Taking part in an exhibition or conference with exhibition space?
For most exhibitors, one of the biggest priorities is capturing new leads. Exhibitions are the perfect place to connect with potential clients and gather their contact details for future marketing and sales opportunities. 59% of visitors to exhibitions purchase products or services after the show has ended rather than at the event itself, so staying in touch is essential. Sadly, with the amount of junk mail and data sharing that goes on, sometimes people need a little reassurance and encouragement to hand over their personal info.
Get the most from your event with our tried and tested Noodle Live techniques for boosting exhibitor lead capture.
1. Make it quick and easy
Nobody enjoys hanging around or filling out endless forms, so make it as quick and easy as possible for people to leave their contact details. You’re likely to get a much higher success rate in a busy exhibition if you can collect details quickly.
At Noodle Live, we’ve created thousands of apps for exhibition venues and spent a long time looking at the areas where tech could really help things to run more smoothly. That’s why we recently added an exhibitor lead capture tool which makes swapping details really easy. Using RFID technology potential leads can hand over their contact details in seconds, simply by tapping their name badge or wristband on a specially adapted tablet computer at your stand. It’s as quick as using an oyster card, so you won’t lose potential leads just because they don’t have time to wait. You can even set up a floor stand that will allow people to register their interest and leave their contact details even if no reps are available to speak to.
2. What can you offer in return?
Nothing comes from nothing. Asking people to hand over their details whilst offering nothing in return can come across as downright selfish. There will be people who will want to stay in touch with you simply because they’re interested in your product, but for those leads that aren’t quite sold yet, give them an incentive to hand over their details by offering to share some of your unique knowledge with them. What is is that your business knows really well and can offer visitors?
Our exhibitor lead capture tool allows you to create PDF documents that can be emailed to your leads the instant they swipe their badge to provide their contact details. At a recent event we ran with Career Zoo in Dublin, potential job applicants were emailed job descriptions and application packs every time they registered interest with an exhibitor. You could also choose to offer session notes, white papers, ebooks, special offers or really useful content – anything that your prospective leads would find interesting and useful.
A survey from CEI Exhibitions found that a staggering 80% of leads gathered at most exhibition and conference events were never followed up. That’s a huge opportunity wasted! Ensure you follow up 100% of leads with automatic responses that are instantly dispatched.
3. Offer plenty of friendly, helpful representatives
You never get a second chance to make a first impression. The reps who man your stall are representing your company and a survey found that have on average just 4 seconds to engage a visitor before their attention is lost. Make sure reps are friendly, that there are enough of them and that they are well prepped and briefed with all of the information they need about the business and the unique benefits it offers. Spend time before the event putting together a really strong elevator pitch that outlines what your company does, why it does it and how you do it better than anyone else, and then allow each rep to adapt it and be able to put it into their own language.
Our exhibitor lead capture tool can supply you with information about which rep captured the most leads, so you can offer incentives and prizes to those who are the most effective.
4. Create a clear call to action
Call to action is a really useful piece of marketing jargon. Essentially, having a clear call to action means making it really clear what you are asking visitors to your stand to do. If your aim is to get them to leave their contact details, then make sure it’s really clear that this is the best thing for people to do.
If you have an unmanned stall where people can leave their contact details, make your signage really clear to encourage people to do so. Use active language that promotes the benefits such as ‘stay in touch’ or ‘find out more’. Make sure your stand reps all understand the primary aim of every interaction and make it as easy as possible for visitors to achieve it.
5. Make sure your stand looks appealing
You’ll be one of several exhibitors and competition is sure to be fierce, so pay attention to the look and feel of your stand. Be creative! Use colours and fabrics to create a welcoming, bright look and make sure that it’s really easy for visitors to get all of the information they want quickly and easily. Think about the most frequent questions potential clients have and create information that answers those questions, or have plenty of reps to talk to them in person. This is your stand, and as well as lead capture, one of the biggest opportunities at exhibitions is brand awareness, so make your logo as big and clear as possible. Don’t forget to use graphics. A picture really can tell 1,000 words.
Want to know more about using apps for exhibition spaces and event tech to boost your lead capture? We love talking about events and technology, so feel free to contact us for a chat. We’re all friendly people and we promise we use any pushy sales tactics, so feel free to ask as many questions about our exhibitor lead capture tool or other event tech products as you wish.