6 ways to use event data and analytics to transform virtual events

One of the best things about virtual events is that they generate a goldmine of data. Virtual event platforms have made the entire event ecosystem more robust. With minute and real-time tracking capabilities, they’ve helped transform events.But understanding how to harness the power of event data is critical. Here are some ways to do so:

1. Understand attendee behavior and preferences

Virtual event data helps you understand your attendees better - individually and as a whole. For instance, by charting weekly registrations, you can spot patterns and derive trends. Or, review which ticket types performed best at your previous events and build an appropriate pricing strategy.You can discover which sessions, speakers, and booths were liked more, the most popular contest formats, the preferred mode of networking amongst attendees.

Are your attendees enjoying the event? Did they attend your previous events? Why did they return to your event? Or why did your previous attendees not return? What is the level of audience engagement? Event data and analytics can help you find answers to all these questions.

2. Improve attendee experience

Imagine you’re a comedian, and you have to present in front of a large audience. You will tailor your jokes and make amendments on the fly. In this case, the audience's laughter and expressions act as qualitative feedback, allowing you to improve your performance.The same is the case with event data. But an added advantage is that you can collect both qualitative and quantitative data in real time.

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This means it can be an early indicator of changes required for your virtual event.At Restart 2021, Hubilo featured Guy Kawasaki. Attendees were highly engaged, and the Q&A session was very active. We also sent out multiple push notifications in between sessions to drive traffic to exhibitor booths and sponsored lounges.

3. Capture detailed feedback

While the event analytics dashboard provides a lot of insight, you can supplement it with an event feedback survey tool. Hubilo has a Survey feature that you can use to capture the feedback of the overall event and specific sessions. You can track each response in real time and export the event data for reference after the event.Collectively, this data can help you gauge the event’s performance and take away key learnings that can be implemented in your future events.

4. Measure the ‘real’ event ROI

Virtual event Return on Investment (ROI) is not just about what you gain from a monetary point of view. While expenditure vs. revenue can offer a good starting point to calculate your financial ROI, the real ROI varies according to your event goals.Say you are selling ice creams. Your ROI is not just the profit you earn but also any word-of-mouth marketing that happens for your ice creams.Similarly, when you define the event’s Key Performance Indicators (KPIs), look at what it is that you want to achieve. Is it a specific profit figure? Is it high audience engagement? Is it increasing discussion around a specific topic or gathering membership for your association?A virtual event platform will enable you to track each data point and provide you detailed insights. Then you can chart this against your ROI goals and measure what the event helped you achieve.

Here’s an overview of the key metrics that a virtual event platform can help you track. 

5. Justify partner ROI  

Sponsorships are a significant contributor to the overall event revenue. You must provide your exhibitors and sponsors with relevant metrics to showcase the value your event offers. And for this, your virtual event platform must enable you with relevant insights.For instance, metrics on sponsored banner ads, such as unique impressions and clicks garnered for ads placed at different locations, along with the attendee details. Another example is the data on booth traffic. Which attendees visited? What actions did they perform? And even end-to-end lead tracking via segregation into hot, warm, or cold leads.All this helps shed light on the amount of visibility and lead generation opportunities your partners received at your event. This further enables you to build a convincing case for why they should continue sponsoring your events.

6. Send personalized communication

Increase the value of your events by tapping into what you already know about your attendees, such as their interests, behaviors, profile details, and sessions scheduled & attended.Keep attendees informed about relevant sessions, booths, lounges, rooms, and contests they should participate in. These personalized suggestions are guaranteed to appeal to your attendees and encourage them to interact more with your event.Furthermore, if you take a virtual event platform like Hubilo, you can integrate it with your MarTech stack, such as Hubspot and Marketo. Information collected from the event can be used to personalize future marketing communication and audience engagement strategy.With this you can become the Google for your attendees, giving them exactly what they are looking for.

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Key takeaway

Now, more than ever, data is the event industry’s most valuable asset. This is because the insights it offers make measuringdifferent aspects of events super easy. Whether you want to understand your audience better, identify patterns, calculate ROI, or improvefuture events. There are endless possibilities if you have the support of a virtual event platform and the right event data.Complement this with a designated client success manager (CSM) who can help you interpret the event data and analytics. And your event is bound to hit the bull’s eye when it comes to achieving your ROI goals.Book a demo with us to explore all that’s possible with an intelligent virtual event platform and a designated CSM to fire up your events.