Successful online events help businesses build brand awareness and turn passive audiences into loyal customers. According to this report, 70% of users become regular customers after an experiential marketing event, while 84% of event attendees say that they have a more positive opinion about the company, brand, product or service being promoted after the event.
Clearly, hosting events (whether online or in-person) is an invaluable addition to your marketing strategy. However, at the end of the day, only one thing matters to stakeholders – was the event profitable?
Measuring the ROI from virtual events can be challenging. It also doesn’t help when your client has broad goals like “build brand awareness” or “become a thought leader”. Fluffy metrics and educated guesses just cannot prove ROI.
While it isn’t possible to quantify every aspect of your virtual event, there are certain indicators you can track. Keep reading to find out how!
Here’s how to measure your ROI
1. Determine your goals and KPIs early on
Accurately measuring your ROI starts with setting specific goals that align with your business objectives. These goals will dictate your metrics and ROI calculations.
For example, if your goal is to increase brand awareness, your KPIs would probably include:
- Event page views
- Website visits
- Social media engagement
- Media downloads
- and registrations
If you usually set goals for in-person events, the process isn’t much different for digital events. You’ll just need to leverage other tools to measure your results correctly.
2. Track everything
Now that you’ve identified your KPIs, you can track them. With the right tools, gathering data from online events can be a piece of cake. Look for something that can track the number of attendees, who/what they engage with, and for how long. Of course, you’ll also want to focus heavily on tools that track your specific KPIs.
Other useful features include polls or surveys, which gives you direct access to your guests’ thoughts on the success of your event.
3. Calculate the event ROI
Determining revenue for the event as a whole comes down to a calculation comparing your profit and expenses:
ROI = (total revenue – total expenses) / total expenses
Or you can use:
ROI = net profit / total expenses
Calculating your revenue is a more straightforward way to justify ROI. However, this equation doesn’t allow you to measure other aspects of the event: How engaged were your attendees? How was your brand perceived? How satisfied were your customers?
At the end of the day, one of the most important measurements of event success is ROI. Without this, it can be nearly impossible to quantify the effectiveness of your event, which is key to evaluating your execution and improving for your next event.
Using steps 1 and 2 above to set your goals, determine your KPIs, and track them is the best way to measure ROI on more abstract concepts of your online event.
Flock is the all-in-one tool for event planners. It’s the easiest way for organisers to manage their events while collating insightful data to help you calculate your ROI. Book a demo today and let us do the hard work for you!