Virtual events: understanding the data and metrics

Virtual events can help charities link digital efforts together

Gauging audience engagement and interest in person is easy – charity digital leaders can just look at faces and audiences. However, digital events can help charity leaders evidence their successes. Most virtual event platform providers offer real-time polling and surveys, so organisers can gather feedback instantly.

High-end virtual event providers can also offer a suite of services – downloadable apps, social media sharing, live chats, presentation tracks, searches, and advertisements can be used by charity digital leaders. For a range of options, platform providers like inexpo, WorkCast, and iVent can deliver both high-end solutions and simple webinars.

Depending on the sophistication of the virtual event, a wealth of data can be gathered in real-time including:

• Social media engagement at virtual events – Creating a microsite, virtual event hashtag, digital fundraising buttons, and share/like features means supporters can still spread the cause online. Better yet, for charity digital leaders, the specific tags and links can be directly attributed to the event;
• Attendance data – Doing away with physical counting, virtual events track exactly who was attending which seminar, speaking event, Q&A or networking event. These metrics don’t have to be clumsily migrated from physical to digital systems. Attendance data can give insight into what audiences are interested in.
• Better CRM – Once registered and engaged, supporter data can be integrated with popular charity CRM systems like Salesforce and Hubspot. Unlikely to be visible during physical events, virtual events can help charity marketing and communications teams make connections between event delegates and those already logged into the CRM system. Unlike IRL events, delegate interactions can be tracked.

On concluding the virtual event, charity digital leaders can also think about following up with potential donor leaders. Event downloads and accessing content after the event could potentially indicate more interest further down the line.

Virtual events can hold their own

One of the most well-known metrics of measuring virtual events is ROI or return on investment. Most charity digital leaders will want to make sure that once the event is delivered, ROI is met. For non-profits, ROI could come across in a variety of metrics including:

• Net promoter score – simply based on answers to the question “How likely is it that you would recommend our company/product/service to a friend or colleague?” Event managers typically look at this score to figure out whether supporters are promoters or not. Answers rank on a score of 0-10, with promoters scoring 9 or more. Charity digital leaders can leverage promoter networks to increase reach.
• Cost per head – the smaller the better. Many event organisers will look at this measure to check whether benefits outweigh the costs of the event.
• Engagement – the number of supporters attending the event may be important to some charities looking to increase brand strength and reach.
• Fundraising efforts – likely to impact all non-profits, charity digital leaders might consider looking at the conversation rate from participants to actual donors achieved via the event.

While many of the above metrics can help support budgeting efforts, remember, virtual event goals and indicators of success should be defined ahead of launch. Afterwards, a data-driven decision-making approach can help charity digital leaders learn, improve, and re-design events and marketing approaches.