Event Marketers own some of the most immersive and powerful touchpoints in the customer experience landscape, which puts us under increasing pressure to demonstrate return on investment. But are we losing focus on the Customer Experience and how that is linked to ROI? Opus Chief Strategy Officer Pat McClellan explores how best to meet audience needs, while making the experience easy and enjoyable. Citing emerging research, historical trends, industry thought leaders, and the recent paradigm shift of getting ketchup out of the bottle, McClellan provides tangible and thought-provoking tips and KPIs you can use on your next event.

1. 3 ESSENTIALS EVERY
EVENT MARKETER
SHOULD BE MEASURING
Metrics through a Customer Experience Lens
Pat McClellan | Chief Strategy Officer | Opus Agency | 14Q4
1

2. Okay, kudos to the event marketing industry
because we’re all talking about metrics.
Many are actually going beyond the talk
and implementing robust metrics strategies.
Everybody is seeking the holy grail:
ROIIt’s critically important.
2

3. PROVEN ROI SUCCESS
Since 1876, this bottle design was a
proven success. Filling the bottles is
the epitome of industrial efficiency.
All the ROI metrics are great—as long as your
objective is getting ketchup into the bottle.
3

4. CUSTOMER EXPERIENCE
But customers want to get ketchup out of the bottle,
and everybody knows what that experience is like.
Shake and shake the
ketchup bottle. None will
come, then a lottle.
Richard Willard Armour
4

5. CUSTOMER EXPERIENCE DESIGN (2006)
Why did it take 130 years for somebody to
think about the customer experience?
Because the metrics they were focused
on proved they were doing a good job.
We need to flip our thinking on metrics,
putting the customer first.
5

6. THE CUSTOMER
EXPERIENCE.
A recent survey from the Event Marketing
Institute asked event professionals about
ROI metrics. Nearly 50 separate metrics
were included, all seeking to quantify various
aspects of return on investment. With so much
focus on ROI, it’s vital that we don’t overlook
the whole reason we’re doing events.
6

7. CUSTOMER EXPERIENCE MANAGEMENT
http://searchcrm.techtarget.com/definition/customer-experience-management
CXM—it’s a thing. It used to be called CEM, but Forrester
started calling it CXM, and that seems to have stuck.
To be clear, we’re not talking about customer service,
or customer satisfaction, or how we love our customers
and they love us. It’s much bigger than that.
TechTarget defines it this way:
Customer experience management is the collection of processes
a company uses to track, oversee and organize every interaction
between a customer and the organization throughout the customer
lifecycle. The goal of CXM is to optimize interactions from the
customer’s perspective and, as a result, foster customer loyalty.
7

8. CUSTOMER EXPERIENCE MANAGEMENT
Dozens of business books and websites explore
every nuance of CX, and the CXO — Chief Experience
Officer — is the hottest new position in executive
suites across nearly every industry vertical.
Companies as diverse as Dunkin Brands, Philips Electronics, and
FedEx have not only employed some version of a CXO, they have
empowered that person with helping to drive growth.
Jonathan Maziarz
“The Rise of the Customer Experience Officer”
The CMO Site
http://www.thecmosite.com/
8

9. 1900-1960
1960-1990
Sources of dominance
Successful companies
1990-2010
2010-?
Age of manufacturing
Mass manufacturing
boosts industrial
powerhouses.
Ford, RCA, GE,
Boeing, P&G,
Sony
Walmart, Toyota,
UPS, CSX
Microsoft, Google,
Dell, Capital One
Southwest
Airlines, Amazon,
USAA, ...
Age of distribution
Global connections
make distribution key.
Age of information
Connected PCs
benefit those who
control information.
Age of the customer
Empowered buyers
demand a customer
focus.
In their book Outside In: The Power
of Putting Customers at the Center
of Your Business, Manning and
Bodine show that we’ve moved
beyond the Information Age into an
era focused on the customer. And
really, isn’t that where we should
have been focused all along?
“Outside In: The Power of Putting Customers at
the Center of Your Business” by Harley Manning
and Kerry Bodine (New Harvest, 2012)
9

