Return on investment (ROI) is one of the most crucial webinar metrics when measuring the performance of events. It allows you to see if your online events are actually effective and generating a positive return on your investment.
If you're not seeing a positive ROI, then you know that you need to make some changes to your marketing strategy.
Additionally, calculating your online event ROI can help you compare the performance of event topics or formats, and determine which ones are giving you the best results.
Finally, tracking virtual event ROI over time can help you identify trends in your marketing effectiveness and make adjustments accordingly.
Marketers often track their event performance using a return-on-investment method. This allows for the extraction of important information by analyzing the data of an event’s performance, helping event planners to facilitate their next event.
In this EventX blog, we will let you know how the return-on-investment method works.
What Does Event ROI Mean?
Event ROI refers to the value that an event has generated against the cost spent in holding the event. The higher the ROI, the more value generated from each unit of cost. This means that event organizers should aim to utilize their resources in minimizing costs to hold effective events. Value does not only refer to the actual revenue generated by events, it also includes the number of attendees and value produced by sponsorships, partnerships, etc.
Likewise, when it comes to cost, most people instantly think of issues directly related to financial expenditure, such as renting venues and labor costs. However, in this situation cost does not only refer to money, but also includes time and opportunity costs.
Online Event ROI
Just like any other marketing campaign, you need to measure the ROI of your webinar. This enables you to determine if your webinar has helped you reach your goals, whether that’s an increase in sales, brand awareness, sign ups, how many people have joined you on your webinar platform, and so on. There are multiple ways to measure webinar ROI, with webinar sales being just one of them.
Examine Your Lead Quality
One way you can ensure your webinars are successful is understanding who your target audience is and what type of leads you're looking for. Not all leads are created equal, and if you're not targeting the right people, you're wasting your time. You may be getting thousands of inquiries and sign but if they aren’t the kinds of leads you need or if they won’t end up converting into webinar sales, then it’s pointless. Once you know who you should be targeting, determine what type of content will resonate best with that group.
If you're not sure where to start, consider these three factors:
• Age. Is your target audience made up of millennials or baby boomers? The way these two generations react to content and even the format of webinar you host. Make sure you’re making content that is specifically suited for your target age group.
• Income. What is their average income? This will directly influence their buying behaviors and their interests.
• Industry. Where do they work? How long have they been working there?
Once you've answered these questions, you can begin to create content that is tailored to your target audience.
Creating content that is relevant to your target audience will help you attract high-quality leads that are more likely to convert into customers. Don’t forget to learn how to measure event ROI so you can accurately gauge if you’ve hit it based on the number of qualified leads you’ve generated.
Use Social Media to Promote Your Webinar
Once you have created quality content, it's time to promote your webinar. Social media is a great way to reach a large number of people at once and generate interest in your event. Consider creating a social media campaign leading up to your webinar. You can use Facebook ads, Twitter ads, or even LinkedIn Sponsored InMail to promote your event.
Make sure to also post about your event on your company's social media channels. And don't forget to include a link to your registration page!
By promoting your webinar on social media, you can reach a larger audience and increase your chances of achieving a webinar ROI.
Do Some Research
Before you launch your webinar, it's important to do some research. This means understanding your topic inside and out, as well as understanding your target audience. The more prepared you are, the better your webinar will be. Additionally, make sure to promote your webinar beforehand so people actually know it's happening. The last thing you want is to launch your webinar with no one in attendance!
Create Compelling Content
This should go without saying, but your webinar content needs to be compelling. Otherwise, people will tune out and you won't achieve an online event ROI. To ensure your content is engaging, make sure it's well-researched, relevant, and interactive. Additionally, consider using visuals to help get your point across. People are more likely to remember information if it's presented in a visually appealing way.
If you create quality content, you're more likely to hold people's attention and achieve your desired results.
If you're not sure what type of content to create, consider these ideas:
• Case studies. Share stories of how your product or service has helped others achieve their goals.
• How-to guides. Teach your audience how to use your product or service to achieve their desired results.
• Product demos. Show your audience how your product or service works and what it can do for them.
Webinars Are Not a One-Time Thing
Just because a webinar is over doesn't mean your work is done. In fact, post-webinar follow-up is essential to increasing virtual event ROI. First, send out a survey to get feedback from attendees on your hybrid webinar platform. This will help you improve your future webinars. Additionally, make sure to reach out to leads individually. A personal touch can go a long way.
Make Adjustments as Needed
Based on the data you've collected, make any necessary adjustments to improve future webinars. This could mean anything from changing the format to altering the target audience. By constantly tweaking and improving, you can ensure you can achieve a virtual event ROI.
Also, what may have worked for one webinar may not necessarily work on the next one. Trends come and go, and the business landscape is constantly changing. Don’t get too attached to your current webinar style and format. Instead, adapt as the times adapt. If you don’t change as the others are changing, you may be losing valuable leads to competitors who are.
Additionally, keep an eye on webinar attendance numbers. If you notice a decline in viewership, it may be time to make some changes. Fortunately, by constantly monitoring your webinars, you can make the necessary adjustments to ensure they're always successful.
This will vary based on the data you collect, but some possible adjustments include:
Making it shorter or longer
If you notice that attendees leave the webinar after a certain amount of time, that may mean your webinar is too long. Consider making the maximum length around the time people usually leave.
Altering the target audience
You may have excellent content but if you’re not reaching the right audience, it’s all for nothing. If you’re confident in the content you’re presenting, then consider changing the audience instead.
Tweaking the content
Conversely, if you know you’ve targeted the right audience, but they aren’t converting, maybe you need to change your content. Do more research on the kinds of issues your target audience is facing and how you can address them.
Improving the delivery
Try switching up how the content is delivered. You can do a mixture of speakers as well as video presentations. Perhaps you can do product demos instead.
Change the format
Perhaps you aren’t getting a ROI because you’re limiting your audience. Instead of having a purely in-person or purely online webinar, you can combine the two through a hybrid event platform so you can double your reach.
Identify an Ultimate Event Goal
Before you hold an event, you have to confirm your event goals and what you want to achieve. ROI can be one of the metrics used to measure the value generated by the event in comparison to the effort you put in.
You can set any goals that you want to achieve. For example, building brand awareness, generating leads, or attracting as many attendees as you can, and these goals are easily measured. After you have identified a primary goal, you can write it down and think about what other goals you want to achieve. But remember, these other goals are not the priority; you’ll eventually have to focus and put effort into striving for your primary goal.
Set Objectives to Achieve Your Ultimate Event Goal
When you have set your ultimate goal, you have to think about what steps will achieve it. It is crucial for event organizers to set a clear objective.
How does one set an objective? It has to be measurable and usually uses numbers to represent that measurement. Let’s say your goal is to increase brand awareness. You can take a look at the number of event attendees and how many of them have reached your social media platforms, like Instagram and Facebook. For instance, you might set a target that of the 1000 people who attend your event, 20% of them will reach your social media platforms. Alternatively, if your goal is to increase sales through an event, you could set an objective that 10% of event attendees turn into customers. Remember to try to use numbers that represent your objective so that you can measure it easily!
Start Boosting Your Event ROI Today!
Now you should have a better understanding of how event ROI works!
Reaching your event goals is critical in getting a ROI on your webinar. Try mixing and matching these tips or doing them all to get better results on your online event. For more help on your webinars, check out the EventX Hosting Platform.
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