For event organizers, attracting new attendees is only half the battle. Keeping attendees engaged and coming back year after year is key to long term success and steady revenue growth. But with so many competing events and life demands, attendee loyalty is challenging to maintain.
That’s where data analytics comes in. By analyzing historical attendance data, purchase history, and digital engagement, you can determine which past attendees have become less engaged or dropped off completely. Then craft tailored campaigns targeting their interests and motivations to reactivate them for your next event.
Here are some of the ways event companies leverage data analytics to reactivate dormant attendees:
- Identify Segments at Risk of Dropping Off
Analyze attendance history and look for any segments that have declined in numbers over time. For example, attendees from a certain location, company, or industry. Reach out with messaging and offers addressing their potential objections or barriers to attending again. - Predict Future Behavior
Use machine learning models analyzing past behavior to predict the likelihood of different attendees registering or dropping off for your next event. Then target extra marketing efforts at those with a high probability of not attending to re-engage them. - Personalize Messaging
Leverage CRM data on past purchases, interests, engagement, and more to tailor messaging and offers to different audience segments. Personalized emails resonate more, with open rates up to 6 times higher than generic blasts. Remind them why they loved attending in years past! - Share Memorable Moments
Curate photos, videos, testimonials, and social media highlights from previous years’ events and share with past attendees. This nostalgia triggers positive associations with their experience and motivates them to register to recreate those memories and connections. - Leverage FOMO
Promote how registration is filling up fast and emphasize the exciting networking, learning, or experiences they’ll miss out on if they don’t attend this year. FOMO (fear of missing out) is a powerful motivator, especially for events attendees have a history with. - Extend Discounts and Perks
Offer special discounts, multi-year bundles or loyalty perks like VIP access just for returning attendees. Sweetening the deal and providing extra incentive and value makes it harder to refuse, especially if cost was a barrier to returning in recent years. - Retarget on Social Media
Use pixels to identify past attendees on Facebook, LinkedIn and other networks. Then serve the ads promoting the next event and any available incentives or offers to trigger that familiarity and nudge them to re-register.
Data is key to gaining a 360-degree view of your attendees’ journeys, determining who’s at risk of dropping off, and crafting the personalized experiences that make them want to return again and again. While attracting new potential customers is essential, data-driven loyalty and reactivation campaigns keep your base of repeat attendees strong year after year. And loyal attendees are your most valuable – they spend more, spread awareness and provide referral opportunities to boost numbers further.
Leveraging data analytics will empower your team to keep attendees coming back and build sustainable growth through relationships and experiences, not one-off transactions. The more you know your attendees, the more you can motivate their loyalty and achieve an event that lasts for years to come. Let data drive reactivation and watch as more past faces return once again.
