CRM

Blog posts about CRM – customer relationship management.

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6 KPIs you need for the success of your event

6 KPIs you need for the success of your event 1008 756 egocentric Systems GmbH

The planning, organisation and implementation of an event often require months of preparation. At the end there is often the crucial question: Was the event successful? The key to answering this question lies in analysing certain data and metrics. This is the only way to ensure that your event was not only a success in your eyes, but also objectively. In this article, we show you the six most important metrics that you should definitely track in order to measure the success of your event and make future events even better.

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Data, key figures, measurements

Many event organisers rely on their gut feeling to assess the success of their events. However, subjective assessments often lead to inaccurate results and leave important potential for improvement undiscovered. Without clear data and key figures, you don’t know exactly whether your event has had the desired impact.

Typical challenges

Lack of clarity about the success of an event: How many participants actually turned up? How good was the atmosphere during the event?
Lack of data for future decisions: Without metrics and clear KPIs, there is no basis for optimising future events.
ROI remains unclear: Many organisers do not know whether their investments have actually paid off.

Without the right data, it is difficult to understand whether your event has achieved its goals.

Solution

To overcome these challenges, you need to track specific metrics and KPIs that give you objective insights into the success of your events. Thanks to egocentric Systems’ technology, you can track and analyse all relevant data and metrics directly via the platform. This gives you the information you need in real time to assess how successful your event was and where improvements need to be made.

The six metrics you should definitely track

1. Number of participants: more than just counting heads

A classic, but essential. However, it is not only the number of registrations that is important, but also the actual attendance.
The number of participants is often seen as a fundamental indicator of the success of an event. However, it is important to look not only at the total number of participants, but also at the details.

Registrations vs. actual attendance: A large discrepancy between the number of registrations and actual attendees can give you valuable insights. Perhaps the communication about the event was not clear enough or there were logistical problems that made attendance difficult. By analysing this difference, you can take targeted measures to reduce the bounce rate.

Attendee demographics: It is also worth taking a closer look at the composition of the attendees. Are the attendees from your target group? The better the attendees match the event content, the more likely they are to make valuable contacts or benefit from your offers.

2. Engagement: Measure activity to increase the value of the event

Measure the activity of your attendees, whether through on-site interactions or on social media.
Engagement metrics show you how much participants are actually involved in your event. This is often an indicator of how well the content and event format are received.

Interaction during the event: If you are offering workshops or presentations, it is important to measure how many participants are actively taking part. Are questions being asked? Are the participants discussing with each other? The more interaction, the higher the level of satisfaction.

Gamification and apps: Some organisers use apps or gamification to increase engagement. For example, you could use an event app that sets tasks for participants or offers rewards for certain activities. By tracking these interactions, you can easily measure how involved participants feel in your event.

3. Satisfaction: Honest feedback directly from the source

Participant feedback via surveys directly after the event or a few days later gives you valuable feedback.
Satisfaction surveys are one of the simplest yet most valuable tools for gaining insights into how your event is perceived. They provide you with direct feedback and help you to identify strengths and weaknesses.

Timing of surveys: To get the best feedback, it is crucial to choose the right time for the survey. Immediately after the event, impressions are still fresh, but it can also be useful to send a second survey a few days later. This gives participants time to reflect on the event and provide more thoughtful responses.

Question formats: To get usable data, your survey should be clearly structured. Use a mixture of open questions (‘What did you like best?’) and closed questions (‘How would you rate the event overall on a scale of 1 to 10?’). This will give you both quantifiable data and qualitative feedback

4. ROI: weigh up the costs and benefits

Check whether your event was financially successful. What revenue was generated? How high were the costs?
Measuring ROI is one of the biggest challenges for many event organisers. This is because it’s not just about obvious income and expenditure, but also about factors that are difficult to quantify, such as brand perception or future business opportunities.

Direct revenue: Ticket sales, sponsorship contributions and merchandise are the most obvious sources of revenue that you should include in your calculations. Here it is important to track exactly which ticket categories have sold the best and which sponsorship deals have been the most lucrative.

Indirect benefit: Often the true value of an event lies in the long-term impact. You may have made new contacts that lead to business deals in the future. Improving your brand perception through a well-organised event also contributes to long-term success. Although these are difficult factors to measure, they should be included in the measurement of success.

5. Leads and networks: quality over quantity

How many new business contacts were you able to make? Quality counts more than quantity here.
Events are ideal opportunities to make new business contacts. But the mere number of business cards or e-mail addresses collected is not the only indicator of success. It is much more important to evaluate the quality of these contacts.

