an event management company.

You Fail to Promote the Event Properly

It is important to get the right people to your event. If you do not promote your presence, and if you make registration complex or inconvenient, you may not get the visitors you need.

Books:

O’Toole, William, and Phyllis Mikolaitis, Corporate Event Project Management. Wiley, 2002.

Silvers, Julia Rutherford, Professional Event Co-ordination. Wiley, 2003.