How To Calculate Corporate Event Return On Investment (ROI) And Grow

You’re the corporate event planner and you just poured out your time, energy, effort, connections, and creativity for your event. How will you know if all that was worth it? When it comes to corporate events and business, it is important to measure the return on investment (ROI) for your effort. 

Let’s look at everything you need to know about corporate event ROI and best practices for achieving it for your corporate event. 

What is Event ROI

An event ROI is the return on investment of the effort you made for your corporate event. This important event data is used to gauge and evaluate the effectiveness of your event planning and execution. 

In calculating event ROI, start by determining all event expenses. Some examples of expenses include venue rental, staff salaries, marketing and promotion costs, etc. 

Next is to calculate the total event revenue or value generated. This can be from ticket sales, revenue from event merch sales, lead generated, sponsorships, brand visibility, etc. 

Get the profit of the event by subtracting the total cost of the event from the total revenue generated. Then, use this formula to calculate event ROI: 

ROI (%) = (Net Profit / Total Investment) x 100

The Need for ROI on Corporate Events

Unlike other types of social events, corporate events are created to achieve a business outcome. Corporate events are organized with business objectives like closing a deal or getting leads. Additionally, significant financial investments are made in corporate events that expect an ROI. 

A well-measured corporate event ROI analysis helps justify the investment made in corporate events. Stakeholders can use this information as evidence of the event’s contribution to the organization’s goals. 

Furthermore, data on a corporate event’s ROI helps in strategic decision-making, optimization of event marketing efforts, and continuous improvement for the next event. When proposing sponsorships, presenting a good corporate event ROI brings credibility and confidence to your brand’s capability to deliver successful corporate events. 

How to Calculate Event ROI 

Choosing the right metrics

The first step in computing your corporate event ROI is to choose the right metrics. Depending on your business objectives the usual metrics for an enhanced corporate event ROI are brand awareness, lead generation, sales/ conversions, social media engagement, website traffic, community engagement, etc.

Data collection

The data you collect will be used for the computation of your corporate event ROI. Sources of data are your ticket registration sites for ticket sales and registration, social media monitoring tools, Google Analytics, post-event surveys, and more. 

Data Analysis

This step involves the extraction of your needed data from your sources. There are different ways you can do data analysis depending on the type of objective you select. 

Cost and Benefit

One way to analyze the data you have is by comparing the costs and benefits derived from the event. As mentioned above, gather all the expenses associated with event planning in comparison with the benefits (both tangible and intangible) you obtained from the event. 

Pre and Post Data comparison

Analyzing results based on data from the pre-event and post-event can indicate event success. Before the event, establish key performance indicators (KPIs) such as attendee engagement, lead generation, or brand awareness. After the event, analyze data collected during the event, such as surveys, attendee feedback, and post-event sales figures, to assess the impact and effectiveness of the event. 

Satisfaction

Determine the attendee satisfaction through surveys or post-event discussions. The Net Promoter Score (NPS) is one of the most commonly used metrics to determine how your participants will recommend your event. NPS is calculated by getting the total percentage of those who will recommend your event minus the total percentage of those who won’t. 

Attribution modeling

Knowing how an attendee became aware of your event is important to determine the effectiveness of your event marketing strategies. Understanding this model specifically helps in determining your event marketing ROI. The attribution modeling determines the touchpoints of someone that led them to be a customer. 

To give you an idea, examples of the types of attribution modeling are last-click attribution, first-click attribution, and multi-touch touch-click attribution.

For example, a conference attendee registered on your event site from a Facebook ad. Attribution modeling will give credit to the Facebook ad channel for that conversion. 

Benchmarking

Unlike the pre and post-event comparison, benchmarking is comparing the data to a company standard, competitor, or your previous event. Benchmarking provides valuable context for measuring event ROI and guiding planning for future events.

Creating a Report

Finally, once you have done these steps, you can proceed to create a post-event report for presenting to your event core team or stakeholders. Presenting the enhanced ROI can help in the discussion about points of improvement for your event. 

List of Examples of Enhanced Corporate Event ROI 

While Return on Investment is a financial term and is mostly used for financial investments, there can be different ways of evaluating your return on investment for a corporate event that is beyond immediate monetary value. Here is the list of enhanced corporate event ROI: 

• Financial ROI

The event’s revenue like ticket sales is the most common metric in determining the ROI of an event. 

• Lead Generation ROI

For corporate events like a trade show, revenue might not be immediate. Instead, the number of qualified leads generated can be a way of measuring an enhanced ROI. 

• Brand Awareness ROI

Some corporate events are created to bring awareness and traction to a product or service. Social listening tools, social media analytics, and brand search volume are some of the ways one can measure brand awareness.

• Customer Acquisition ROI

Calculate the cost of gaining a new customer. Gather data on cost per acquisition, conversion rates, and lifetime customer value. 

• Customer Retention

When you have a corporate event campaign targeted to a segmented group of customers, you can measure its impact based on their retention or churn rate. 

• Employee Engagement ROI

Some corporate events are targeted towards employee wellbeing like retreats, team-building events, and more. Measure the event’s impact on employee engagement through surveys, absenteeism, productivity levels, attendance rate, and employee turnover rate in a given time frame.

• Long term ROI

Some corporate event results are not immediate and will take time to see their results. Important metrics like relationship building, brand loyalty, and community building also contribute to the enhanced corporate event ROI.

