How to measure key event ROI metrics

Proving and reporting on event ROI (return on investment) is a critical part of a planner’s job. Why? Events are a huge expense for organisations, which means planners must not only make the most of their budgets but also prove to leadership that every event is worth its cost.

So, how do you measure event ROI? What metrics should you track to measure your event’s success? Let’s walk through the process together.

What is event ROI?

Event ROI measures the value your events generate compared to the cost and resources invested in hosting them. ROI is a complex equation that helps you determine whether your return (event revenue, leads, etc.) was worth your investment (time, money, travel, etc.).

How to measure event ROI

Measuring event ROI is a complex process that depends on several factors, including your event goals, your organisation’s business goals, event costs, and the best metrics to measure success.

If your event’s success is largely measured by revenue, things are fairly simple. Your formula for determining ROI is:

ROI = net revenue / event expenses

Of course, an event’s success can’t always be measured strictly in terms of revenue. The impact of many events is far more substantial than monetary gains, and it’s in measuring this impact that you’ll find your ROI.

So, how do you measure your event ROI if revenue isn’t the only—or even the most important—factor? Read on!

Event goals determine event ROI

For many planners, the first step in determining ROI is establishing the goals of your event. What do you hope to accomplish with your event? What benchmarks have you set, and have you met them?

Another way to look at goals is to consider the benefits your organisation can reap from hosting an event.

Examples of event goals

Beyond revenue, here are some common event goals/benefits:

• Lead generation and upsells: Potential new customers and current customers with interest in additional products.
• Customer engagement: Keep current customers engaged with your product or services to help ensure retention.
• Product engagement: Launching new products, showcasing capabilities, answering questions, etc.
• Increased attendance: Measure attendance year over year or from one event to the next.
• Brand awareness and media coverage: Events are a marketing channel to get your organisation’s brand in front of potential customers. Show attendees a great time, and they’ll remember you (and hopefully spread the word and remain loyal to your brand). Of course, brand awareness can also be achieved through media coverage, including news outlets, PR coverage, and social media channels.
• Content generation: Events are a treasure trove of content opportunities. From session recordings and on-site photography to video clips and social media shares, events generate so much content that can be repurposed for future marketing materials like testimonials or promotional video clips.
• Fostering sponsor and partner relationships: Partnerships can do more than offset the cost of a single event. Work with your sponsors and event partners to meet your goals as well as theirs, and your events will be mutually beneficial (and open the door to future partnerships.
• Networking and community growth: Events are a perfect opportunity for attendees to network and form a sense of community, discuss common pain points and solutions, and make strides within and across their industries.
• Attendee tracking: Understand what’s most interesting to attendees based on attendee tracking data during your events.

Weigh event costs and benefits to measure ROI

While it would make planners’ lives infinitely simpler to measure ROI by determining whether all their goals were met, there’s still the issue of costs to consider. And, like your event benefits, your costs might not be clear-cut, either.

Examples of event costs

As you weigh your event’s benefits against the cost of hosting it, make sure you consider these costs:

• Event venue
• Food and beverage
• Vendors and suppliers
• Flights and travel (event staff, speakers, VIPs, etc.)
• Accommodations (event staff, speakers, VIPs, etc.)
• Discounted or free registrations (speakers, VIPs, etc.)
• Attendee experiences (networking events, happy hours, destination tours)
• Attendee gifts/swag
• Sustainable selections (choices like bamboo utensils that might make your event more sustainable but add to the cost)
• Contract losses (unmet room block minimums, for example)
• Indirect expenses (event staff salary, marketing overhead, etc.)
• Time and opportunity cost (time spent organising, promoting, and hosting an event is time lost elsewhere)

Event ROI metrics

Once you’ve established your event goals and the costs you’re weighing them against, it’s time to break out the data.

Let’s take a look at the event goal examples we outlined above and what metrics, or key performance indicators (KPIs) you can use to measure how well you’re reaching those goals.

