Mapping the Attendee Journey

It can be challenging for event organizers to provide concrete evidence of ROI to exhibitors. But according to a recent study by AMR International, understanding what attendees want and how a particular exhibition meets their expectations is a crucial step in driving quality and numbers to exhibitors. 

In order to grasp what attendees want — and whether an event is meeting their needs — organizers should be asking three questions, according to the recently released report:

1. What is the actual customer journey that potential visitors go through before coming to the show?
2.  How effective and how efficient are marketing activities as part of that journey?
3.  What drives the non-visitor decision not to come?

These may seem like difficult questions to answer. But by creating a customer journey map, the report’s authors write, organizers can get one step closer to entering the minds of their attendees. “Customer journey maps represent the complete set of experiences which customers go through when interacting with a company or brand using internal data, quantitative analysis and qualitative interviews,” according to the report. “They look at what customers are trying to achieve with each set of interactions and whether or not they can achieve this in a satisfactory way. They also highlight points of frustration, broken processes, and whether the internal workings of the organization support the customer’s end goals.”

• How do attendees gather professional information at trade shows?
• Which touchpoints — also known as points of interaction between customers and organizers — are crucial to the visitors’ decision to attend a particular show?
• How do attendees prepare for a trade-show visit?
• What advertising do they connect with and how do they feel about touchpoints?

“If marketers understand when and how a visitor makes a decision to attend, they can select an attribution on model that reflects this and therefore more accurately understand the ROI of their activity,” according to the report.

To learn more, download the report “The Importance of Customer Journey Analysis for Exhibition Success” here.