How focusing on enhancing the show experience drives attendee satisfaction
Figures released by the IMEX Group reveal how a strategic focus on enhancing the show experience has impacted overall attendee satisfaction. Post-show feedback from both buyers and suppliers following the 2024 editions of IMEX Frankfurt and IMEX America has illustrated how experience impacts attendee satisfaction.
Data from IMEX’s independent survey partners Explori*, showed that IMEX buyer and supplier satisfaction rank significantly higher than Explori’s all-industry trade show benchmark. The data showed an increase in the KPIs for ‘overall satisfaction’, ‘likelihood of return’ and ‘importance of event’ for both buyers and suppliers at each show since 2019.
IMEX Frankfurt buyer satisfaction levels were 14% above the benchmark while IMEX America was 12% over. Exhibitor satisfaction ranked 11% higher for IMEX Frankfurt and 7% at IMEX America. Together, both shows rank in the top 25% of trade shows surveyed by Explori for this KPI.
IMEX believes that sitting behind these high satisfaction scores is a concerted investment in technology designed to support attendees’ priorities and increase value. The team says it has paid special attention to simplifying the online meeting booking process for attendees and that knowing that generating new sales leads is priority number one for exhibitors, the team built lead scanning into the IMEX app and made it free of charge.
In designing both events, the IMEX team focused on amplifying the entire show experience with moments intended to ‘spark joy’. These ranged from striking welcome branding at the airport, fun activations on the show floor (such as a pickleball court at IMEX America) to a musical parade leading attendees out of the venue. In addition, the show floor was redesigned to improve booth to booth navigation and enable attendees to create their own personalised ‘IMEXperience’.
Explains IMEX CEO, Carina Bauer: “We intentionally invested in technology, such as our event platform, to drive these improvements in customer satisfaction and remove friction points across both shows. So, it’s really satisfying – and important – to see the impact of those efforts clearly expressed in the data. The process does not end here, however, and we’ll continue to iterate, invest and improve as we go along.”
Bauer adds that IMEX has also been able to provide in-depth booth and activation engagement data. “It’s been a long-held ambition to offer richer, deeper data to sponsors and interested partners and, predictably, they’ve responded with great enthusiasm,” she says. “All of these tracking measures gives us a strong baseline to build on in 2025 and there’ll be further enhancements to look out for at the next editions of our shows.”
IMEX promises further innovations for IMEX Frankfurt, taking place 20–22 May. More details here.
*IMEX Frankfurt 2024 Explori survey data based on 2,154 total respondents. *IMEX America 2024 Explori survey data based on 2,838 total respondents