Lead tracking: You can use modern tools to track how many leads were generated at your event. However, it is even more important to track the further development of these leads. How many of these contacts have developed into actual business deals?

Networking events: At conferences or trade fairs, making new contacts is often the main objective. Here you can ensure that your participants get the maximum benefit from the event by organising special networking sessions or platforms that specifically support networking.

6. Social media reach: the digital business card of your event

Track the online response and see how far your event reaches on social networks.
Social media is one of the strongest indicators of the resonance of your event beyond the actual participants. It shows how many people outside the event have heard about your event and how much attention it is generating in the digital world.

Hashtag usage: Analysing hashtag usage on Twitter, Instagram and the like gives you an insight into the reach of your event. The more frequently and by the more influential people your hashtag is used, the greater the digital visibility.

Influencer marketing: In many industries, it makes sense to invite influencers or industry experts to events in order to utilise their reach. They can share the event live and make their own followers aware of your event.

Benefits

Why are metrics so crucial for the success of events? Metrics help you to translate the complexity of an event into concrete, tangible figures. They provide you with an objective basis for recognising what works well and where there is room for improvement.
Tracking these metrics brings you numerous benefits that you can incorporate directly into your event strategy.

Attendee numbers and engagement:

If you know how many attendees actually turned up and how they behaved during the event, you can better adjust your future planning. Example: If you notice that attendee numbers are dropping, a better promotional strategy might be necessary.

Satisfaction:

Through direct participant surveys, you can find out important details about how the event went and which aspects need to be optimised. A satisfied participant will not only come back, but will also tell others about your event.

ROI:

With a precise calculation of the return on investment, you know exactly whether your event was profitable. This way you can ensure that your investment is worthwhile.

Leads and networks:

Measuring how many valuable business leads were made during an event gives you an important indicator of success, especially for networking events.

Social media reach:

Online reach shows how well your event is received digitally. A high reach means that your event is being discussed and recognised beyond the participants.

By using the software from egocentric Systems, you can record and analyse this data directly and with little effort. This makes it easier for you to make data-based decisions and continuously improve your events.

Conclusion

Success is measurable – this also applies to events. By consistently tracking the right metrics, such as number of participants, engagement, satisfaction, ROI, leads and social media reach, you can ensure that your events are not only successful in the short term, but also in the long term.

With the egocentric Systems platform, you have the right tools to efficiently collect and analyse all this data.
Whether you are an event manager or regularly organise events, knowing and using the right metrics is key to your success. Use these metrics strategically to get the most out of your events.


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Eine junge Frau nimmt ein Selfie vor dem blauen Himmel auf

It needs entertainment, not extra-cheap tickets. Does your cultural offering suit Generation Z?

It needs entertainment, not extra-cheap tickets. Does your cultural offering suit Generation Z? 2247 1500 egocentric Systems GmbH

Imagine a visit to a philharmonic hall or an opera house. You’re about to enter the tiers, take your seat, and shortly thereafter a classical concert or a play begins. Look to your left and right – who is sitting with you in the gorgeous furnished hall and is tensely watching the spectacle on stage? Do you also think of well-dressed, cultured and culture-interested ladies and gentlemen? Why do we immediately associate culture with this target group? And isn’t it time to rethink the cultural offer? In the following blog post, you can read how you as an organizer can get closer to Generation Z and inspire them to attend your events.

Eine junge Frau nimmt ein Selfie vor dem blauen Himmel auf

It’s no secret that the target group of 20- to 30-year-olds is difficult to get excited about cultural offerings. Elisabeth Fuchs, chief conductor of the Salzburg Philharmonic Orchestra, described to us why visitors to cultural events are made up of certain age groups and what strategy she pursues in this context.

In addition to ballet productions, operas, composer portraits and Christmas concerts, it is important for Elisabeth Fuchs to create a music program for children. Since 2017, the Philharmonie has therefore organized the Children’s Festival, with numerous participatory activities and performances that introduce children to classical music in a playful way. Why start so early as a classical house? In this way, children and their families come into contact with the cultural brand at an early stage, perhaps taking home a souvenir that will stand the test of time and lead to an active visitor status again at a later date. According to the idea “I know this from my childhood or youth, I’ll go there with my children too”. A long-term strategy with vision and thus a good start. But what about the target group of young people in their 20s and 30s who are being lost? How can you go about retaining their interest?

