What if we told you the key to unlocking event growth and revenue was already at your fingertips? Thanks to inexpensive (and often free) analytics tools and tracking methods for your ticketing system and website, event professionals can discover a ton of useful information to help plan events, market to the right audience, and even lure vendors or sponsors.

Of course, pawing through mountains of event data is hardly an appealing prospect. You want fast access to right information that will drive results. When digging through your event data, here are 10 gold nuggets that you should be looking for:

Event Data Gem #1:  Attendance records and growth
Value: Event and venue planning, vendors, sponsorships

If you’re hosting regular events, growth in audience is a key way to measure success. The best way to find this data is to keep accurate attendance records. Particularly if entry is free, it’s easy to lose track of exactly how many people are walking through the door — and you may find there is a large discrepancy between tickets registered and actual attendance. The simplest way to collect and find this data is by scanning tickets at the door.

Event Data Gem #2: Segmented audience demographics
Value: Marketing ROI, event planning, vendors, sponsorships

Particularly if you host an event with broad appeal such as food or sport, it’s easy to name your target demographic as “males and females, 18 – 65”. While it’s appealing to want to please everyone, it won’t provide a lot of information when it comes to strategic planning for marketing or event attractions. By collecting demographic data with ticket purchasing, you may reveal deeper insights and create segments based on age brackets or gender. Marketing to young females isn’t the same as marketing to older males, so once you’ve identified key audience segments, you can vary your marketing plans to seek out lookalike audiences or attract a demographic that isn’t currently attending your events.

Read more: How to Use Facebook Event Ads to Drive Ticket Sales  

Event Data Gem #3: Location
Value: Marketing ROI, event expansion

Where is your audience coming from? Are people willing to travel from interstate to your event? Do you have a regional fanbase or are your attendees urbanites? Analysing postcode data can be useful in determining where your attendees live and where you can get the most bang for buck with marketing. For festivals where many attendees travel to attend, you can also use this postcode data to inform your transport decisions. If you notice many people coming from one area, you could offer a ticket type that includes a shuttle bus service. This has the double benefit of making your event more accessible, while also increasing your revenue. You may even feel confident in expanding and adding additional venues if there is enough demand from a particular region.

Read more: 5 Ways to Maximise Ticket Sales With Multiple Ticket Types (With Examples)

Event Data Gem #4: Visitor to ticket purchase conversion rate
Value: Marketing ROI

There’s a big difference between website traffic and ticket sales. If your marketing dollars are driving people to your website but they’re not buying tickets, you may need to adjust your spend. For example, you could be driving heaps of traffic from a certain paid ad placement in a publication, but if none of this traffic converts it’s a sign that either the audience wasn’t a good fit, or your event page needs optimising. Look for the channels that are driving the most conversions and compare that with your site traffic to determine where you are getting value for money.

Read more: How  To Track Conversions to Optimise Your Online Ad Spend

Event Data Gem #5: Online mentions
Value: Attendee sentiment, event planning, publicity, vendors

Are people talking about you online? Did they enjoy your event? A simple way of finding out what people are saying about you is to monitor online mentions across social media and blogs. Google Alerts can notify you anytime a keyword from your event is written in the news or on blogs, and an event hashtag can assist with collecting attendee sentiment. This will tell you far more than the number of ‘likes’ your channels have.

Event Data Gem #6: Event foot traffic
Value: Event planning, resourcing

Another benefit of scanning tickets at the door of an event is the ability to see when people are arriving at your event in real time. This information is vital in planning for future events, preventing bottlenecks and lengthy queues, and providing adequate resources to manage foot traffic during your event.

Read more: How To Channel Live Reporting on the Eventbrite Organiser App

Event Data Gem #7: Non-attendee demographics
Value: Marketing and publicity, sponsors

Your guests aren’t the only people attending your event. You likely have vendors present and hopefully media covering your event too. It’s worth noting who they are and which audiences they reach. This data will help you evaluate the broader exposure your event is receiving — and it can also be used to pitch sponsors.

Event Data Gem #8: Email open and click through rates
Value: Marketing strategy

Email subscribers are people who have actively chosen to hear from you and usually consist of past attendees and your biggest advocates. Pay close attention to the number of people who open your email invitations and click the link inside — this is a good indicator of what kind of results you’re driving with your email marketing. If your subscribers aren’t buying tickets, you may want to consider offering them a special or discount for their ongoing loyalty.

Read more: Email Marketing Tips: Turn More Email Addresses into “Yeses”

Event Data Gem #9: Revenue from vendors and/or sponsors
Value: Event planning, vendors, sponsorships

Do your vendors or sponsors at your event feel like they’re getting value for money? By looking at the revenue collected by others at your event (e.g. food stands, stallholders, marketing booths), you can determine how valuable your event is to vendors and sponsors. Even if you’re not collecting hard data such as revenue or visitations, simply ask for their feedback to make sure they’ll come back again. If they were disappointed, it’s better to address this upfront rather than finding out ahead of your next event.

Event Data Gem #10: Feedback from staff
Value: Event planning

Event staff and volunteers are on the ground engaging with attendees and may have valuable insights that you didn’t see. For example, were volunteers at the gate constantly being asked where the toilets were, or how they could get pass outs? Knowing these questions shows you what information needs to be made more upfront to attendees at your next event. Having the numbers is great, but it’s personal interactions that influence attendee’s experience at your events and shouldn’t be ignored.
Uncovering golden insights such as those listed above will help to make your event more shiny and attractive to attendees, vendors, and sponsors.

Get the most of out of your event data with Eventbrite

Your event data is arguably the most valuable information that you have as an organiser. Your data holds valuable insights that help you make crucial decisions that drive sales and fuel the success of future events. Without good data, you’re flying blind. This is why you need a ticketing and registration partner than can provide both a bird’s eye and deeply detailed view of your events. To learn more, download our info sheet: Get the Most Out of Your Event Data with Eventbrite