Ever been asked, “Why do we go to this trade show every year?” “Why should we host this event?” “Why are we even spending so much on events?”
Event managers and marketing leaders are under more pressure than ever to justify event spends and ROI has become a standard measurement. However, traditional ROI is not the only way to measure success. There are measurements other than dollars and cents that marketing teams should use to define success. Depending on your business goals, why not measure return on objectives (ROO), return on relationships (ROR), return on employee investment (ROEI), return on customer experience (ROCX), and return on brand visibility (ROBV). Here’s why these measurements may make sense for your event.
ROO – Return on Objectives
ROO differs in that it measures success of set objectives for a specific event and not necessarily the overarching business goals set by your CEO or CMO. Ultimately, if we did our homework and set measurable objectives that were agreed upon by event teams and leadership, then ROO should be easy to measure. As a reminder, the following steps should be taken:
- Set SMART objectives
- Determine what to measure
- Budget to measure
- Report dashboards
Did participation in the event, conference, trade show, or meeting accomplish the goals set? Report to management what your ROO achieved.
ROR – Return on Relationships
Many marketing initiatives – especially trade events – focus on building relationships. With longer sales cycles that require multiple touchpoints, event professionals should consider measuring return on relationships (ROR). While ROI focuses on dollars, ROR focuses on the value of relationships. If sales are not being closed at the event, then consider ROR – a softer, yet effective measurement of success.
How to Measure Accrued Value of a Relationship
- Know your audience – Who are your customers? Remember from our previous article that there are different targets and messages for different company functions.
- Listen – What do your customers need, and what are their pain points?
- Design – Build an experience for customers to see how your solution addresses their pain points.
- Engage – Create a call to action that engages customers. What do you want them to do?
- Measure – Confirm all event customer meetings
and activities; be sure to include next steps and action items into your CRM.
Measure how these moved customers within the sales funnel.
- How many meetings were held during the event?
- At what level of the sales funnel are the customers?
- Who attended the meetings and what were their roles in the purchasing process?
- Did the meetings move the customers further into the cycle (speak with reps, CRM)?
Building relationships can help close deals. Measure ROR as a component of your customer’s loyalty and a subset of your ROI.
ROEI – Return on Employee Investment
Employees are the most important asset of any company, and employee engagement is the new HR buzz word. Gallup’s recent State of the American Workplace report shows that 70 percent of employees are disengaged, leading to lack of productivity, higher turnover rates, greater employee theft, and the spread of dissatisfaction to other employees and clients. On the other hand, engaged employees are five times less likely to voluntarily leave a company.
How to Measure Return on Employee Investment
One effective way to measure ROEI is to measure how staff implement what was presented. Are employees adopting the new processes, selling the new products, or promoting the depth of company services at the 30-, 60-, and 90-day mark? You can measure your meeting effectiveness and determine how, if necessary, the meeting content may need to change.
How to Improve Return on Employee Investment
Trade shows are great opportunities to engage employees, offering an incentive or stretch goal that allows other employees to be part of the project team and booth staff. They are also opportunities to allow employees to be exposed to other areas within the company they may not have been part of before. Let them create a company blog about their experiences, as a part of employee communication.
Additionally, ROEI is also a way to measure the success of your on-site sales and marketing teams. Are they meeting certain goals or quotas? Are they doing a competitive analysis? Are they capturing quality leads? Are they following the training scripts? Can they engage with and disengage from customers?
Employee engagement through trade shows and events can lead to higher retention rate, improved job satisfaction, increased knowledge and stronger sales.
ROCX – Return on Customer Experience
Customers have a bigger impact on a company’s success than ever before, and that success relies on a company’s ability to deliver a powerful customer experience. One bad experience might negatively impact revenue growth. In fact, according to a Bain & Company study, those companies that provide great customer experiences can generally see a 4-8% greater lift in sales over those that don’t. The hard part is figuring out how to measure the customer experience.
How to Measure Return on Customer Experience
The customer experience can be subjective and emotionally sensitive, which is why the customer journey plays a big part of this measurement. Marketers need to understand those moments that impact a customer and realize that there are multiple touch points and interactions required to close business. Some areas worth considering are:
- Experience – Did activities or interactions impact behavior and address matters most to your customers. Don’t just measure intent; measure the action, such as signing up for a newsletter, repeat purchase, incremental purchase, referrals, or reviews.
- Satisfaction – A satisfied customer tends to be more engaged, will stay longer, and could become more loyal over time (McKinsey research).
- Loyalty – If customers are satisfied, they will be more loyal and have a greater impact on your business. Net Promoter Score is the key metric for loyalty, as it measures the likelihood that a customer will recommend your product to others and it helps identify promoters, passives, and detractors. Develop and measure strategies to move those passive customers to promoters.
These measurements are not easy to establish, and they require teams to focus on the customer journey. Be sure to budget for research to help understand the real value of your activations. Recognize that events are only one stop on a journey and what you do at events will impact your business.
ROBV – Return on Brand Visibility
Finally, we cannot forget the importance of branding event activities. From efforts on social media to sponsorships and space on the trade show floor, people are seeing your brand.
How to Measure Return on Brand Visibility
Your branding team should have measurement capabilities in place to measure branding success. To measure ROBV, you need to be able to answer the following questions.
- How did your activities impact brand visibility and awareness?
- Do more people know who you are and what you do?
- Is your brand sentiment more positive than before the event?
Don’t overlook the number of people who are engaging with your social media, seeing your signage throughout the event, or walking past your booth. All of these create a reaction and a call to action.
You Can’t Manage What You Can’t Measure
If you leave everything to chance, no event will deliver the ROI you’re anticipating or justify your budget. Measure what matters. Define in advance what to measure. Match your strategies to what you’re trying to achieve. Then, deliver with real, quantifiable results.
Grow Your Events collaborates to develop an event plan that supports tangible, ongoing measurement to justify event spends and deliver to your company’s bottom line. We bring a strategic approach to grow your events by developing an enterprise approach that standardizes process, responsibilities, measurement, and results. If you struggle with event measurement and ROI, let’s work together to grow your events. Request a free consultation