Digitization – A step toward Generation Z

In 2022, the transition from print-only to digital, especially for distribution channels, is everywhere and yet important to emphasize. Internalizing the openness to change and reinterpreting it positively is just as important as choosing the right tools. The Philharmonie Salzburg decided on an online ticketing system that integrates with the existing web presence and digitizes ticket sales. On the side of the organizer, processes become clearer and the purchase of tickets can be better tracked and evaluated. On the visitor’s side, the expectation of purchasing tickets online is served and especially electronic and mobile tickets meet the behavioral patterns of Generation Z. They prefer to sit comfortably on their sofa. They would rather choose an event from the comfort of their sofa instead of having to drive to a ticket agency. At the same time, Elisabeth Fuchs emphasizes that the older target group must not be left behind by an online solution – ease of use is a prerequisite for this.

Digitization has a high priority, but it needs more. But what does this mean? Many cultural managers would certainly answer here, “We have a great concept for Genration Z to offer discounted tickets. This is to make sure that concerts remain affordable for young people.”. Unfortunately, this one-sided strategy, purely about pricing, is not very promising. In the following, we explain why extra-cheap tickets don’t work for a young target group. To do so, we address three questions:

1. Why do we think that extra-cheap tickets work, and why does everyone offer them?

2 Why doesn’t this strategy work?

3. What could work instead?

The true success factor

“Under-30” offers usually result in more tickets being sold. The belief quickly arises that this is due to the ticket price. Many event organizers are convinced these offers are the only way to place an incentive for Generation Z. The influence of additional factors, such as marketing campaigns, tends to be forgotten. Let’s take another look at the Salzburg Philharmonic Orchestra. It very actively accompanies its offer on social media and, in addition to visibility, also generates numerous touchpoints with the desired target group. Cooperation with advertising partners is also conceivable, whose reach also boosts ticket sales.

Supporting successful event marketing is also customer relationship management (CRM) as the basis for target group-specific communication. Elisabeth Fuchs recounts positive experiences with her own online ticketing system. E-mail campaigns turned out to be successful measures. These accompany events at all times and information can be shared quickly and easily. The Philharmonie also uses SMS marketing to highlight special offers or discounts. The implementation of these measures would hardly be conceivable without an automated and well-maintained CRM. Want to learn more about effective marketing measures? Then read our blog post on event marketing.

Successful marketing can therefore also be traced back to the accompanying communication and not only to the ticket price. This is also supported by the fact that with a one-sided price strategy, visitor numbers do not remain continuously high. As soon as prices return to normal, visitor numbers drop again and young people could not be tied to the company’s own cultural offerings in the long term. So why do extra-low ticket prices persist so strongly?

Why it doesn’t pay off for Generation Z

One of the main reasons why the entire industry relies on extra-low ticket prices is that they can be implemented quickly. Price adjustments can be made quickly, do not require any additional personnel and, at first glance, do not involve any budget. In contrast, an effective marketing campaign requires all of these resources. In addition, the price change conveys the feeling of having changed something or having done something to improve the situation. It is therefore always important to reflect on whether the price adjustment has really achieved the desired effect and whether the cost is really a limiting factor for Generation Z.

To illustrate this, here is a small comparison of what a young person in any city in Germany is offered in addition to culture:

10.00 € – concert with classical music
5.10 € – a large beer in a crowded bar
5.29 € – McDonalds medium meal
9.99 € – Cinema
13.50 € – mini golf
16.99 € – Dominos takeaway pizza
26.50 € – Zoo
80.00 € – Premier League soccer match

= 137.48 € for weekend activities

For a person with a regular income, that’s a nice Saturday with great activities. For students, trainees or pupils, though, that’s a full month’s wages. And those are just the options that don’t involve staying home to watch Netflix or spending 60€ on an Xbox game. Young people aren’t looking for value for money, they’re looking for value for time. Especially 16- to 35-year-olds want to get the most out of their time to maximize their experience.

As an approach, organizers should be clear about how Generation Z spends its time. About 57 percent of teens and young adults in the 2019 Shell Youth Study said they frequently listen to music in their free time. Around half of those surveyed enjoy surfing the internet, being on social media or meeting up with friends. (Source: statista)

Organizers are looking at the problem of “Why don’t young people go to classical concerts?” from the wrong angle. If they didn’t make tickets cheaper, but upgraded the experience, this would not only be more successful, but young people might even be willing to pay more. So what could work instead of extra-cheap ticket offers, and how could “added value” be created?

