Post-Event Evaluation: Measuring the Impact of Your Exhibition Stand
Exhibitions are an invaluable marketing tool for businesses to present their products, services and more. Once your business has exhibited, it is imperative that you have a system in place for your post-event evaluation to measure the impact and success of your stand, as this will determine whether you have done enough to achieve what you set out to do. So, for those who did enough pre-planning we want to help you decipher the data and maximise your post-trade show followups.
Defining your exhibition objectives
Before the show, set clear objectives for your exhibiting time, as this is also the first step in post-event evaluation. Key performance metrics and goals derived from these objectives will measure your success at the trade show. These can include metrics like:
- Return on investment
- Brand awareness
- Lead generation
- Prospecting
- Introducing a product and gauging interest
It’s important to align these performance metrics with your specific exhibiting objectives.
Success metrics to measure
For a comprehensive exhibition strategy, consider these ‘one size fits all’ metrics:
- Footfall around your stand: Understand the volume of traffic near your stand. Utilise scanners available from event organisers to collect contact information of attendees visiting your stand, saving you the effort of sifting through business cards post-event.
- Booth Traffic: Track how many people visit your stand. This can be achieved by using tally counters for staff members to click each time someone enters your stand, giving an approximate count of visitor interest.
- Lead Generation: Compare the number of people visiting your stand with the number of leads generated. A close correlation suggests effective lead attraction. If there’s a significant discrepancy, consider revising your strategy to attract higher quality leads in future events.
Data collection and analysis
Accurate data collection during an event is crucial for evaluating the success of your stand. Before exhibiting, set a target for the number of leads you aim to acquire, be it 10, 100, or 1000. Attract these leads naturally, engaging passersby through interactive elements like games or a bar on your stand, and seize the opportunity for staff to initiate conversations and gather data. Demonstrating how your product solves a problem can also effectively capture leads.
Remember to follow up with these prospects post-event via email for more detailed discussions. Ensure all data collection practices comply with GDPR regulations to maintain data privacy and security.
Technology to help data collection
As we step into 2023, the advancement in technology offers several innovative ways to streamline data collection at exhibitions and trade shows. Here are some key methods:
- Online Forms: Implement online forms for prospects to fill out at trade shows, capturing essential details efficiently. Google Forms is a great free tool to try.
- Scannable Business Cards: Utilise scannable business cards to quickly gather contact information from attendees. Haystack are a free business card scanner app.
- Mobile Apps: Employ apps to collect emails and other contact information, enhancing data gathering processes. Fulcrum and Jotform are two of many apps to try.
- Event Management Software: Software like Scoro or Cvent consolidates all lead information in one place, allowing your team to track interactions, follow-up schedules, and outcomes of communications with each lead.
- Customer Relationship Management (CRM) Systems: Incorporate CRM systems for a more streamlined approach to managing lead data. These systems help maintain clear records of communication and are typically GDPR compliant.
- GDPR Compliance: Choose technology that is already GDPR compliant. This ensures data privacy and security, offering a feature for customers to opt-in for further contact.
Conducting surveys for feedback
Feedback is essential for business improvement, especially following trade shows. This is why conducting a short survey with attendees who gave permission to follow up, can be beneficial. In your survey you will want to ask questions such as:
- First impressions of the stand.
- What attracted them to the stand.
- Prior knowledge of the business/product.
- Quality of interaction with staff.
- Likelihood of future engagement with your business.
Evaluating return on investment (ROI)
It’s vital to assess all costs involved in your exhibition to determine your return on investment (ROI) ahead of the exhibition or trade show. At this stage you will need to revert back to your original budget to understand if you collected enough leads from the event to justify the costs spent. In order to work out the ROI, you will need to:
- Record total costs
- Calculate generated leads
- Track sales from leads
- Evaluate brand impact
Once you have done this you can calculate your ROI, a basic formula is:
=(Gains from investment – Cost of investment)/Cost of investment
Remember, a successful trade show ROI isn’t just about immediate sales; it also includes long-term brand positioning and relationship building.
Making informed decisions and improvements
The post-event evaluation process is a vital step as this will inform your future decisions and improvements to your strategy and exhibition experience. By listening to your customer feedback and identifying pain points from yourself/your staff, you will be in a better position to make a bigger impact the next time you exhibit. You want to utilise this feedback to enhance every aspect of your exhibition stand, from the stand design itself to your conversational tactics and beyond. Every exhibition is an opportunity to improve on the last.
Implementing changes for future events
Whether you have exhibited one time or for years and years, there is always room for improvement when it comes to your exhibition strategy. Implementing subtle changes each time you exhibit is a really effective way to build up a solid exhibition strategy for your business and it is extremely important that you do this to keep things fresh and exciting for potential prospects. These could be changes to your stand or building a new stand, logistics and your engagement tactics. Could things have run smoother? Should you shorten your initial pitch? Do you need to change your strategy entirely?
Enhancing your exhibition stand's impact
Ensuring your post-event evaluation is as robust as your pre-event planning is a critical takeaway from this article. Embrace feedback with an open mind, viewing each exhibition as a chance to enhance your strategy and elevate your company’s success.
Applying the insights and strategies outlined above will enable you to maximise the effectiveness of your exhibition stands at future events. For personalised assistance in optimising your event strategies, feel free to reach out to Insideout Events. Contact us for more information.