What’s an event without its attendees? After all, they are what determine the overall success of your event. You will find yourself planning for necessary accommodations and financial spending based on your expected number of attendees. However, attention to your attendees should not end there. Event attendance tracking should be an integral part of your event planning and execution process, as it will provide you with impactful data that can enhance your current event and lead to improved future events. 

Why Is Tracking Attendance Essential for Event Success?

There are many factors that go into creating a successful event. Since each event has a primary goal of getting a certain number of people to attend, most of these factors are centered around attendee data. Tracking attendance at events can prove to be a useful tool in event marketing, planning future events, and providing tangible data for potential sponsors. 

Helps Track ROI

Return on investment (ROI) is arguably one of the most important performance measurements for event planners, as it shows the profitability, or success, of the investments put into the event. The profitability of an event may come from things like ticket sales, food and beverage sales, merchandise sales, sponsorships, and advertising. All of these are directly affected by the number of overall attendees to the event. 

To make an event a positive experience for eventgoers, you might find that your organization is spending on accommodations like event space, the number of seatings, and the amount of merchandise and goods. If your attendance is lower than planned for, you may find that you are left with a negative ROI. In this case, this data can be used to better plan for future events to avoid excessive spending. 

Allows You to Tailor Your Event Content

Tracking event attendance goes beyond tracking the number of people that show up to your event. As you track the attendees that showed up, you also gain valuable information that helps you identify your target audience. This can include helpful demographics like age and gender. Once you understand this data, you can more appropriately market to your current and future attendees through your event content. Improved marketing efforts can help expand your reach and ultimately enhance the success of your event. 

Provides Valuable Data Points for Sponsors

Obtaining and maintaining sponsors is a major part of creating a memorable event. Sponsors will provide either financial support, services, or merchandise in exchange for advertising their brand or products at your event. This serves as a way to enhance your event at no extra cost. However, sponsors oftentimes choose to support events that have a similar target audience, as they are using their sponsorship as a way to extend their reach.

Since target audience is a primary factor that sponsors consider, providing them with data points via attendance reports can help show them why your event is an ideal partnership. Aside from showing them your event turnout, you can also provide them with specific demographics of your audience. As you obtain these sponsorships, you can experience an increase in credibility, decrease in costs, an expanded audience reach, and new opportunities. 

Enables You to Personalize Post-Event Communications

As it has been said, the end of your event is really just the beginning.Post-event marketing is vital in creating a network of loyal event attendees and understanding what went well and what lacked during your event. Although it is often overlooked, this is an essential task if you are wanting to retain your audience and improve your event outcome in the future.

Tracking event attendance allows you to more efficiently execute your post-event communications. Through your preferred tracking method, you are able to see who purchased tickets versus who actually showed up. This allows you to market to two different groups in a personalized way. Additionally, you can continue engaging with your attendees to receive feedback about your event and gauge interest in future events. 

Helps Evaluate Attendee Engagement

Going beyond a headcount of attendees allows you to gather useful metrics, such as their engagement with your event. Attendee engagement can range from live polls, social media posts, interaction with sponsors, active participation, and meaningful interaction with the event. These metrics are important to understand because they help determine how successful your event was. Although an event can experience a high attendance rate, the attendees may have left feeling unsatisfied with the event. Identifying areas of attendee engagement can help pinpoint your event’s strong points and bring attention to any areas of weakness.

Gives You a Database for Remarketing

Remarketing is a highly effective and increasingly popular digital marketing tool that allows companies to reconnect with past visitors. This marketing tactic can be applied to attendees, those who purchased tickets and did not attend, and those who showed interest via the event website and did not convert. As you track event attendance, you are able to build a growing database by providing insight into attendee interests that can be used for our remarketing efforts. Keeping this line of connection with your past attendees can encourage them to interact with your future events. 

Ensures Event Safety

When trying to plan a fun and enjoyable event, event safety can sometimes fall behind. However, event safety plays a vital role in ensuring that your event goes off without a hitch. Understanding event attendance can help you plan for safety measures accordingly. Aside from making sure that the event provides enough space and staffing for it to run smoothly, you can also use event attendance tracking to determine how much accessible accommodations you may need to make for your current and future events. 

What Are the Different Ways to Track Attendance?

It’s important to note that tickets sold and attendees present may differ. Considering this, it’s important to find a way to track event attendance that goes beyond counting the number of tickets sold. Whether it be manual or digital, you should ensure that your attendance tracking method allows you to gather meaningful data on those that experienced your event. Additionally, you will want to make sure that your attendance tracking method leads to an excellent check-in process that leaves attendees satisfied and excited.

Manual Event Tracking Options

Manual event tracking is an option that you might consider for attendance verification. Under this method, event staff or volunteers will check in guests at the entrance of the event by verifying their information on a physical list with pen and paper or on a digital spreadsheet. The staff or volunteer who gather essential information, like attendee name and email, as well as additional information to help build data on the event’s audience. 

Manual entry serves as a low-cost attendance tracking method that allows for event staff to have a meaningful interaction with attendees as they arrive to the event. This can add to your event experience and help establish a connection with event-goers. However, this method can run the risk of creating a slow check-in process, providing inaccurate data, and leaving you with an additional workload following the event. This option may be best for more intimate events or first-time events that are looking to spare some spending.

Automated and Digital Event-Tracking Solutions

As advancements continue, there are many different methods of automated and digital event-tracking solutions. These methods are oftentimes preferred by event planners and attendees alike, as they serve as a hassle-free, quick, safe, and reliable means of event attendance tracking. Digital event tracking can be accomplished through mobile check-in, which includes the following methods:

• Event app check-in: Attendees are prompted to download a mobile app where they can verify their attendance by scanning a code or inputting their information. 
• Barcode scanner: Attendees can access their digital tickets that can be quickly scanned by barcode scanners. These apps can also be used to complete attendee registration, store attendee details, follow the attendee journey, and survey the attendee experience. 
• Text messages: Attendees will receive a text message to their mobile device that they can respond to in order to notify that they have arrived at the event. 
• Check-in links: Links can be sent via text message or email. These links can be followed by attendees to complete event check-ins and grant them access to the event. 
• QR codes: QR codes have emerged as a top-performer in digital event-tracking solutions. QR codes serve as the attendees’ tickets and can be quickly scanned upon entry. These codes cannot be double-scanned and contain the information specific to the ticket-purchaser. 

Digital check-in had become a widely used method by event planners because of its ease of use, unbeatable safety features, and ability to gather and store attendee data efficiently. It also enhances the experience for attendees, as they seek fast and secure check-in. Event attendance software is quickly becoming an essential element of event planning.

Simplify Your Attendee Tracking with Events.com Execute

Attendance tracking is more than a headcount. Today, event planners have the option of utilizing smart event attendance tracking software to enhance their check-in process for attendees, collect meaningful data, and improve the outcome of future events. Events.com has all of the tools you need to manage your event from start to finish. Learn more about Events.com Execute and how our check-in app and real-time reporting can be used to execute a flawless event and improve your future events.