10. CUSTOMER EXPERIENCE MANAGEMENT
CXM is a big deal because companies have figured out that Customer
Experience is the essence of brand—more than your logo or tagline, and even
more than your product or service. It’s the experience of every touchpoint
in the customer journey, from advertising, marketing and the sales process,
through purchase, training, product usage and customer support.
Oracle . CX Journey Mapping Workshop . designingcx.com
CX Journey Mapping Process
Create Initial Map Evaluate Explore
Design New
Experience
Brainstorm
Persona, Brand Attributes,
Key Trends
Behavior Line
On Stage Experience
Back Stage Support
RESERVATION
SYSTEM
Prioritize Focus
“Moment that Matters”
Determine Impact
Evaluate Attitudes
Readout
“We focused here, because…”
Clarify Needs & Drivers
Examine Capabilities
(Roles & Processes)
Desired Transformation
INCREASE
REFERAL
RATE
Build CX Design Canvas
Brainstorm Innovation
Redesign Experience
Reality Check
Build CX Hypothesis
Attitudes &
Emotions
Desirable
Viable
Feasibl
e
Useable
effortless
Meaningful
emotional
Useful
functional
10

11. And guess who owns some of the most
immersive and powerful touchpoints in the
whole Customer Experience landscape?
Event Marketers.
As Head of Customer Engagement at NetApp, Tanya Andrade is on
the front lines of the company’s renowned Customer Experience
culture—“a focus,” says Andrade, “that customers cite as the biggest
competitive differentiator for NetApp.”
“We see events in the context of the whole customer experience
spectrum. The customer or prospect might be in ‘our home’—our event
or Briefing Center—for up to three days. We have to make them feel
welcome and cared for.”
11

12. See what we did there? Turns out that
Customer Experience is the driver that
leads to what we wanted all along.
All effective measurement programs
model the relationships between customer
experience quality, the factors that drive it,
and business results.
“Outside In: The Power of Putting Customers
at the Center of Your Business” by Harley
Manning and Kerry Bodine (New Harvest, 2012)
CXM ‣ ROI
12

13. THE CX PYRAMID
At its core, CXM looks at every customer-brand
touchpoint and tests three simple requirements.
“I felt good about that.”
“I didn’t have to work hard.”
“I accomplished my goal.”
The Customer Experience Pyramid Manning. “Outside In: The Power of Putting Customers at the Center of Your Business” by Harley Manning and
Kerry Bodine (New Harvest, 2012) 13

14. Follow
All right, @ACME, thanks
for the snazzy invite and
low-stress registration—C U
at #ACMEworld! #Stoked
#Vegas #Keynotes&Keno
CX Tweeter
@cxtweeter
51 RETWEETS
WERE THE CUSTOMER’S NEEDS MET?
That’s the foundation of the CX Pyramid and for good
reason: If you’re not meeting your customers’ needs, you
won’t have any customers. In the event marketing space,
this question has traditionally led us to measure easily
quantifiable things like attendance stats, badge scans at
the expo, speaker ratings, demos delivered, meetings
scheduled, etc. These are all proxy metrics where we
assume that if we get butts in seats, we’ve met their needs.
But aren’t most of these our needs? Like the
ketchup bottle example, we’re measuring the
efficiency of things going into the event.
What is your process for understanding your customer’s
needs? What do they want to get from attending?
14

15. Kim Kopetz, Director of Customer Experience at
Intel Corporation, calls this idea “ROA” (Return on Attendance).
“It’s the simple recognition that your attendees have lots of
brands vying for their attention and engagement, so brands
need to be thinking more about what the attendees are getting
out of being at your event—from their perspective.”
Kim suggests a pre-event survey of registered attendees that
simply asks what they hope to get from attending. Post-event,
you can survey those same attendees on your success at
meeting those objectives.
15

16. I need to figure out if we can
do this project with what I
already bought from you.
I need to discover
new vendors and
resources that will
save me money.
I need to
be more
valuable to
my boss.
I need to understand
the big picture.
Follow
1 day in and #ACMEworld
is rad! Great training breakouts
and a killer #keynote. Ready
to go enterprise w/ the
@ACME platform!
CX Tweeter
@cxtweeter
65 RETWEETS
• I need to meet an engineer from [company].
• I need to get certified on [system].
• I need to connect with my peers in the industry.
• I need to compare [x company]’s solutions to [y company]’s.
• I need to make connections that build my customer base.
CUSTOMERS’ NEEDS SOUND LIKE THIS
16

17. Follow
Day 2 at #ACMEworld in sunny
#LasVegas. Today’s mission:
I need to renew my certification
on the @ACME platform!
#NewSkills #JobSecurity
CX Tweeter
@cxtweeter
51 RETWEETS
And those are just the big picture needs. You’ll want to understand
the customers’ needs at every touchpoint along the way.
It’s a daunting task, but well worth the effort. You’ll likely find
some surprises that will force you to rethink and innovate. And
your metrics for Customer Needs Met will evolve as well.
• I need to register for the conference from my phone.
• I need a translator for the website.
• I need to understand which sessions to attend.
• I need to be invoiced for the registration fee.
• I need to figure out where to pick up my badge.
• I need to find the session I’m supposed to be in.
• I need to learn how to…
• I need to get the slides from the breakout session.
• I need, I need, I need…
17

