A powerful means of communication, events are part of many companies’ communication strategy. Whatever type of event is organised, it fits into a marketing plan and, like other actions, its impact must be measurable. To that end, discover the full importance of KPIs and ROI in events.

Why measure an event’s performance?

Understanding an event’s results is essential. Among other things, it allows you to: 

• understand the strengths and weaknesses of your event (what worked and what did not),
• get to know participants better: interests, expectations, behaviour…
• improve and perfect your future events.

To do so, you can rely on key performance indicators, also called KPIs, in order to calculate return on investment, or ROI.

Measuring an event’s impact: the importance of KPIs and ROI

Every event is unique and serves a specific purpose. Its performance is not decided only on the day. To maximise its success, it is wise to plan work in 3 stages: before, during and after the event.

Before the event

Setting objectives and KPIs

Measuring an event’s real impact starts with setting objectives beforehand. Taking into account the type and size of the event (number of participants, corporate event or open to the public…), it is possible to define a main objective and secondary objectives. They are guidelines that will be a valuable aid to decision-making for the rest of the event’s organisation and for briefing your suppliers.

The objectives defined generally relate to acquiring new customers and retaining them, brand awareness or engagement of the target audience.

Data to observe before the event

These are essentially KPIs concerning the audience and the development of brand awareness: 

• the number of registrations for the event,
• how closely registered participants match the hoped-for target,
• the number of shares and engagements on social media on the announcement of the upcoming event,
• the possible use of an event-related hashtag,
• overall media coverage: articles on other sites and media, radio, TV…
• traffic to your website, notably the number of visits and the bounce rate

During the event

It is necessary to observe certain success factors in real time. These make it possible to know “live” what is working and what is not. This lets you adapt and optimise the organisation.

There are different KPIs for measuring participants’ engagement with an event, for example: 

• the number of participants in sessions, in person and remote (to compare with the number of registrations for the event),
• the quality and content of interactions with participants  (in person or remote): comments, Q&A, quizzes, live poll answers, word clouds, likes…
• the number of downloads of a dedicated app or of documents, if any,
• the time spent at the event venue or on the digital platform,
• purchases made live during the event,
• the number of contacts obtained and sales leads,
• the number of business cards handed out,
• the number of visits to a stand,
• the number of samples or goodies distributed,
• the use of a dedicated hashtag,
• media coverage on the day…

After the event

Once it is over, it is essential to observe certain event data to know whether the initial objectives were achieved. It will then be possible to calculate the event’s ROI.

Some indicators present tangible results and others are more subjective, for example: 

• the number of newsletter sign-ups,
• the number of purchases on the brand’s website with a specific promotional code,
• the number of downloads of additional content (white papers, tutorials…),
• the number of replay views of the event recording,
• participants’ interest, via a satisfaction survey (open questions, multiple-choice questions or star-type ratings)
• messages exchanged on dedicated digital spaces related to the event,
• press coverage and social listening…

The event’s ROI

An event’s success essentially lies in calculating its return on investment. It is the figure that determines its profitability. Among other things, it makes it possible to assess the effectiveness of marketing actions and to present concrete results to your management.

An event’s ROI is calculated by relating all costs to the results obtained against the objectives set beforehand. Costs include direct investment (costs linked to suppliers: events agency, hosts and hostesses, reception venue, caterer…, advertising costs, etc.) as well as teams’ working time. 

The results obtained can vary and depend on the company’s field of activity. For example: 

• revenue generated by paid entry, 
• number of products sold, 
• quality of networking,
• number of leads generated, 
• number of new customers obtained, 
• the company’s development potential in terms of recruitment or salary progression, 
• optimisation of brand awareness,
• improved customer relations…

All these indicators make it possible, among other things, to obtain information about participants and refine their persona, with a view to better preparing future events. Hence the importance of KPIs and ROI in events!

A large share of this data comes from digital, an aspect that is now unavoidable in events. It notably makes it possible to communicate before (teasing on social media, registration platform…), during (streaming, live interactions…) and after (replay, broadcasting excerpts, communication on social media…) the event. The By Kadrance venues offer you packaged offers for all types of hybrid events, where speaking goes hand in hand with interactivity. Do not hesitate to contact us to find out more: contact@by-kadrance.com