NPS: dissatisfied event exhibitors (in 2019)

Way back in 2019, in a pre-Covid era, trade fair events around the world recorded record takings. Nonetheless, event exhibitors were not satisfied with their experience and, sadly, not much has changed since then.

One of the first to confirm this theory was Enrico Gallorini – co-founder of GRS Research & Strategy – that, during the event IEN2021, presented data to support this fact, using the standard as a reference Net Promoter Score or NPS. What is it about?

Net Promoter Score, satisfaction index

Il Net Promoter Score (or NPS) is an indicator used to measure customer satisfaction or, in the context of events, that of participants, sponsors and exhibitors.
At the basis of the NPS there is a question, which is asked to those who have used the service: "On a scale of 1 to 10, How likely are you to recommend this product/service/site to a friend or colleague?"

All Net Promoter Score calculations are based precisely on this question. In fact, depending on the number chosen, participants are placed in one of the following three categories:

• promoters: they are very satisfied people, who assign a score of 9 or 10. High probability of carrying out valuable and loyalty actions.
• passive: they are moderately satisfied people, who assign a score of 7 or 8. Lowest level of loyalty.
• detractors: they are usually dissatisfied customers, who assign a score between 0 and 6. It is possible that they damage the reputation of the product/service/site through negative reviews, interactions on social media or word of mouth.

To calculate the NPS you will therefore have to make the difference between the "promoters" and the "detractors", obtaining a score that can go from -100 (all detractors, the worst situation) to +100 (all promoters, the best).

Because it's important?

The Net Promoter Score is linked to growth. In fact, when companies can count on their existing customers to recommend their products/services to family and friends, they will be more effective in attracting new customers.

This also applies to the events sector: trade fairs with a higher NPS get better results for all growth KPIs.

The NPS of event exhibitors

The NPS data presented by Enrico Gallorini was calculated based on 2.500.978 survey responses across 938 global B2B exhibitions, resulting in the following results:

• NPS Consumer Visitor: + 21
• NPS Trade Visitor: + 7
• Trade Exhibitor NPS:-17

So, we can see that despite the 90% of 2019 trade fair revenues come directly from exhibitors of events, their group is the only one among those interviewed who remained dissatisfied. From a more practical point of view, this data indicates that in 2019 – despite having been a record year from a revenue point of view – trade fair organizers failed to satisfy their main customers: exhibitors.

In fact, a large portion of exhibitors have become detractors; in particular, if we analyze the NPS of exhibitors more closely, we can see that well 41% of them became detractors, indicating a decidedly high dissatisfaction rate.

Given the important contribution of event exhibitors to the income of the fairs, we are going to analyze the reasons for these low levels of satisfaction and try to identify effective solutions, in order to guarantee their return at the next fairs.

Causes and solutions for low NPS

Referring to Global Exhibitor Insights Report of UFI and Explori, we identify the causes of event exhibitor dissatisfaction:

• Overall event experience: Exhibitors indicated the factors with which they were not satisfied and which should be improved, the most important being the price of the stand, the quality of visitors, the turnout at the stand and – in general – the numbers of visitors.
• Difficulty in achieving goals: The report highlighted that many exhibitors struggle to achieve conversion goals, particularly generating new leads and meeting new customers. Why is it so difficult?
  1. Visitors have different goals, which are not aligned with those of the exhibitor
  2. The exhibitor does advocacy inadequately
• Difficulty in measuring results: Exhibitors find it difficult to evaluate ROI and receive feedback on their performance during the event; this lack of transparency on the part of the organizers negatively affects the event experience.
• Lack of support: Exhibitors do not feel supported by the trade fair organizers and are unable to fully exploit the potential of the event.

Now that we have identified the causes of dissatisfaction, let's see how to solve these problems and increase exhibitor NPS.

Solutions:

• Focus on quality of visitors rather than quantity; in fact, the report indicates that increasing the number of participants has a very limited impact on exhibitor satisfaction if they fail to create valuable connections with them
• Give greater visibility to exhibitors by also creating virtual stands, a digital showcase where they can insert information and content to attract visitors
• Use tools matchmaking to promote the creation of valuable connections and increase footfall at stands and the achievement of objectives
• Support exhibitors helping them develop strategies, offering pre-event training to improve their advocacy skills and providing ongoing support during the event itself
• Encourage new things: When event organizers encourage exhibitors to launch new products/services during the event, both visitor and exhibitor satisfaction increases
• Collect data to measure performance and use surveys and questionnaires to obtain information on the satisfaction of participants, exhibitors and sponsors and identify areas for improvement

To do all this you can rely on an event app like the one from Letz Fair, an all-in-one platform that will allow you to manage the fair in all its phases and at the same time improve the satisfaction of exhibitors and participants.

Another element to consider

THEExhibit Leader Insights Report of 2023 highlighted an additional element to take into consideration when it comes to the NPS of event exhibitors: thecost increase related to the exhibition, a factor that prevails over all others when an exhibitor decides whether to participate in a fair or not.

This means that exhibitors will have to reduce their budget and will be forced to change their schedule for the next few years to strategically focus on high-priority trade shows.

This situation could put both exhibitors and event organizers in difficulty, but there are solutions.
La collaboration is crucial: as an organizer you could help exhibitors develop cost-cutting strategies and provide historical data on ROI and other metrics, which can help exhibitors – especially those with little experience – see the value of attending your event.

Conclusion

To recap: event exhibitors play a key role in a trade show's revenue, so organizers should pay more attention to their satisfaction level so they can retain them and secure their presence at future events.

One way to measure the level of satisfaction is the Net Promoter Score, or NPS. If this proves negative, you can rely on platforms like that of Letzfair, which provides effective support and will help you increase the satisfaction of the real customers of the fair, the exhibitors.