Key KPIs for Every Major Event Goal

When we talk about setting goals and measuring success, we would be remiss if we didn’t acknowledge that defining success for any given event or program relies heavily on the goals you set from the beginning.  

Set clear expectations — both with your team and with leadership — around what the goals are for your event. This transparency sets expectations for the event while simultaneously defining what success is.

When we think of our goals for smaller events, we tend to place them in one of four buckets:

• Reputation
  
• Demand
  
• Engagement
  
• Adoption

Based on these four major buckets, we’re going to dive into some common goals and KPIs of success. These high-level goals can vary at every company but generally serve as great benchmarks to get you started.

Reputation Goals

Reputation goals focus on building brand awareness, shaping perceptions, and influencing preferences. Some examples of these small events are media releases, influencer meet-ups, pop-up shops/activations, trade show booths, or an ancillary trade show event.

PRO TIP

This is probably one of the more challenging metrics to measure since it includes a hint of dark social, which we discussed at length during a recent webinar (We also recommend checking out a Splash favorite, Refine Labs’ podcast to learn more).

Key KPIs to Improve Your Reputation/Reach

• Media activity: How many people used your event-specific hashtag? Did you gain any new followers or see an increase in engagement on any of your social channels? How many external mentions or tags did you have outside of your organization? Are attendees still talking about you after the event?‍
• Search volume data: After the event, look for an increase in the search volume related to your company and note what topics or keywords are searched.  ‍
• Website Traffic: Did you see a spike in traffic on your website? Did people visit a certain page? Did they get involved in your community? Or did they request a demo or other pieces of content? ‍
• Conversions: What actions are your attendees taking after an event? When you send a post-event follow-up, how many are clicking your links? How many are engaging with content? ‍
• Referrals: Have you seen an increase in referrals from your community or current customers? Are attendees inviting their friends to check out your page or register for more events? Ask that question in your registration form. How did you hear about this event? Or your post-event survey.

Demand Goals

Demand-generating goals center around activating and validating new opportunities and accelerating them through the pipeline. Some examples of events with this type of goal include buyer-stage-focused webinars, roadshow events, account-based events, or lunch and learn.

Generating qualified leads/prospects for the funnel with with the ultimate goal of driving demand is often the primary goal of an event. The question is: how do you measure these metrics quickly and accurately to prove your event is impactful?

Key KPIs to Drive Demand

• Net-New Leads: How many net new people showed up to your event?‍
• Number of Qualified Leads: How many of those net new people are qualified to continue down the funnel? Can you identify who was engaged at your event? Are they interested in receiving more content to learn more about what you have to say? ‍
• Cost-per lead: Based on the total cost of the event, what is your CPL (cost per lead)? How does this compare to other events?
  For example, a $5,000 investment on a 20-person dinner that generates ten net-new leads, gives you a CPL of $500. However, if only eight of the net-new leads are qualified, your CPL would be $625 per lead. The CPL will vary depending on the benchmarks established by your team (e.g. leads vs. qualified leads, etc.).‍
• Pipeline generated: How much revenue opportunity could be generated by these new leads? This might be an area your company is already tracking; however, if it's not -- or you could use a refresher – check out our new workshop series thats focuses on developing these goals and numbers.

Engagement Goals

While events that take place closer to the end of the buying cycle inherently curate deep relationships, encourage product usage, and cultivate customer advocacy, engagement in the sense of "participation" isn't what we're getting at here.

We're talking about events that truly push buyers to making a final decision.

Major KPIs for finding out if your small event was successful

• New customer conversions: How many new prospects in attendance converted to a customer?‍
• Event ROI: How much revenue was generated as a direct result of this event? (This can include tickets sales if you create a ticketed event). ‍
• Recurring revenue: How much ARR (annual recurring revenue) was generated from converted leads, and what was the average deal size?

Adoption Goals

An adoption event is primarily for current customers with the gaol of educating and guiding your audience through the customer journey. Events like product trainings or a walk-through of a new product release – and how you deliver that content – will create a journey in which the customer feels connected to both your company and the solution.

Success really boils down to creating events that provides the best support for your customers. From communities and training to new feature releases, these customer marketing events live at the core of your customer retention and growth strategies.

Do your events make a difference for your customer audience?

• Product Usage: Do you see an increase in product usage following the event? Are your attendees practicing their new skills? ‍
• Net Promoter Score: After your event, does customer satisfaction increase, decrease, or remain constant?‍
• Renewal rate: What percentage of your customers renew their business each year? Do you see a difference in in this number between the people that attend your events versus those who don't attend? ‍
• Recurring revenue: How much additional revenue is generated from existing customers that expanded their contracts as a result of this event? ‍
• Referrals: How many customers refer others to your business and share upcoming events with their networks?‍
• Customer Advocates: How many customers participate in your events or community, and do they actively encourage others to take part?

These event goals are not hard and fast rules to be followed when determining the best metrics for your organization to measure the success of a program or event. However, we hope they’ve provided some insight on some of the best ways to identify which metrics matter most, and which offer the most insight into proving the success of and fine tuning your event marketing programs through data.