7 Ways to Maximize Virtual Events ROI

Marketers have developed compelling new methods to organise events with the rise of virtual events during the Covid-19 epidemic — and the advent of hybrid events more subsequently.

Online and hybrid events, which are aided by video and engagement-centric tools, offer for a bigger reach at a lower cost, radically affecting the ROI arithmetic.

In simpler words, they’ve made it possible for businesses to enjoy more of the benefits of events without having to spend a lot of time, money, or effort on them.

Possibly this would seem to be why, according to statistics, 72 percent of event managers want to continue conducting virtual events in the foreseeable future, while 52 percent plan to organise hybrid events.

How to check if your event has lived up to its claims? See below.

Tracking KPIs

Tracking key performance indicators (KPIs) like registration, virtual event attendance, and conversions may help you optimise your virtual event ROI and evaluate which marketing techniques were most effective in promoting your event. If any of these virtual event metrics are missing, it’s a clear indication that something isn’t working, and you’ll need to look further into your marketing efforts to figure out what’s working and what isn’t.

Look at your landing page to determine what went awry if your signup rate is low. Is the registration page overly complex, or do you have glitches? Perhaps your ad targeting on Google, Facebook, or LinkedIn is incorrect. Either you’re targeting the wrong audience, or a human error during the setup of these sponsored campaigns has resulted in your advertising being seen to individuals in the incorrect geo-location.

If your virtual event registrations are high but attendance is poor, review your email marketing platform to see if reminder emails are still encouraging people to attend.

Targeting your audience

Keep in mind that not all of the leads you generate will be of excellent quality. If you see that a large number of registrations aren’t attending, consider why. Maybe the folks you’ve targeted aren’t the ones you were supposed to.

You won’t be able to adequately grasp what went right (or wrong) in your targeting without knowing who your target audience is, why are you targeting them, where they came from, and how they learned of your event.  These factors are essential for creating a successful virtual event ROI formula.

Spend more time marketing on Twitter and facebook if you know that a majority of your audience originated from there. Stop concentrating on Instagram if, for example, your Instagram advertisements brought in registrations but the majority of those individuals didn’t end up attending the event.

Engagement

The purpose of a virtual event is for it to be interactive. A terrible virtual event is one in which the speaker speaks directly to the audience without allowing for any interaction or debate.

Polling, Q&As, surveys, applause, and conversations are common features of a highly good virtual event, as are polls, Q&As, surveys, and chats.

A good virtual event platform enables for involvement and analytics, which may help you figure out which subjects or talking points your viewers found most interesting. Take note, for example, if your audience applauded wildly at a certain period of your virtual event utilising the applauding tool, so you may utilise the information for future content and targeting.

Keep a record of engagement data from one virtual event to the next to see if you’re targeting the correct audience. Are you having trouble encouraging people to engage with you? It’s most likely because you’ve drawn the wrong crowd or aren’t providing enough to tempt them. Attendees who are interested are more likely to connect.

Lead generation

If the goal of a virtual event is to create leads and develop interest in a product, you’ll want to urge interested prospects to stay in touch with your firm by including a call or follow-up at the end of the presentation.

You’re directing your lead through your selling process, getting them closer to buying your product, through reading a Google ad to signing up for your virtual event to attending the virtual event.

Cost

You’ll need to keep track of everything from assigning cash for sponsored search advertisements to acquiring a virtual event platform, billing your hourly rates to design and conduct the virtual event, and paying for guest speakers or presenters.

If the costs of hosting your virtual event surpass the money generated by conversions, something is obviously wrong and has to be fixed.

Perhaps the additional money you spent on your speaker was in vain. Perhaps there’s another speaker who can draw a larger crowd or influence your audience more effectively. Perhaps you didn’t sell the speaker to the correct audience.

Unless you don’t keep track of your expenditure and how it affects your virtual event ROI, you’ll keep doing the same thing without realising it.

Marketing

Events should be arranged and included into your organisation’s marketing plan before hosting any conference, trade fair, or summit. This opens up possibilities for making these gatherings longer than simply a one-day event, as well as involvement with individuals who may not be lucky enough to attend in person. You’ll have the time and resources to get the most out of each occasion if you plan ahead of time.

Any excitement you create ahead of time is crucial for drawing qualified leads towards the event and, eventually, to your business. Even though everyone you’ve contacted may not attend, it’s a wonderful way to draw attention to your next event, show off the creative components and techniques you’ve devised, and provide other ways for people to interact outside of the event.

Communication and follow-up

Talk to everyone and always exchange contact information to get the most out of your virtual event. Establishing a stronger connection using break-out rooms, live chat, and engaging material can result in potential leads, despite how challenging it is to create a space for dialogue in an online environment.

Following up with any leads generated at the event should be your first focus when it is over. Leveraging the keynote presenters’ slides or articles pertinent to the event might be an easy way to follow up.

At the end of any event, do fix a time with your internal staff members and understand what worked and what didn’t. The key message is that there are possibilities to profit from at each stage of the event planning process. Irrespective of the specific strategies used by your firm, they should all work together and help to increase revenue.