Discover how event analytics can help measure the success of your virtual event. Learn about key metrics like registration conversion, audience retention, content views, and post-event feedback with ivent.
Event analytics help you determine whether your event was a success.
Whether your goal is to generate new business, reach international audiences, or create new revenue streams, you need to understand what worked—and what didn’t.
This isn’t just crucial for proving ROI to sponsors and exhibitors; it also helps you improve future virtual events. Without data, you’re operating in the dark—and that’s a recipe for disaster.
Keeping your audience engaged is vital. There’s no point investing time and energy into creating content if it doesn’t land. More importantly, you need to ensure you’re engaging the right audience, because that’s what leads to quality leads and long-term business growth.
Thankfully, measuring the success of a virtual event is easier than ever—and often far more detailed than with in-person events. From click-through rates and viewing times to chat transcripts and more, it’s all available at your fingertips whenever you need it.
Curious about how to use event analytics to measure success?
Thought so—let’s dive in.
Event analytics is essentially how you track the performance of your virtual event.
We’re starting with the basics here, but it’s important to understand what this data means before moving on to how you can actually use it.
When it comes to management and planning, event analytics is an incredibly valuable tool that helps you get to know your audience better.
For example:
This kind of data can offer a wealth of useful insights. It shows you which topics people found most interesting, which speakers were the most engaging, and which event formats worked best.
Perhaps the session with the highest number of viewers used gamification to keep people engaged. As a result, attendees stayed longer because they found it fun and interactive.
On the other hand, maybe another presentation involved one speaker running through lots of information with very little audience interaction. Consequently, attendees might have lost interest and dropped out early.
To plan successful virtual events, knowing this information is essential. There’s no use repeating the same type of event if it didn’t resonate with your audience. You need to understand what they’re interested in and what they enjoy so you can tailor your content accordingly.
Luckily, all of this information is available in the iVent analytics dashboard!
Stay in the know for your next virtual event by understanding how to measure its success. From click-through rates to audience retention, the team at iVent has you covered.
Let’s take a look at the key event metrics you should be tracking.
Your registration page is crucial—it’s what encourages attendees to sign up. If it doesn’t grab their attention, you could be left with an empty event.
To gauge how effective it is, compare the number of visits to the page with the number of people who actually completed the sign-up. This helps you see whether the page is doing its job or needs a redesign to better capture interest.
Understanding your registration page’s conversion rate gives you an early indicator of how successful your virtual event is likely to be.
Keeping your audience engaged throughout your virtual event can be a challenge. Maybe they’re joining from home and getting distracted by others in the house, or perhaps they’re logging on from the office and being interrupted by colleagues. We’ve all been there!
These factors are outside your control, as you’re not physically in the same room. However, by understanding audience retention rates, you can begin to deliver content that keeps people tuned in for longer. Gamification, quizzes, polls, and small discussion groups are all great tools, as they require audience participation and help make attendees feel part of the conversation.
All of these features are available on the iVent platform because we know engagement is key to a successful virtual event. After all, who gets excited about watching a PowerPoint presentation while listening to the same voice for an hour? Create a two-way conversation and give your audience a reason to stay online.
With our reporting tools, you can view session-specific data like viewing times to understand what your audience enjoyed most. If they’re dropping off before a session ends, it’s likely the content isn’t holding their interest. Your audience should be fully invested in your presentation — otherwise, they’re not getting the maximum value. With iVent, all of this data is available to you, whenever you need it.
In addition, our platform allows you to set up both ‘instant’ and scheduled meetings. Instant meetings are great for sparking immediate connection, with no setup required. Scheduled meetings, on the other hand, encourage participation, as attendees are more likely to log in when they’ve pre-arranged a time to meet.
Of course, having lots of people register for your event sounds great. But in reality, it’s a bit like 50 people saying they’ll come to your birthday party—only for just 20 to actually show up.
Registrations don’t mean much if no one logs on. That’s why it’s important to compare the number of people who registered with the number who actually attended.
This matters far more than just having a high number of sign-ups—it shows who was genuinely interested enough to set aside their time.
With the iVent platform, you can see much more than just attendance numbers. As an event admin, you can use our live map to see where attendees are joining from—helping you uncover new opportunities and expand into different markets.
Another great way to measure the success of your virtual event is by tracking how many people are viewing and downloading your content.