18. MEASURING CUSTOMER’S NEEDS MET
• Does your event have a “HELP Button”—a clear path for attendees who have an issue? This will
provide you vital input from customers whose needs were not met. Be prepared to act on that input.
• Shift your metrics focus to the customer’s perspective. There’s nothing wrong with “success metrics”,
as long as you’re talking about your attendees’ success. What is their Return on Attendance?
• Do a quick survey at pre-event registration to understand exactly what
attendees want to get from attending, preferably in their own words.
• Find metrics that indicate areas for improvement. For example, let’s look at online event
registration. Typical metrics show your success in getting people registered for the event. But how
are you accounting for those people who didn’t register because their needs weren’t met?
-- Analyze how many people came to the website multiple times but didn’t register.
-- Measure how many people started the reg process but didn’t complete it.
Follow up with them to understand why.
-- Look at how many registered but left their profiles or agendas incomplete.
-- Track average time required to register and plan the agenda, then analyze outliers
that could indicate problems with language, platform or usability.
-- Track how many people are unable to get a session they wanted (or are wait-listed.)
• These are metrics that can reveal gaps in the quality of your customer experience.
• Establish benchmarks and goals for the quality of each experience, and aim for continuous improvement.
18

19. Ariel Kelman is VP of Worldwide Marketing for Amazon
Web Services. With AWS events focused on IT and
developer audiences, Kelman says attendees aren’t
interested in glitzy branding and a sales pitch.
“Customers expect to have more and more advanced
content. And they want to hear from our other customers and
our partners. That’s more important than having AWS in front
of them every minute.
“Our event metrics ask if the technical depth of our content
met attendees’ expectations, and we ask them to rate
individual components. We take in that data and use it to
refine our content and delivery.”
19

20. When NetApp welcomes guests into their briefing centers,
the process starts before the visit with an account call, where
the customer’s needs and objectives are clearly articulated.
During the visit, a Briefing Program Facilitator joins the group and
acts as the customer’s advocate—assuring that the engagement
stays focused on their needs. The process concludes with a
post-visit account team debriefing.
This approach is a microcosm of NetApp’s broader Customer
Listening program, run by the company’s Customer Success team.
You can probably tell from the names of its programs and teams
that NetApp is very serious about putting the customer first.
20

21. Follow
@ACME certification done, I’m fried
and so is my iPhone battery. Couldn’t
find breakout session…or my badge.
#ExpoFatigue #INeedADrink
CX Tweeter
@cxtweeter
55 RETWEETS
The next important layer of the CX Pyramid asks
a simple question of every customer touchpoint:
Was it Easy? How much effort did the customer
have to expend to get their needs met?
“I felt good about that.”
“I didn’t have to work hard.”
“I accomplished my goal.”
21

22. The Effortless
Experience: Conquering
the New Battleground
for Customer Loyalty
by Matthew Dixon, Nick
Toman, and Rick DeLisi.
Penguin Group US.
Follow
Drinks help, but @ACME wins the
day for replying to last tweet. Badge
replaced and free phone charger
hooked up! #EasyPeezy #Swag
CX Tweeter
@cxtweeter
40 RETWEETS
WAS IT EASY?
This is perhaps the biggest gap in event marketing
metrics, and the biggest opportunity to differentiate
a truly great experience. As the authors of “The
Effortless Experience” explain, surprisingly, true
loyalty is not about delivering delight; it’s about simply
meeting customers’ needs and making it effortless.
“While most companies have for decades been pouring time,
energy, and resources into the singular pursuit of creating and
replicating the delightful experience for their customers, they’ve
ironically missed the very thing customers are actually looking
for… the effortless experience.”
Ease of doing business is a major focus for us because
customer expectations are becoming increasingly
sophisticated—they expect the ease of Google-like search
and self-help options that are relevant at every touchpoint.
Kim Kopetz, Director of Customer Experience, Intel Corporation
22

