Getting people to register for an event is an important and sometimes difficult step towards building attendance. But what about making sure those people actually show up onsite? CDS refers to these attendees that were confirmed to be onsite as “verified” attendees.
We looked at four trade shows to crunch some numbers. These shows had a combined 81,663 attendees, 56,917 of whom were verified onsite, for a 69.70% verification rate. Let’s dive deeper into these numbers to see what turns registrants into verified attendees.
Cost
The biggest driving factor found in the data is the cost of registration. The more the registrant spends, the more likely it was that they would attend. The registration cost for these trade shows was not high, and there were a lot of complimentary passes sent out by exhibitors and show organizers.
Verified registrants spent three times as much as those who were not verified.
- Not Verified spent on average: $5.25
- Average Spend on Registration Fees- all: $11.83
- Amongst Verified: $14.69
As logic would dictate, the more you spend, the more you are invested in something and thus more likely to follow through.
Weeks Out
Across the industry, show organizers have been struggling to get attendees to register early. Trends have attendees registering later and later with many waiting until within three weeks of the show. Frustratingly, people who do register in advance are much less likely to show up. Look at the chart below—the earlier people register, the lower the verification rates.
Verification Rates by Weeks Out
Week Out | % Verified |
Onsite | 95.27% |
Week 01 | 79.96% |
Week 02 | 75.50% |
Week 03 | 74.56% |
Week 04 | 72.20% |
Week 05 | 70.66% |
Week 06 | 71.27% |
Week 07 | 68.39% |
Week 08 | 65.21% |
Week 09 | 66.09% |
Week 10 | 67.45% |
Week 11 | 60.78% |
Week 12 | 54.28% |
Referrals
The good news is, attendees who were invited by an exhibitor had a 76% verification rate—which is nearly seven points higher than the overall verification average. Although an invitation from an exhibitor, which typically contains a discount like a free hall pass lessens the attendee’s overall spend, the personal invitation as well as the offer of a relevant experience increases the odds that these attendees will show up onsite.
For more information about Data Sense and understanding verified attendance, contact your Account Executive.