Event marketers should expect a "hockey stick" curve in registrations. Cvent saw nearly a thousand people register in the last six weeks for one event. This reflects a modern behavior where attendees commit mentally but delay the actual registration process until much closer to the date, so it's not necessarily a sign of a failing campaign.
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The concept of a single best day and time to send an email is misleading. Instead, marketers should vary send times throughout the week to reach different segments of their audience. The key metric is the aggregate number of unique individuals engaged weekly, not the performance of a single blast.
Marketers should create temporary, high-energy events rather than long-term, low-engagement communities. A time-bound "24-hour vault unlock" or a 30-day pop-up group generates urgency and a fear of missing out, driving significant participation that permanent online spaces often fail to sustain, even in "boring" industries.
For seasonal offers like a gardening course, create a marketing "runway" that begins when customers are in their planning phase. This allows you to build an audience and nurture leads with relevant freebies (e.g., a garden planning guide) before the peak season's real urgency kicks in.
Contrary to the belief that late-night shopping is for small, impulsive buys, data reveals it's when consumers purchase big-ticket items like airfare and appliances. This "vampire shopping" trend suggests a period of focused, uninterrupted decision-making for busy consumers, creating a key sales window.
Relying on second-hand information like surveys is not enough to stay innovative. Cvent's Head of Events realized that to bring the latest trends to her own events, she had to stop just producing and start actively attending others'. This first-hand experience is critical for genuine innovation and escaping a creative echo chamber.
The holiday season sees a massive spike in email unsubscribes. This isn't due to your marketing efforts, but because people are trying to "clean up" their inboxes for the new year. Marketers should anticipate this trend and not misinterpret it as a sign of poor campaign performance or reduce email frequency.
To identify which events actually drive business, analyze your last 5-20 closed-won deals. Look for recurring, time-bound triggers that you didn't create. This data-driven approach provides clarity on where to focus your efforts, revealing the organic drivers behind your biggest successes.
To combat no-shows, don't end a call after booking a meeting. Ask the prospect to find and accept the calendar invitation while you are still on the line. This simple step ensures the event is actually on their calendar and bypasses issues where invites get lost in email.
Companies over-invest in booth aesthetics and under-invest in preparing their go-to-market teams. True event ROI is driven by setting clear pre-event outreach goals, on-site engagement metrics, and rapid, personalized post-event follow-up, not by the physical booth itself.
The unique pressure of having industry peers as attendees forces a higher standard of excellence. Rachel Andrews explains that since her audience is composed of other event professionals, there's no room for error. This "meta" environment serves as a powerful, intrinsic motivator to constantly innovate and deliver flawless experiences.