Sample Event ROI Template / Event ROI Calculator Sheet

We’ve created a sheet for you to make computing for your event ROI faster. You can make a copy of this template and input the values relevant to your event. Simply click on the Google Sheet link, hover to ‘File’, and click ‘Make a Copy’. 

Corporate Event ROI Template by Event Espresso

Integrate Analytics of your Site for Easier ROI tracking

Tracking event ROI can be made convenient if you integrate your analytics into your event site. Event Espresso is a WordPress plugin that enables you to sell unlimited tickets for your event with no commission fees. Plus, you own your event data and can access important event analytics to measure event ROI.

Types of Corporate Events and How to Calculate ROI

The different types of corporate events here may have tangible and intangible values but you can follow the same template in computing for the ROI above. 

Conferences and Summits

Gather the best of the industry at a conference or summit. Conferences give opportunities to expand knowledge and network with fellow professionals in the industry. Calculate the ROI on your conference either by revenue or brand awareness. 

Seminars

Educational events are valuable opportunities to build a community and share knowledge among peers in the industry. Depending on the objective of your seminar, you can calculate enhanced ROI based on attendee registration, engagement levels, and conversions post-event. 

Retreats

Boost employee morale by organizing a retreat. Some companies use this opportunity to do strategic planning or professional skills training. Use employee engagement ROI elements to calculate the retreat’s impact. 

To calculate the retreat ROI, quantify the benefits achieved from the retreat. Tangible benefits may include increased sales, cost savings, or productivity gains. Intangible benefits could include improved employee engagement, reduced turnover, or enhanced company culture.

Assign a financial value for both tangible and intangible benefits. Next is to identify all costs associated with organizing and conducting the company retreat. This may include venue rental, transportation, accommodation, meals, activities, facilitator fees, and any other related expenses.

Use this formula to calculate the return on investment: 

ROI = (Net Benefits / Total Costs) x 100% 

Trade Shows and Expos

Trade shows are one of the most expensive types of corporate events. Each booth tries to stand out among the hundreds of attendees attending the expo.

Every trade show objective is different depending on the product or service being displayed. But to compute an enhanced ROI for this type of event, planners can do the attribution analysis to track conversions that came from the trade show event. 

Trade Show ROI = (Net Profit from Trade Show / Total Costs of Trade Show Participation) x 100%

Networking Events

Almost every business recognizes the value of networking. However, measuring its ROI can be tricky. To compute ROI for networking events effectively, event organizers can utilize various metrics such as the number of new connections made, the quality of interactions, and the resulting business outcomes. You can use data from your registration to track follow-up actions too. 

Networking event ROI = (Net Profit from Networking Event / Total Costs of Networking Event) x 100%

Product Launches

Product launches can take many forms in corporate events. The event program can be inspired by the product or service you are launching. Calculating ROI for product launches involves evaluating metrics such as sales revenue, brand visibility, and media coverage.

ROI = (Net Profit from Launch / Total Costs of Product Launch) x 100%

Corporate Celebrations

Milestones and anniversaries are corporate events worth celebrating. Get an idea of the ROI through long-term impacts like employee engagement or brand loyalty. Through surveys, you can estimate and assign a monetary value to results on increased employee morale, stronger team cohesion, or higher levels of employee satisfaction and loyalty. From there you can use the same formula or template above to compute for the ROI. 

ROI = (Total Value from Corporate Celebrations / Total Costs spent) x 100%

Best Practices and Tips to Achieve Corporate ROI

Understand Your Target Audience

When you understand your target audience, you can create meaningful and personalized events for them. Attendees can feel that the event is well thought out. Take note of every aspect of your event and what your target audience would appreciate – from relevant topics, workshop activities, choice of speakers, etc. 

Promote Corporate Events Effectively

Achieving a return on investment takes effort and work. Marketing and promotions is one way to excite attendees about your corporate event. Use storytelling techniques to captivate your audience. Once your attendees are in the event, it’s time to keep them engaged. 

Engage Participants

Incorporate activities to keep participants engaged. Give occasional mental breaks during a long discussion to make sure participants don’t get overwhelmed with information. If possible, you can add gamification elements to your event for maximum engagement. 

Immerse participants in your event so that they will recommend your event and convert to your event.

Use Resources Wisely 

Finally, you can achieve a return on investment for your corporate events if you do proper resource allocation. An example is the ticket-selling platforms event planners use. Most ticket-selling platforms charge a hefty amount, but not Event Espresso. 

Event Espresso is the ideal ticket selling and registration for corporate events because of its no commission fees on an unlimited number of tickets sold. With this feature, you can save a large amount of money from your events and achieve your event ROI faster. 

Achieve Corporate Event ROI with your Event Site

Create effective corporate events that will bring an enhanced return on investment for your business tools like Event Espresso. Event planners like you will appreciate features like unlimited ticket selling at $0 commission fees and customizable event registration forms for your corporate events. 

When you don’t have to pay unnecessary fees for selling tickets, it is easier for you to achieve a return on your investment. If your event site is not on WordPress, you can use Event Smart. A similar platform that charges 0 commission fees on tickets sold but you don’t have to make your event site from scratch. 

Start planning for your corporate event now. Check out the live demo now or our 14-day free trial.