Revenue-based KPIs:

• Registration revenue
• Number of attendees vs registrants
• Exhibitor booth revenue
• Brand merchandise or products sold
• Tickets sold to add-on experiences

Lead generation and upsells KPIs:

• Number of leads collected by sales and marketing
• Lead-to-customer conversion rate following event attendance
• Existing customer upsell conversion rate following event attendance

Customer engagement KPIs:

• Attendee feedback surveys
• Satisfaction ratings for sessions and event experiences
• Number of current customers in attendance
• Contract renewals following event

Product engagement KPIs:

• Product demo attendees/views
• New product purchases and trial signups
• Product booth visits

Increased attendance KPIs:

• Registration and attendance numbers compared to past events
• Attendee attrition rates compared to past events

Attendee tracking KPIs:

• Number of attendees in each session
• Show floor attendance data by day, hour, etc.
• Booth visits data

Brand awareness and media coverage KPIs:

• Social media shares and follows
• Social media conversion rates
• Event and organisation hashtag mentions
• Traffic to event website and organisation website
• Mentions in the media

Content generation KPIs:

• Number of customer testimonials recorded
• Number of promotional images and videos captured
• Spinoff assets (video clips, eBooks, webinars) created using session content

Sponsor and partner KPIs:

• Revenue from partners/sponsors
• Number of visits to each partner’s booth
• Conversion rates from partner websites or social media to event website

Networking and community growth KPIs:

• Attendance rates for networking activities
• Survey feedback from networking attendees
• Increased traffic to online community groups
• Membership signups or social media followers

Ways to measure event ROI

Now that you’ve determined your event goals and the data you must collect to measure your success, it’s time to bring it all together. While there are formulas that can help you measure ROI, things get complicated when you move beyond revenue or start evaluating qualitative data.

Standard revenue model

As mentioned before, the standard event ROI equation for revenue is:

ROI = net revenue / event expenses

While this is a simple enough formula that can help you quickly understand your bottom line, you’ll need to dig deeper to understand the total value of your event.

Incremental revenue model

ROI = (net revenue – event expenses) / event expenses

This model allows you to dig a little deeper into your profits vs costs and establish how efficiently you’re turning a profit, but it does not consider the cost of goods sold (COGS). If you need a more complete picture, try the incremental margin ROI model below.

Incremental margin model

ROI = (gross margin – event expenses) / event expenses

This model provides a more robust evaluation of your event’s financial success by factoring in the cost of goods sold (COGS). Begin by determining your gross margin, which can be found using this formula:

Gross margin = event revenue / COGS

Multi-touch attribution

You should track every interaction an attendee has during your event, from session attendance to visits at exhibitor booths. By assigning values to each of these interactions, you can measure an attendee’s total engagement score, break down their engagement with certain elements of your event, and compare total engagement with a specific touchpoint amongst all attendees.

Of course, this will lead you down a data rabbit hole if you aren’t careful, so be mindful of which data is most important to you when assigning values to touchpoints and curating your findings.

Customer lifetime value (CLTV)

Events offer immense potential for future revenue. How? Attendees who are or become customers engage with your brand at your events, and this engagement means they’re likely to remain loyal to your brand and bring value to your business. Of course, this is tricky to measure, but it’s what businesses call “customer lifetime value” (CLTV).

If you’re able to determine the predicted profit you expect to generate from a customer or attendee throughout their relationship with your business, you can predict future profit and use these future gains as a way to showcase the importance of your events.

Prove the value of your events with accurate ROI metrics

Event ROI is rarely a simple calculation. It entails both quantitative and qualitative data that highlights the true value of your events, from building brand awareness to generating revenue.

The best place to start is with event management software that helps you measure the metrics that are most important to the success of your events so you can approach ROI from every angle.

To delve deeper into understanding event ROI and how to measure it, download Cvent’s Essential Guide to Event ROI.