![What is Event ROI?
The net value obtained by an event is known as
the event ROI. The phrase "value" refers to not
just earnings and income, but also sponsorships,
collaborations, lead creation, and a variety of
other activities. [For additional information, see
Measuring Event ROI And Event Marketing
Attribution].
Simply said, event ROI equals event value.
According to a Deloitte analysis and survey, on average, firms devote 11 percent of
their entire expenditure on marketing. Businesses spend nearly a quarter of their
marketing expenditure on events, according to the 2019 Event Marketing: Benchmarks
and Trend Report.
Importance of Event ROI
Any company's return on investment (ROI) is critical. The entire process of calculating
ROI provides the following benefits to the business:
• Profit gained or loss incurred at the event.
• An accurate picture of how successful a particular event was.
• Insight into areas for improvement and areas that had the most amount of
success.
• Client conversion rate from attendees.](https://image.slidesharecdn.com/howtomeasureeventroi-230605160319-977d0537/85/How_to_Measure_Event_ROI-pdf-3-320.jpg)
How_to_Measure_Event_ROI.pdf
- 1. How To Measure Virtual Event ROI This article talks about the importance of Return on Investment or ROI and how to measure it for a virtual event. We will take a look at what goes into calculating the virtual event ROI and will cover the following: ● Virtual Events and Its Relevance in Today’s World ● What is Event ROI ● Importance of Event ROI ● Factors That Go into Measuring Event ROI ● Technology and ROI Calculations ● How to Measure Virtual Event ROI
- 2. Virtual Events and Its Relevance in Today's World In-person event hosting has long been the standard model. Tradeshows, conferences and summits, training and seminars, and discussion fairs are just a few examples. Businesses, however, must continue to adapt to changes. With the ongoing pandemic, Businesses should avoid in-person gatherings. Virtual platforms are being used by businesses to host their events. Social distancing has become an integral aspect of our life at the moment. Consider the situation when you must choose between attending an event with a large number of strangers and protecting your health. It's as easy as that: you'll choose your health and safety above attending activities. This chasm is bridged through virtual events. People may attend these events from the comfort of their own homes or offices, and because businesses are not limited by geography, they can reach a larger audience. You may attend as long as you have a device with an internet connection! Our CEO, Eran Ben-Shushan, said it clearly, “We feel the impact the coronavirus has had on the event industry first hand, through our customers, and through the data we’ve seen in our reporting.”
- 3. What is Event ROI? The net value obtained by an event is known as the event ROI. The phrase "value" refers to not just earnings and income, but also sponsorships, collaborations, lead creation, and a variety of other activities. [For additional information, see Measuring Event ROI And Event Marketing Attribution]. Simply said, event ROI equals event value. According to a Deloitte analysis and survey, on average, firms devote 11 percent of their entire expenditure on marketing. Businesses spend nearly a quarter of their marketing expenditure on events, according to the 2019 Event Marketing: Benchmarks and Trend Report. Importance of Event ROI Any company's return on investment (ROI) is critical. The entire process of calculating ROI provides the following benefits to the business: • Profit gained or loss incurred at the event. • An accurate picture of how successful a particular event was. • Insight into areas for improvement and areas that had the most amount of success. • Client conversion rate from attendees.
- 4. The “new” normal has seen a massive shift of events from the “In person” world to the “virtual” world. Virtual events allow businesses to provide guests with a one-of-a-kind experience. Businesses should make sure their goals are S.M.A.R.T. (Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Result-oriented, and Time-bound) while planning an event. Factors That Go into Measuring Virtual Event ROI When calculating ROI, consider the following: ● The number of registrations and the number of attendees – Both are important because often the number of attendees might be less than the number of registrations, especially for free events ● Gross revenue ● Satisfaction of attendees ● Attendee engagement ● Social Media engagement – Number of posts, check-ins, mentions, shares, etc. ● Activity on the various sub-event pages under the main event – E.g., if there are multiple speakers – how many engagements did each speaker garner ● The costs incurred in organizing the event ● Cost to revenue ratio ● Conversion rate – The conversion rate indicates how many attendees became customers after attending the event ● Sponsorships and partnerships While these are just a few KPIs (Key Performance Indicators), our blog 20+ Important KPIS For Measuring Event Success talks about many more.
- 5. Technology and ROI Calculation Because there are so many variables to consider when determining ROI, it may be a daunting task. Fortunately, there are a plethora of tools available that make ROI computation a breeze. Happily offers a free virtual event ROI calculator that is simple to use and understand. Businesses can acquire all of the data they need and compute ROI using a mix of Marketing Platforms, CRM Platforms, Business Intelligence Platforms, and Attribution Platforms. Bizzabo, Marketo, and HubSpot are Marketing Platforms that handle all marketing-related tasks such as handling marketing emails and content. These platforms also let companies communicate with their consumers prior to, during, and after events. CRMs (Customer Relationship Management Systems) such as SalesForce, SugarCRM, and Zoho assist organizations manage their customer relationships by storing all data related with existing and potential clients.
- 6. Looker, Sisense, and Tableau are examples of Business Intelligence Platforms that allow companies to track data and draw conclusions based on it. Attribution Platforms like Google Analytics, Bizible, and Terminus allow organizations to track marketing campaigns, get insight into campaign participation, and link different campaigns. While all these platforms are useful individually, businesses require an Event Management Software like Bizzabo to bring all of the data and information together in order to compute virtual event ROI. Additional information is available on the Event Data Integrations eBook “The Corporate Event Planner’s Guide to Integrations”. How to Measure Virtual Event ROI? According to Measuring Event ROI and Event Marketing Attribution, there are 3 methods to calculate event ROI. 1. Return/Investment – This is the simplest way to calculate event ROI, however it does not always give you the accurate picture. 2. Incremental Revenue – This model, a bit more complex, takes into account event
- 7. profit during the calculation. It gives you a profit percentage of your event expenses. 3. Incremental Margin – This is the most complex of the lot. However, it takes into account expenses like COGS (Cost of Goods Sold) which is not included in the other two models. In this model, the ROI is calculated in two steps. First, we calculate the Gross Margin (GM) which is simply Event Revenue divided by COGS. Once we have the Gross Margin (GM), to calculate the ROI we subtract the Event Expenses from the Gross Margin (GM) and then divide it by Event Expenses. While calculating a financial ROI requires simply income and costs, calculating a virtual event ROI is a little more complex. Businesses must first combine all information across multiple platforms in order to obtain data for any of the models (Marketing, CRM, BI, and Attribution). The event management software will do a complete analysis to show you the conversion rates, sponsorships and partnerships obtained, and much more. All of this information is translated to a monetary value, and businesses may then choose whatever ROI calculation methodology works best for them.
- 8. Key Takeaways ● COVID-19 and social distancing has led to a surge in virtual events. ● Events must have S.M.A.R.T. Goals. ● The net value gained from an event is known as event ROI. It enables organizations to assess the success rate of events and prepare for the future appropriately. ● The difference between sales and profits is not the only factor to consider when calculating Event ROI. There are a number of additional KPIs that must be considered. ● To bring all of the data from the various platforms together, an Event Management Software is necessary (Marketing, CRM, BI, and Attribution). ● Event ROI may be calculated using three different models. To calculate Virtual Event ROI, however, all data obtained on multiple event management systems must first be combined, and the findings must then be translated into monetary worth. The Virtual Event ROI is then calculated using the monetary value.