In 2020, the rise of online events brought a concern to the surface: how do you guarantee a good experience for attendees (customer experience)?
A survey by Bizzabo found that more than half of event organizers feel this challenge grow in the virtual world compared to in-person events.
You might even be one of these people! Whether in in-person, online, or hybrid events, organizers are usually thinking about how to attract and delight attendees.
For this reason, Customer Experience, also known as CX, has been making a big impact in the events world!
But don’t worry if this is a new term for you. Today we’ll teach you why it’s essential for your event! Find out more:
- What is Customer Experience?
- Why invest in the attendee experience?
- How to apply Customer Experience to your event.
What is Customer Experience?
Basically, Customer Experience is the impression attendees have of your brand across ALL points of contact with it.
For example, at an event, the customer experience starts with the website and continues all the way through the post-event, which usually includes issuing certificates or follow-up emails.
That’s why Customer Experience creates strategies that prioritize the customer and always deliver positive experiences at every touchpoint with the brand.
Our Customer Success specialist, Manoela Moreira, made a video explaining how to start putting these changes into practice at your event.
But you can go even further!
In short, Customer Experience shifts the perspective many people have that sales should focus purely on the product being offered.
Today, we understand that most customers actually prefer real, empathetic contact with a brand.
So focusing on the complete customer experience brings far more benefits, such as identification, loyalty, and prioritization.
Think about the last time you had a great experience as a customer: did it shape your perception of the product or service being offered?
Customer Experience is certainly important throughout a product’s buying journey, but now let’s talk about what this has to do with events!
Why invest in Customer Experience at events?
First, you need to know that a happy attendee has more potential to become a loyal one.
Also, retaining an attendee is much more advantageous (and cheaper) than acquiring new ones.
That’s because you’ll gain:
- Organic promotion of your event;
- Regular attendees at future editions;
- Interactivity and familiarity at the event;
- Increased revenue.
But those aren’t the only benefits of Customer Experience for events.
When you run an event with an attendee-centered experience, you start looking beyond the event day itself and pursuing quality at every stage, including before and after.
With this broader view of your event, you can identify areas for improvement and solve problems more quickly.
It also becomes easier to be recognized and established as a reference in your field, growing organically.
How to apply Customer Experience to your event?
First, there are two important things you need to understand:
- Customer Experience isn’t just customer service;
- Every touchpoint with people at your event, and with the product itself, should have the customer at its center.
With that said, it’s time to put it into practice with a few tips:
1. Build an attendee-centered culture
As mentioned, every touchpoint at your event should prioritize the attendee.
That doesn’t mean they’ll always be right, but that you’ll always aim to offer the best possible experience.
That’s why your entire event team should keep in mind that the attendee is at the center.
In practice, this shows up through actions of appreciation and empathy.
For example, during registration you can make life easier for your attendee with shorter forms, more payment options, and even a chat feature to answer questions, like the one on the Even3 platform.
In this case, know that the experience needs to be guaranteed both before and after the event.
So you can invest in social media tutorials, WhatsApp support, building relationships and closeness with your event’s brand, and more.
Basically, make everyone involved in the organization ask themselves: “How can I help my user achieve the desired outcome through a fitting experience?”
2. Run satisfaction surveys
Another very important point is listening to your attendees. In this case, there’s nothing better than satisfaction surveys.
They’ll give you a broad view of the attendee experience at your event and can surface ideas for improvement.
Among the most common and effective satisfaction surveys is the Net Promoter Score (NPS).
This survey measures how likely an attendee is to recommend your event to friends and family based on the experience they had.
So you can also:
- Run satisfaction surveys at different touchpoints throughout the event to understand which ones need the most improvement;
- Use post-event satisfaction surveys to get a broader overview;
- Collect opinions through social media polls and during the event itself, letting attendees weigh in on improvements and feel like part of the organization;
- Create spaces for sharing ideas and suggestions for future events. Don’t forget to respond to everyone and let them know when their ideas are implemented.
3. Build bonds with attendees
It’s essential that, by putting the attendee at the center of all your actions, you show them that they matter!
So try to understand their main pain points and show that you have solutions for them.
Also aim to talk with them, build a relationship, show empathy, and even give special attention to certain attendees, if that makes sense for your event.
After all, the more contact you have with your audience, the easier it will be to create a positive experience for them.
So remember to listen! Every person is different, which is why your approach can always adapt. In this case, the essential thing is to always act in a humanized way.
This way, a simple attendee will become a fan and promoter of your event. That’s your goal!
A good tip for this is to create personalized approaches so your attendee feels like you genuinely care about them.
For example, on Even3 you can automatically send personalized emails with each attendee’s name.
This way, you save time, speed up your work, and the attendee will still feel like they’re part of a real conversation.
With all this effort to create a great experience for your attendees, your event will likely grow and become a reference in its field.
With that in mind, we created a free guide with tips and a step-by-step process to make your event increasingly attendee-centered. Download it now.
