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year , you ’ re seeing far more Microsoft Edge users than last year , but in the wider picture of the internet that will have been well known .
Therefore , it ’ s important to look forwards and outwards by looking at other data sources for trends that are happening so you don ’ t get caught out by something ‘ new to you ’. Remember that once upon a time there was no need for responsive web pages – it was only when smartphones and tablets came along that we all had to make sure our forms worked on all of those . What ’ s coming next that we ’ ll have to cope with ? It ’ s very hard to say , but the trends will be there before we see them in the events industry .
Select valuable data
A lot of organisers end up with large amounts of data that is
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pointless . Even if they do get around to analysing it . It might be interesting , but if it doesn ’ t lead to actions and change the way you do something then it ’ s useless . Your data may show you that people under the age of 25 tend to register before 10am . Ok , great , – now what ?
You may have data showing that 20 % of people abandon their registration forms without finishing them . Some of those will go on to re-register and actually finish the forms , but some don ’ t and then won ’ t attend the show . Some that don ’ t finish the form might turn up on site and attend . Can you do anything with any of that data ?
Not really , because there are countless external factors affecting why people didn ’ t complete the registration form . Those might be distractions , or a change of mind and you have
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Simon Clayton |
absolutely no way of knowing why they didn ’ t finish . You may think that you should reduce the size of the form , limit the number of questions maybe ? But 80 % of people did fill in the form , so it worked for the vast majority . The thing to remember here is that if there is something you could change to lower the dropout rates then why aren ’ t you doing that anyway ?
The same applies to demographic questions – the ‘ what is your level of purchasing authority ’ type questions . Make sure you ’ re actually going to use that data in a meaningful way because your attendees have to invest their time in your event to fill that stuff in and you should make sure that information isn ’ t wasted .
Remember , don ’ t chase data analytics endlessly unless it ’ s actually going to provide you with something useful . CN
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