In the last few months, enterprise-scale tech companies have been leaders in converting in-person events to digital platforms with very little time to prepare for the pivot. This volatile transition produced very large numbers in terms of audience numbers and views.
It's accurate to say that online events offer unprecedented opportunities to engage audiences, but the true test of success for a digital event will still be in the quality of that interaction and what happens next.
Our team of experts audited more than 50 digital events to see how companies engaged with audiences and what trends were forming. Our Digital Event Forecast offers a summary of our deep-dive audit and insights on the future of digital events.
Measuring Digital Events
A cornerstone consideration for any measurement tactic is whether you go for easy access and broad reach—with many viewers touching in and perhaps not staying or engaging in a meaningful way—or refine your goals and focus on viewers that stay longer, do more and deliver greater engagement value?
As with in-person events, your specific metrics will need to be unique to your engagement strategy and your benchmarks will be influenced by your specific brand, product, industry and target audience. There is no one-size-fits-all.
However, here are some basics that most digital event measurement programs include:
Registration & Conversion
Conversion rates for traditional webinars typically average 30-40% (ON24 Webinar Benchmarks Report 2019), but we’re currently seeing much higher rates when it comes to digital events with some of our clients exceeding these conversion rates by 15% or more.
Given this, we recommend making events gated, but reduce the barrier to register by collecting only baseline demographic information. Include a question to enable registrants to self-identify their relationship with your company if you can’t map that back to an existing account or customer ID. A simple way to gauge the number of unique accounts is to analyze registrant email domains.
Total Views & Unique Views
How many people tuned in or clicked play? Total views is the big number, and we’ve seen these viewership numbers far exceed expectations or previous benchmarks.
Totaling unique views will cull that number down, eliminating repeat views by the same viewer who may come and go.
Reporting on both is typical.
Quality Over Quantity
We recommend focusing less on the big numbers and more on the value of the views. With unique views, you can determine your average sessions viewed per attendee, to understand how your content performed.
Average view duration for each session or activity is another key success indicator. In the past, we’ve observed an average of about 15-20-minutes spent on digital event content. We are seeing increased durations up to 120 minutes and longer. We attribute this spike to a current (likely temporary) higher-tolerance for viewing online content, but expect view durations to remain longer as people adapt to digital events.
Depth of Engagement
The next wave of measurement will be about understanding what participants do and how they engage. Metrics are continuing to emerge here, but you might consider tracking what content unique attendees are viewing and downloading.
You can also track social media engagement. Many digital events leverage Twitter feeds and dedicated hashtags during their events, tracking social media impressions. Including “live” polls is another way to drive interaction and gather insights simultaneously.
If they’re offered, track engagement with 1:1 opportunities, including meet-ups or live-chat with experts and others.
Targeted Content Journeys
Consider your target audiences and what they need and want from your brand. Map out preferred pathways for your audiences to navigate your content, then track what audiences have watched and for how long, as well as the actions they took.
This intel can be used to develop targeted marketing campaigns that continue post-event and to inform sales of some potential next steps.
Sentiment & Customer Feedback
Capture audience satisfaction and specific feedback on speakers and sessions by using surveys and polls within the platform (often offers higher response rates) or in a post-event email. Pre-and post-event surveys, which we do often for our clients, are an additional means of gauging the event’s impact on brand and product awareness.
However, adjust your benchmarks accordingly for digital events, as we are seeing them trend lower than for in-person events in some (but not all) cases. Early trends show session scores between 3.5–4.3 on a five-point scale, with keynotes generally scoring higher than other sessions.
As with in-person events, speakers with strong presentation skills and content that is well-aligned to audience priorities can still earn 4.0 and higher ratings.
What has been the best test of success for your digital event? What has surprised you? Tell us in the comments below.
Read the full Digital Event Forecast to see our audit and analysis of 50+ enterprise-scale digital events, plus insights on the future of virtual content.
—Erica Spoor