23. Good planning: Strong coffee just when I need it. Ready to hit
3rd and final day of #ACMEworld hard! #FinishStrong
CX Tweeter
@cxtweeter
Follow51 RETWEETS
It might seem to you that we’re expending most of our focus
measuring negative things — customer pain points — and you
would be right. You probably already have a good handle on the
success metrics. The key insight here is that there’s more impact
on loyalty and incremental ROI in eliminating negatives than in
augmenting the positives.
“By focusing on the
sources of customer
effort, we can eliminate
the bad interactions…
Instead of getting
customers to say,
‘You exceeded my
expectations,’ we really
ought to be trying to get
customers to say, ‘You
made that easy.’”
The Effortless Experience:
Conquering the New
Battleground for Customer
Loyalty by Matthew Dixon,
Nick Toman, and Rick DeLisi.
Penguin Group US.
23

24. Holy sensory overload, Batman! There’s
no more chaotic, draining place on
Earth than an expo floor. #ACMEworld
#WhereAmI? #Whatsmynameagain?
CX Tweeter
@cxtweeter
Follow51 RETWEETS
In the event marketing space, making the
experience easy starts by understanding
customer pain points.
• Difficult and time consuming
registration, agenda planning,
badging, logistics planning
• Navigating onsite, lodging and
transportation, downloading and
using the mobile app, connecting
with people, dealing with crowds
• Standing in line, waiting for anything
• Access to executives
• Access to food and drink, wifi,
charging stations, a place to sit and talk
24

25. Meanwhile, my event app crashed and I can’t
RSVP to tonight’s #networking event. Boo!
#ACMEworld #KindaOverIt
CX Tweeter
@cxtweeter
Follow51 RETWEETS
• Less, but better
• Prioritize
• Limit choices to a manageable number
• Reduce time on task
• Reduce wait times
• Reduce the possibility for error
• Use convenient channels
• Be in the right place, at the right time
• Speak the customer’s language
The Ten Principles Behind Great
Customer Experiences by Matt
Watkinson (Financial Times
Series) Pearson Education
Limited.
To prevent or mitigate these
pain points, consider the
general concepts shared in
Matt Watkinson’s book The
Ten Principles Behind Great
Customer Experiences.
Since premiering in a 2005
Superbowl ad, the Staples
“easy button” has created brand
differentiation for a retailer selling
commodity office supplies. What
is it about the concept that is so
appealing? Simple. We all want one!
Push the button and things become
easy. There are big gains in customer
loyalty going to those companies
who can make it easy.
Responding to popular demand,
Staples started selling “easy button”
toys in October 2005, with proceeds
going to their charitable foundation.
We already asked if your event has
a HELP Button. Perhaps it needs
a virtual easy button as well. How
could you implement this concept?
25

26. MEASURING EASY
Design key performance indicators (KPIs) into your
processes so that you anticipate and manage those
things that define “easy.” Create a dashboard that
tracks things like:
• Average time to register online and check-in onsite
• Average wait time outside breakout sessions
• Average wait time to get food/coffee
• Number of people and time spent trying
to get into a session they want
• Number of customer issues and resolution times
• Resolution success rates by type of issue
Again, establish benchmarks and goals and manage
for continuous improvement.
Measuring something like “easy” can seem
abstract, so let’s look to the customer for clarity.
For every customer experience, we have to
understand how the customers define “easy.”
Here are some synonyms that may work,
depending on the experience:
• Fast or timely
• Short wait time (or better, no waiting)
• Simple
• Intuitive
• Highly-visible
• Clearly-articulated
• In the right language
• Well-documented
26

27. IS IT ENJOYABLE?
Capping off the CX Pyramid is our most subjective
metric yet. Remember, we’re not just talking about
the overall experience of the event, but rather,
each and every touchpoint. For touchpoints
like the Keynote Session, the Party, or the Training
Labs, figuring out what’s enjoyable isn’t too hard. But
what about Registration and Check-in, the Shuttle
from the Airport, Navigating the Expo Floor, and the
inevitable Waiting in Line for Food?
These customer experiences challenge us to apply
innovation and creative resources to the most mundane
aspects of our events. Again, we need to start by
playing defense, with focus on mitigating the common
buzz-kills: boredom, wasting time, repetition, de-
personalization, confusion, disconnection, low battery,
hunger and thirst, lack of information. But don’t stop
there; how can you make standing in line enjoyable?
Yes… food, drink, Wi-Fi and phone chargers fall
squarely into the “meets needs” section, but they’re
also prerequisites to any level of enjoyment!
“I felt good about that.”
“I didn’t have to work hard.”
“I accomplished my goal.”
27
Follow
Event app back up, RSVP sent, today’s sessions
running on time, hot food hot & cold food cold.
#BackOnTrack #SmoothSailing #ItsTheLittleThings
CX Tweeter
@cxtweeter
51 RETWEETS

