Measuring the ROI of Virtual Events

Plan Better EventsSmart Event TipsVirtual EventsLeadership Insights

Aug 4

Are you having trouble justifying your event budget to your leadership because your Return on Investment (ROI) is hard to track? The success of a virtual event can be measured in many different ways depending on the purpose and nature of the event.

ROI is traditionally seen as dollars in, however, lots of events are not correlated directly with revenue. The return on a virtual event can sometimes seem difficult to measure, but that measurement can be a necessity when you are asked to justify the previous year's budget. (It also gives you a jumping-off point when setting goals to increase your ROI for future events.)

If the purpose of your event is to deliver training, how do you quantify that benefit? If the focus of your event is to generate brand awareness with a new audience, how do you gauge the value? When the aim of the event is not driving revenue, a dollar amount can’t be assigned as a marker of success. In order to calculate that return, a different value standard must be designed and assigned.

At Kennedy Events, we incorporate strategy into every event. Here are just a few of the ways we help our clients measure ROI and secure the budgets they need for future endeavors.

Event Attendees
Putting a figure to the number of people who have enrolled as attendees to your event is a great starting point. The number of people who registered for your event is important, but be mindful of one more crucial count: how many people actually attended. Leveraging this data, you can put new marketing strategies in place based on sound insights as you will be capable of measuring the day, time, and content that converted the most registrations and attendees.
Attendee Engagement
Attendee engagement is central to an event’s success. Conducting an event in the virtual realm has opened countless doors in terms of gauging the level of engagement of event attendees. Most virtual event platforms offer some form of data analytics that can help you track engagement across your event. Time online or attendee participation in discussions or gamification features can provide measurement.
Attendee Retention
Another vital measurement for event success? Attendee retention. Retention can be measured by repeat participants (if the event is recurring) or conversion rate directly linked with attendee engagement. Did attendees return from the previous year or, if your event is multi-day, did they attend multiple sessions? Keep a close eye on attendee traffic numbers across sessions, virtual rooms, or booths. These metrics will give you a clearer picture of what’s resonating with your audience and what’s not.
Online Metrics
Hosting an online event provides a golden opportunity to access metrics across the World Wide Web. Analyzing the number of visits you have on your website, landing page or link clicks, downloads, and tracking the open, click-through, and unsubscribe rates of an emailed event invitation can be telling when it comes to gauging an event’s success. Monitoring social media metrics can also be a derivative of success by measuring the use of your event’s hashtag, follower count increase, or other engagement metrics such as the number of people reposting or tagging your event or social page.
Revenue Generated
At the end of the day, all events and meetings impact an organization’s top and bottom lines. The biggest challenge is understanding how to measure the impact. Just like expenses, the influence on revenue from an event should be quantified and explained.

The most significant way to measure virtual event performance and your ROI is by directly checking the revenue generated as a result of hosting the event. Direct revenue is by far the most visible aspect of event income, and event planners must find creative ways to maximize its topline impact. Besides engagement, a key reason why virtual events take place is to generate sales and profits. Direct revenue tends to vary based on the number of attendees, the scale of the event, and the number of sponsors.

Virtual events have raised the bar for providing comprehensive data and it’s often delivered quicker than in-person event data. A few ways to assess the generated income are the number of tickets sold, sponsorships, attendance data, and funds collected.

Now that you know alternative data points to track, take it one step further by establishing key performance indicators (KPI’s) before your event. When presenting your budget you can tie the expenses to goals, showing them the why behind the dollars. Showing you have goals and metrics will go a long way in securing the dollars you need.

The good news is that virtual event ROI is something that can lead to new opportunities. Truly understanding the data collected offers insights that can help shape your future events, products, and services. More than that, it is essential to know what impact your virtual event had on your brand, your audience, and your bottom line.

Are You In Need of Some Virtual Event Expertise?

Attendees at virtual events consume content differently than at in-person events. These expectations are constantly changing because attendees want more from their virtual experiences. Kennedy Events is ready with your roadmap and markers of success. Our services can help calculate and analyze revenue while also providing ways to increase your generated revenue at your next virtual event. We’re currently offering a free 30-minute consultation with a virtual event expert. If you’re looking to impact your bottom line with a virtual or hybrid event, let's schedule a call today!

PAIGE BUCK

Paige Buck is the co-owner of Kennedy Events, a large-scale event management company based in San Francisco, Los Angeles, and New York City. Our team creates stress-free conferences and events with a positive impact, which allows our clients to resonate with their audience. Kennedy Events specializes in producing flawless product launches, award ceremonies, fundraisers, and multi-day conferences while keeping our eye on retention and engagement goals.

About Kennedy Events

Kennedy Events began with one goal in mind—to produce high-level corporate events with just as much strategy as style. Maggie founded the company in 2000, found her match in Paige, and in 2011 the two became official partners. Since then, these two resourceful and brilliant creatives have pooled their strengths to build one one of the most the most sought after corporate event companies in San Francisco, New York, and Los Angeles.