For interested trade fair visitors, participation may be the most important thing, but for exhibitors, the data collected during and after a trade fair is the valuable essence from which success or failure can be read. To this end, it is important to consider in the planning phase which methods of measuring success make sense for your own brand and how to proceed with the evaluation.
We have summarised for you here how success monitoring can be integrated at a trade fair and which methods are particularly popular with trade fair exhibitors today.
What are the benefits of measuring success at the trade fair stand?
Imagine you have invested a lot of time and money in your ideal exhibition stand. It is well attended on the day of the event and is well received by interested parties. You are satisfied, but have no concrete figures to prove your success. Did the investment really stand for itself? How many of the impressed participants were you really able to win over as customers? And how can you improve for your next trade fair appearance?
Collecting data before, during and after an event is literally worth its weight in gold. Key figures on stand visitors, interactions with prototypes, consultations or new customers gained not only provide valuable feedback, but are the foundation of your future trade fair success. By analysing such data, resources can be deployed in an even more targeted manner in future, unnecessary expenditure can be reduced and strategic weaknesses can be compensated for. However, if this aspect of analysis is neglected, you as an exhibitor may be investing a lot of money in areas of the exhibition stand that are not actually relevant to your objectives. Only by comprehensively analysing the key figures can you say with certainty whether your strategy has worked and where you should pull the lever next time.
There are a variety of ways to measure success at the trade fair stand, as we will see in a moment. The type of key figures that are collected is also varied and should be defined according to the objective and stand design.
Important key figures for measuring success at the trade fair stand
Which indicators at the trade fair are now relevant and worth collecting and analysing? The following list provides an overview of the most important key performance indicators – KPIs for short – for events, which can be used to visualise success and weaknesses. Which and how many of these you use for your own success analysis at the trade fair stand depends heavily on your objectives and the technical conditions of your trade fair stand.
- Visitors at the stand
- Guided counselling sessions
- Interactions with products at the trade fair stand
- Existing and new customer contacts
- Agreed dates
- Social media mentions and engagement
- Registrations for e-mail marketing
- Products in particularly high demand
- Website traffic
- Satisfaction of the participants
- Sales attributable to trade fair participation
Some of this data can be generated directly at the trade fair stand, while other data – such as the sales you were able to generate thanks to your trade fair participation – can usually only be registered a few weeks or months after the event.
Current trends in analysing success
In 2024, we will have unprecedented technical possibilities at our disposal. It is also an exciting time in terms of measuring success at the trade fair stand, as data can be collected and analysed more quickly and comprehensively thanks to artificial intelligence and other technologies. This saves time and nerves and leaves plenty of room to generate new ideas and adapt the trade fair planning.
visitor tracking: With the help of event tracking technologies, exhibitors can now collect a variety of important KPIs that accurately reflect the behaviour of trade fair stand visitors. In most cases, the tools used for this purpose are equipped with sensors or 3D cameras and are developed to record very specific indicators, such as visitor numbers, dwell times, heat maps, movement routes or engagement.
Internet of Things (IoT): The Internet of Things refers to the networking of physical objects with each other and with the Internet. Thanks to sensors, software and other technological components, these objects can both record and exchange data with each other. Using IoT, the trade fair stand can be upgraded to an intelligent object that can collect and forward valuable data, for example through sensors on exhibited products that visualise the number and duration of interactions. IoT can take visitor tracking to the next level.
Artificial intelligence: KI has huge potential in many areas. It is particularly important for the trade fair industry because it can collect, process and analyse enormous amounts of data in a very short space of time. This allows the behaviour and preferences of visitors at the trade fair stand to be visualised particularly efficiently and recommendations for the future trade fair strategy to be derived from this.
Conclusion: Trade fair success is measurable
Measuring success at the trade fair stand is crucial in order to gather data and insights into how effective your trade fair presence was. The analysed KPIs can also be used to make well-founded decisions for the future strategy so that even better results can be achieved next time. Which specific data is collected and which tools are used for this depends heavily on your objectives and budget and subsequently influences the design of your trade fair stand.
We support you in all aspects of your trade fair presentation and are happy to work with you to fine-tune your strategy and optimise your stand design. Thanks to our decades of experience in the trade fair industry, we can draw on a wealth of experience from projects all over the world. Contact us now and secure a consultation appointment.