Entertainment beats price

There are no limits to your imagination here, but a rough breakdown will help classify your measures: Community, shareability on social media, products, services and entertainment.

The Philharmonie Salzburg shows that several areas can be served at the same time. The offer is aimed at different target groups starting with the youngest to build sustainable visitors. The children’s festival is accompanied by a talent contest in which children can implement and submit projects together. This strengthens the emotional bond with the event and the organizers and creates a sense of community. At the same time, the projects are presented on social media and encourage digital discourse. The idea of competition also encourages ambition and creates entertainment for the festival participants as well as for users, who can then follow the event digitally via various channels.

Kinderfestspiele zeigen Kinder und Erwachsene auf der Bühne

© Erika Mayer for the Children’s Festival with Show Your Talent

We have developed further suggestions:

  • Special discount offers for the target group e.g. under 35s receive a free drink with their tickets
  • Partnership with restaurants for dinner and concert offers e.g. by selling packages in the store: ticket and program booklet
  • Networking with social media to stay in touch with customers after the event
  • Offers for larger groups e.g. information from guests is transmitted via subscriptions or ticket purchase. This data can be evaluated accordingly in a CRM and used as a basis for marketing measures.
  • Networking events for young professionals
  • Speed dating before the event

Adding value to the cultural offering does not reduce the quality of the performance or take anything away from it. It does increase the importance of the event as a whole and has the potential to appeal to the Generation Z target group far away from extra-cheap ticket prices.

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Know your customers with the integrated CRM system of the Event Manager from egocentric Systems

CRM – Customer Relationship Management. More than just a database.

CRM – Customer Relationship Management. More than just a database. 2560 2214 egocentric Systems GmbH

THE TICKETING OF THE FUTURE
DEVELOPED IN DRESDEN.

The ticketing of the future is developing in Dresden. One of the important topics for modern and future-oriented ticketing is the topic of customer relationship management – in short, CRM. With this management tool from egocentric Systems you discover the uniqueness of your guests, fans and visitors.

YOUR CUSTOMER’S UNIQUENESS.

Every person is unique and therefore wants to be addressed individually. If you want to sustainably strengthen the relationship with your guests and increase your sales significantly, you should know your customers. You can make your business even more successful by returning visitors, selling higher ticket categories and subscription tickets or by means of merchandising articles and secure sales through food and drinks sold in advance.

Keywords such as “360 ° customer view“, “customer journey” or “CRM”, which come up again and again in this context, are at best only buzzwords in daily meetings without good expertise. We at egocentric Systems support you with our many years of experience in ticketing and event management to fill these terms with life and to drive your business forward.

We see CRM as much more than just a piece of software. For us, CRM is a philosophy that extends deeply into all areas along the customer journey. This is the only way to really get a comprehensive view of your visitors, to get to know their wishes and to use the respective potential even more.

If you want to promote higher ticketing sales, the sale of your merchandising articles and increase your catering turnover, then it is best to get to know our event manager better today. Our event manager has a new and improved CRM system. So you understand your customers down to the smallest detail.

A CRM MANAGER WITH MANY POSSIBILITIES.

With the CRM system from egocentric Systems you can see the total sales of your customers at a glance. You not only have the historical sales data and interests of your customers available, but all the information you need for successful marketing. Complete the respective customer profiles by storing several addresses and maintain two full contacts with individual email addresses per customer number. Collect all the information you need as an organizer from your guests in five additional, user-defined fields. Manage how you can get in touch with your customers. With the help of the integrated relationship management, you can easily connect customer accounts. With this function you can e.g. Represent relationship relationships and use the rating system to categorize customers quickly and easily according to your respective criteria.

Thanks to Event Manager, you know everything about your customers and can quickly and easily make selections, set up automatic mailings, start campaigns or integrate external tools such as Mailchimp.

Privacy. The be-all and end-all of today’s CRM systems.

CRM is an integral part of marketing and customer service, so data protection must not be neglected. Data protection is a top priority for us too. Marketing consent, double opt-in procedures and compliance with the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) are a matter of course.

If you want to increase the efficiency and effectiveness of your measures and significantly improve the product experience of your guests, fans and members, then you should work with the event manager from egocentric Systems. We promise you will be satisfied with the result: enthusiastic guests, even more loyal fans and significantly higher sales in ticketing, merchandising and F&B.

Turn your guests into fans!

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