How We’re Pushing The Boundaries Of ROI In 2021
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“When this is all over . . .”
“When things get back to normal . . .”
I’m sure you’re starting to wonder if “back to normal” is even the goal anymore. It’s a natural reaction during a crisis to wait and see, but this line of thinking could be causing us to miss opportunities for growth. Google the phrase “companies created during The Great Recession,” and you’ll be inundated with articles about this century’s greatest innovators and disruptors, and how they got started during a time that most people considered to be a major setback for business.
But I’m not here to talk about experimentation in general during a crisis, I’m here to talk about ROI at your virtual events. Chances are, your business has seen some sort of downturn, or at least a major shift, since the start of the pandemic. Some companies are freezing, both figuratively and literally freezing budgets, waiting for all this to blow over. Those making a profit, and making a lot of noise, right now are the ones leaning into the new norms and finding ways to use this situation to their advantage.
The fact that so much business (and life in general) has moved into a digital environment means there are now more ways than ever before to track, measure, and compare engagement with your brand’s experiences. This is exciting news! Digital experiences present an incredible opportunity to change the way you measure ROI and improve your processes for future events when this all does “blow over.”
But what KPIs should you be tracking? Most of the digital platforms can track things like attendance, attrition, and clicks on sponsor logos. Your production partners and digital platforms are adapting and evolving their offerings every week. Now is the perfect time to push them to do more. For example:
Can your virtual trade show floor vendor employ heat maps to get a better visualization of where people are lingering?
Can your digital meeting platform offer polls during, rather than lengthy surveys after, the event? Can these real-time pulse checks be incentivized or gamified somehow?
If media coverage is among your KPIs, can you earn more coverage of your actual content or product, rather than coverage of the novelty of the virtual setting or the event’s execution? If so, do you know how to track it?
For social events, like employee happy hours, there may not seem to be any hard data you could gather. But can you add on facial recognition software that tracks something as soft as “smiles per minute?”
Can you make your virtual attendees and corporate sponsors feel so engaged, so essential to your event’s outcome, that they feel a sense of responsibility to come through for your next event as well?
Maybe you have already done a digital event. Maybe you don’t really know if it was worth the effort. Maybe it was disappointing. Do not let this be the end of your experimentation - there’s a better way! If you consider Stephen R. Covey’s classic advice to “begin with the end in mind,” we can make it so you never have to question the efficacy of your digital events again.
You have measurable business goals and legitimate reasons for wanting to host an event. If we start the process by clearly laying out those objectives at the beginning and finding the right KPIs to get you there, a digital experience can give you exponentially more data than you ever dreamed of getting from a live event. Things you never even considered before the pandemic, like how many people were still interested in consuming your content, even if they couldn’t attend in real time. Or who are your “top fans,” not just on social media, but the ones singing your praises within the event itself.
Last but not least, clear, specific data at one virtual event will, in turn, make your next one even more effective or profitable. When you can see in black-and-white what worked and what didn’t, the opportunities to improve pop up everywhere. And a report - proof that your digital experience moved the needle on your business - is a quick and straightforward way to secure more funding for your next event too. Whether your funding comes from within your organization or from outside sponsors, hard data always makes for an easier sell.
Tracking ROI is a critical practice both now and moving forward so our recommendation is to embrace it, learn it, practice it, and harness it. We're well versed in how to craft creative, measurable KPIs for your digital experience and would love to help in any way we can. Let’s go!
Need some strategic insight for your next brand activation? We’d love to hear from you.