28. 25 Minute
Wait From
This Point
Look to the geniuses at Walt Disney Imagineering who create
the theme park attractions. They refer to lines as the “pre-
show,” and not in an ironic way—they have Creative Directors
responsible for designing this pre-show experience. You
probably don’t have Disney’s budget for designing your “pre-
show,” but here are some key concepts to consider:
• Give attendees a sense of control by keeping them
informed and managing their expectations. (The posted
wait time is always a bit longer than the actual wait.)
• Indulge the senses with imagery, media and Wi-Fi connection. (This is
especially important in the sensory desert of a convention center hallway!)
• Control the flow of people and ideas—use this captive audience
time for promoting other sessions and sharing brand messaging (but
make sure it’s not a short loop or the repetition will be tedious).
• Give them a reason to interact with others and something
to think about, like a competitive trivia game that
builds anticipation for the “show” to come.
• Have your “characters” work the line. It’s a great opportunity
for your execs to meet and greet your attendees.
Create a photo op and promote sharing it.
For more of WDI’s experiential insight, look up “Mickey’s 10 Commandments” — 10 key
ideas to guide any experience design.
Did you know that Disney is
credited with inventing the
switch-back line?
Follow
“You just made it through 72 jam-packed hours
at #ACMEworld. What’re you going to do now?”
“I’m going to Disney World!” #LeavingLasVegas
CX Tweeter
@cxtweeter
51 RETWEETS
28

29. You Must Be
This Tall To Enjoy
This Experience
MEASURING ENJOYMENT
• Enjoyment issues (both positive and negative) will be
apparent in social media. Publicize hashtags for your
event and monitor posts for real-time sentiment.
• Conduct a series of brief focus groups onsite at your event;
group them by attendee segment. This is a great approach for
collecting qualitative data. Listen for the way they articulate
needs and issues, then use their words in your surveys.
• For more discreet touchpoints, tracking enjoyment is
more a matter of staff attention and empathy.
-- Be attuned to the comments section on surveys.
-- Have your staff and brand ambassadors talk with
attendees on the show floor or at breaks. Ask if they’re
having a good time. Find out why…or why not.
-- Collect, analyze and respond to the input you receive.
• Net Promoter Score is useful for quantifying overall enjoyment.
It will tell you if you’re succeeding, but it’s too general to be
prescriptive if you are coming up short in this category.
29

30. Met my
needs. Easy. I enjoyed it.
Follow
Well played, @ACME. This
year’s #ACMEworld was the
best ever! Met my needs, easy
and enjoyable throughout!
#SeeYouNextYear
CX Tweeter
@cxtweeter
51 RETWEETS
Customer Experience Management challenges
us to consider every brand touchpoint and to
evaluate each of those interactions through the
customer’s eyes. As event marketers, we need
to ensure that we’re listening to the customer’s
voice and measuring our success on their terms.
IT’S NOT COMPLICATED.
30

31. Opus Agency provides event marketing, management and production
solutions to Fortune 1000 companies. Since 1993, we have been a trusted
adviser to a diverse group of customers creating unique, high quality
events. We design, plan and execute brand experiences that accelerate
results and enable our clients to achieve desired business goals.
Our passion for customer success inspires our own CXM process. We want to
meet all of our customers’ needs while making the process easy and enjoyable!
Pat McClellan is Chief Strategy Officer at Opus. Over his 30-year career, Pat
has combined his strategic marketing skills and passion for technology to
lead media production and events marketing projects for some of the most
prominent and respected brands in Silicon Valley and beyond.
Pat received his MBA from Kellogg Graduate School of Management and
his BS in Radio-TV-Film from Northwestern University.
31

32. RECOMMENDED CXM RESOURCES
• Outside In: The Power of Putting Customers at the Center of Your Business
by Harley Manning and Kerry Bodine. Forrester Research.
• The Effortless Experience: Conquering the New Battleground for Customer Loyalty
by Matthew Dixon, Nick Toman, and Rick DeLisi. Penguin Group US.
• The Ten Principles Behind Great Customer Experiences by Matt Watkinson
(Financial Times Series) Pearson Education Limited.
• The Customer Experience Revolution by Jeofrey Bean and Sean Van Tyne. Brigantine Media.
• Why CXM Is the Next Step in Customer Interaction
• Forrester’s CXM Blog
• Customer Experience Mapping Resources
32