EVENTEXPERIENCESERIES

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At EventKloud, we believe in creating great event experiences. We understand that events are about people and their experiences — and

after all, we are an event experience & marketing company. So naturally, it bothers us when we see other companies and their event marketing

campaigns fall short. When they have experiences that are lacking when it comes to engaging their audiences/attendees. However this is

something that can be easily fixed.

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This post is the first installment in an on-going series on Event Experiences. The series will detail how certain companies handle their event marketing campaigns, the event experiences and finally ways we think they can improve. (Editors note: Just to clear the air, this isn’t meant to

slam anybody, but rather we see it as a learning experience and exposé to help people & brands create better event experiences in the future.)

For this week we will be focusing on LaughStub & our experience at The DC Improv.

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BACKSTORY

Recently we were invited by some friends of ours to attend a FREE open mic night at the DC Improv. Being a fan of comedy and stand up,

it couldn’t get much better than a free open mic night. The event, in-and-of-itself was fantastic — the comedy was funny, the atmosphere was inviting, it was a success. The experience of getting the tickets however,

was something of a nightmare….

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PROBLEMS

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Free as in Free, Right?

The open mic night was advertised as a “free” event, so we were slightly thrown off when registering & being told there was a “$3” charge. The issue wasn’t the 3 dollars, the problem it presents to attendees is the dishonestly of listing an event as a “Free Event” when it fact there is a small minimum fee.

It’s possible that the improv doesn’t even know this fee is being charged, it could be a convenience charge straight from LaughStub (or their parent CrowdTorch). However, this type of thing leaves a bad taste in the mouth of your consumer and attendee and hurts your brand and your ability to

nurture loyal returning customers.

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One best practice that we stress over and over is the importance of effective Calls To

Action. In this case, when registering for tickets the flow wasn’t as clear as it could’ve

been — you have to click the two small tickets. One way to be sure your CTAs stand out is to make sure they’re a different color

than anything else on the page, and that there’s a text AS WELL AS visual cue. There

wasn’t a clear and PAINFULLY OBVIOUS CTA to purchase tickets and that can lead to

loss of potential attendees.

For more on CTA’s and other ways to optimize webpages for events check out

our post:

Where’s The CTA’s At?

CTA?

CTA?

CTA?

CTA?

CTA?

CTA?

-Are you a CTA?

“Five Easy Ways to Optimize Your Events Page.”

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Another best practice we stress is making the registration or sign up process as easy and simple as possible for the attendee. When it came to the Open Mic checkout process it redirected us to another site that didn’t maintain the same brand identity as the DC Improv, and slowed down the process.

One Click is better than Five

This is called FRICTION and you have to remember that every bit of friction leads to disinterested customers dropping off, getting bored and doing something else (ultimately a loss of sales in your bottom line). Eliminating steps to purchase (like creating a sign-in), and reducing the number of clicks and transfers eliminates that and saves everybody’s time.

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We all have love/hate relationships with emails. However, brands can change that with more interesting and personalized emailing. In this event, the confirmation email received was not particularly interesting, so there was no real need to open it.

This is an area where most brands can significantly improve: there’s always potential to advertise promotions for the event, upcoming sales, or event related events to incentivize attendees to share or engage more. Event sharing crucial information will provide an incentive to open the email.

Emails & Following Up

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Another way brands can engage and keep the dialogue going after an attendee signs up is by sending out event email reminders. Simple monthly or weekly follow ups or reminders are a great way to remind attendees about promotions, surveys, or VIP packages they could win or sign up for.

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The main take-away here is that having a strong focus on the audience and their experience is ALWAYS key. Deliver on what

you’ve promised, make the process easy on the attendee & keep the conversation going long after they’ve signed up. We hope this was educational, our point is to raise the level of industry and help everyone out. Keep an eye out for more on this Event Experience

Series and if you have more detailed questions or would like a personal consultation for your specific event, please don’t hesitate

to reach out to the EventKloud team. Best of luck!

THE WRAP UP

QUESTIONS?For more info on best practices & event marketing

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