Ruth P. Stevens Articles and Columns: EXPO MagazineNovember 2005 Promo Pointers The challenge: To improve attendance rates among no-fee registrants to the National Hardware Show. The audience: retailers, wholesalers and distributors in hardware, housewares, home improvement and lawn and garden categories. The solution: A series of customized email newsletters to pre-registrants containing show news and exhibitor announcements. The strategy: Reed’s 60-year-old hardware show has been on a growth spurt since its 2003 divorce from its association sponsor. In 2005, net square feet of exhibit space grew to 678,000 from the previous year’s 489,000. Non-exhibiting attendance was at 18,000. Rob Cappiello, Industry Vice President at Reed, has introduced a number of tactics to grow show attendance, one of them being the email newsletter system provided by IndustryConnect. When an event is free to qualified attendees, the leverage lies in improving the rate at which pre-registered prospects actually show up, known as the "verification rate." Cappiello’s strategy was to give people more reasons to attend, proactively telling them about what was going on at the show. The system allowed 20 to 25 exhibitors to make brief announcements in each weekly email. Recipients could scan the list, and click through for more information on the new products or other announcements that interested them. Why it works: The IndustryConnect system helped Capiello make the case for attendance through outbound contact, versus simply driving registrants to the show website for updates. His team reviewed each submission to keep the content consistent and clear. Best of all, the system reduced email clutter by consolidating exhibitor pre-show contacts into a single weekly message. At $250 per submission, exhibitors found participation more efficient than renting the registration file for a solo promotion. The results: Bottom line? The verification rate rose 5 percentage points, from 45% the previous two years to over 50%. Other than the badge mailing, the 6 weekly IndustryConnect newsletters were the only pre-show promotions to the registration file, so Cappiello can be sure they were the driver of that lift. But there were other benefits as well. The newletter open rate was consistently 49-51%, with no drop off over time. The opt-out rate was tiny, way less than 1%. Exhibitors who tried it in the early weeks returned for insertions in later weeks. One exhibitor used the newsletter as his sole promo for a beer bash at his booth at the end of the first day of the show — and happily ran out of suds earlier than expected. Advice to others: Email promotions work when they are simple, honest and relevant. ........................................................................................... © 2008 Ruth
P. Stevens |