These resources are incredibly valuable and serve as excellent educational tools. Whether you're hosting an online training session or a university open day, you can give attendees everything they need at the click of a button.
With the iVent platform, you can host as many resources as you like—giving you complete flexibility. Unlike in-person events, where attendees have to carry around heavy brochures and catalogues, these digital resources are seamlessly integrated into the platform and remain accessible during the on-demand period.
The possibilities are endless. You can link attendees to specific product brochures, presentations, or any other materials—it's entirely up to you. Even better, attendees can easily download resources and add them to their personal ‘Event Bag’ to view later. This gives them more control over their time and allows them to revisit key information whenever it suits them.
And unlike physical events, the ‘Event Bag’ never gets too full.
With iVent’s Data and Analytics tools, you can see exactly how many visitors downloaded your resources, along with the user details they provided at registration. This helps you identify high-value leads and gives you insights into their interests—before you’ve even started the conversation.
As we’ve touched on, a successful virtual event should be interactive—it should go beyond a speaker simply talking at the audience. This is one of the key differences between a webinar and a virtual event.
Hosting a Q&A session is a great way to capture your audience’s attention and encourage wider discussion. Maybe your audience needs clarification on something specific, or perhaps they want to share their own insights and experiences.
When it comes to measuring event success, the number of questions asked during a session is a strong indicator of interest and engagement. If attendees are actively participating, it shows they’re genuinely invested in the content and what the speaker has to say.
This kind of insight is invaluable when planning future events. If a particular session sparked a lot of questions—especially around common themes or product details—you’ll know to build more content around that topic moving forward.
Ultimately, the purpose of event analytics is to help you understand your audience better, so you can create virtual experiences that resonate, engage, and deliver value.
What better way to find out how your virtual event went than by asking the people who attended?
A post-event survey is one of the most effective ways to gather feedback. It helps you understand which sessions resonated, where improvements can be made, and—just as importantly—it shows attendees that their opinions matter.
That said, even the best events can struggle to collect quality feedback. The key? Keep your survey short, clear, and focused. Avoid lengthy questionnaires and instead ask targeted questions that will give you actionable insights for your next event.
Here are a few examples:
These responses will help you identify what worked well—and what should evolve—so you can keep improving the attendee experience.
In addition to surveys, polls are a fantastic tool for both live engagement and post-event evaluation. For example, you could include a poll during a session to let attendees vote on which topic they’d like to explore further. This invites them into the conversation and turns passive listeners into active participants.
After the event, polls can also help gauge which content or speakers left the biggest impression. Use this insight to shape future sessions and deliver even more value next time.
Social media metrics play a crucial role in measuring the success of your virtual event. They help you understand how much buzz your event generated and how attendees are sharing their experiences online.
Engagement metrics such as likes, shares, and comments can indicate how well your content is resonating—and help grow your online network in the process.
If you’ve created a branded event hashtag, be sure to track how often it’s been mentioned. Hashtags help keep your audience in the loop, ensure they don’t miss important updates, and make it easy to find event-related content in one place.
Another good sign of success? A post-event boost in your social media following. An increase in followers suggests your event made an impact, improved brand visibility, and reached new potential audiences.
With the iVent platform, directing attendees to your social channels is simple. Just integrate your links into the platform to guide visitors towards your most active networks. It’s a great way for attendees to explore your brand—and for you to stay connected long after the event ends, whether through posts, DMs, or direct outreach.
Are you ready to get started?
Event analytics are your go-to manual when it comes to planning your next virtual event.
After all, why host a virtual event if it’s not going to be a success?
Despite the benefits of virtual events compared to in-person events such as saving you time and travel costs, these types of events still require a lot of effort and energy. Therefore, it makes sense to plan events that are tailored towards the needs of your audience.
Event analytics are the way to ensure this happens as you can identify what works and what doesn’t. You can then learn from these lessons moving forward and grab your audience with content that is relevant and enjoyable.
At iVent, this information is available to you 365 days a year.
Our reporting tools provide you with easy-to-access, transparent data that helps you measure the success of your virtual event at a time that suits you best. Your exhibitors and sponsors also get dedicated access to their data and performance, which allows them to track their ROI. However, as an event admin, your data is safe and hidden from anyone who is not supposed to see it. This gives you full control over your virtual event as you’re in the driving seat. To find out more, give our team of experts a call!
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