As the world has changed, there’s no doubt that the way you are engaging with your channel partners has too. Forbes.com has reported a growth of 1,000% globally for virtual events since the Coronavirus outbreak.
So achieving an 87% attendance rate off a large registered base of hundreds of customers compared to the industry standard of 43% would make any Marketing Manager smile. So how did Westcon-Comstor NZ achieve this result for their recent Imagine 2020 Virtual Event?
Firstly, the decision to move their Imagine event (which is a staple in the New Zealand IT industry for the last decade) to a virtual event due to Covid-19 restrictions, was made in just over a week. Westcon felt it was more important than ever to run Imagine and support the IT channel and local economy during these unprecedented times. This is supported by a recent report showing that people want a ‘hyper-local’ focus on supporting businesses and communities in your local environment.
From the initial registration experience, Westcon designed an interactive online journey that allowed attendees to earn points for attending webinars during the day and for completing online surveys. As an added bonus, some vendors offered additional incentives for attendance to their webinar.
Points earned could then be redeemed online following the event for a range of merchandise or gift card rewards. One of the highlights of the reward catalogue was the ability to redeem points for a donation to the Mental Health Foundation of New Zealand.
Following the virtual event, 89% of attendees redeemed a reward and nearly 200 donations were made to the Mental Health Foundation through the Imagine 2020 Virtual Event.
The result of including the loyalty program to support attendance and engagement of the virtual event proved to be incredibly positive for Westcon and for the 89% of attendees who received a reward of their choice, along with the added halo effect through enabling the support of a local charity.
In the end, marketing is about your audience. And the purpose of loyalty marketing is to create connections that build brand love and lasting loyalty.
