In Part 1 of our Guide to Measuring FOMO, we explained that the problem in XP is not the inability to measure the return on experiential (ROXP, as we call it), but that we choose not to collect the data that allows us to measure it. So, how do we gauge the success of an experience without worrying that the numbers aren’t sexy enough for the non-XP folks?
We focus on three measurements:
- Reach — How many people participated?
- Impact — How did attendees’ perceptions of the event (or brand) change based on their experience?
- Behavior — How did attendees' understanding change their behavior or cause them to take an action? Did they buy a ticket for next year? Buy merch? Interact with a sponsor activation?
Let's dive into the tools that measure these factors and how to integrate them into our events and experiences.
How to measure reach: FOMO
While this is only step one in proving the value of an experience, there are two distinct ways we calculate reach:
- Traffic is a measurement of passive participation. Examples include walking through an activation, attending a party or listening to a session. You’re acknowledging the experience's presence without actively participating in it. Traffic is an easy, but relatively ineffective, way of calculating reach. It uses simple and familiar tools like tickets, clickers and turnstiles.
- Interactions measure active participation. Examples include sampling a product, signing up for a raffle or meeting with a representative. These interactions are harder to come by than passive traffic. But the leads have a much more meaningful impact.
Gone are the days when sharing your name, phone number and email address constituted a worthwhile system for tracking interactions.
Technology like RFID bracelets and badges from Noodle Live can immediately transfer contact info with a tap, allowing leads to be collected seamlessly.
Alas, there will be plenty of instances where the scale of an experience makes it difficult (if not impossible) to track interactions. Our tried-and-true forms of measuring traffic simply don’t apply. How would you measure the number of people able to see a banner plane flying over a stretch of the beach? The application Placer.ai creates customized geofences on a map to calculate the number of people who entered a space during a period of time, pulling location data from smartphone users. Their algorithms allow for reliable counts as long as people spend more than 60 seconds in your geofenced space.
There is no excuse for not having some data on your traffic and/or interactions. But this data alone won't tell the story of what the experience did for a brand. The next step is to analyze the impact it had on the individual.
How to measure impact: FOMO
We all know what it’s like to get caught up in the nitty-gritty of an event and get lost in the details. But perhaps the reason it’s easy to lose sight of impact is that there's no clear measurement for it. And, without a clearly defined goal, what are we working toward?
The green happy face or red sad face buttons are not an accurate way to measure someone’s feelings. Most on-site questionnaires aren’t sufficient, either. The first step in collecting meaningful feedback — have a plan to evaluate attendees’ feelings before, during, and after the experience.
It’s tricky to get this right. XP Land met with data guru and former Nielsen director Jei-laya Hassan, who has made her career in measuring the impact of experiences. She shared this wisdom on survey metrics:
“Self-reported is the standard, passivity is the future.”
Jei-laya Hassan
New technology collects experience data without having users fill out questionnaires, which may suffer from bad reporting. Some high-tech event wristbands can even measure heart rates to calculate responses to experiential activations.
If you don’t have these tools internally, hire someone who does. MESH is a data analytics company that specializes in evaluating the success of experiential projects, known for its Real-time Experience Tracking (RET) tool. Partnering with teams like MESH at the beginning of your project is a critical step.
How to measure behavior: FOMO
Reach and impact won’t demonstrate any concrete value if we fail to understand the interaction between those measurements and a person’s behavior. Interestingly, behavior is usually measured separately from the experience itself, sometimes by a separate team.
The measurements we’ve collected so far might tell a car company how many new people (reach) want to test drive their vehicles (impact) as a result of an auto show activation. But without understanding how a test drive increases the likelihood of purchase (behavior), reach and impact don’t provide information on the actual return.
What to do with ROXP: FOMO
Accurate measurements of reach, impact, and behavior connect an experience with a brand’s financial growth. As with all good research, it’s important for the conclusions to influence how the next experience will be developed. Create, learn, adapt.
The ROXP might not be a net positive the first time. Measurements collected from XP may suggest a financial loss, but the inherent value of those measurements shouldn’t be understated. The next event will use this knowledge to improve reach and impact with a better understanding of consumer behavior, all while making a can’t-miss experience that is statistically proven to be even cooler.
