Measure relationship progress, not just attendance. For customers, track relationship, adoption, retention, expansion and advocacy measures. For partners, track relationship, enablement, integration and commercial measures. Distinguish attendance, engagement, relationship progress, qualified commercial outcome and revenue. Define qualified, engaged, influenced and completed in your own operating model, and review at 30, 60 and 90 days.
Attendance tells you the invitation worked. It does not tell you whether the relationship changed. Choose measures that reflect the objective you set.
Reference
Customer measures
| Area | Examples |
|---|---|
| Relationship | Strategic customers attending, satisfaction, feedback, executive interactions, issues identified and resolved, peer engagement, success actions created |
| Adoption | Workshops attended, product questions, training requests, usage barriers identified, adoption actions agreed |
| Retention | At-risk accounts engaged, renewal conversations advanced, success-plan actions completed, relationship health changes, escalations resolved |
| Expansion | Expansion signals, qualified expansion conversations, opportunities created or influenced, new stakeholders engaged |
| Advocacy | Customer speakers, reference candidates, case-study candidates, peer contributors, community hosts, approved stories |
Reference
Partner measures
| Area | Examples |
|---|---|
| Relationship | Strategic partners attending, satisfaction, executive interactions, issues resolved |
| Enablement | Training completion, certification, product and demo readiness, sales-resource usage, support readiness |
| Integration | Milestones, technical actions, dependencies resolved, joint launch actions, support responsibilities agreed |
| Commercial | Partner-sourced and influenced opportunities, joint account plans, referrals, co-selling meetings, pipeline and revenue influenced |
Reference
Formulas
| Measure | Formula |
|---|---|
| Attendance rate | Attendees divided by confirmed participants, times 100 |
| Action completion rate | Completed actions divided by agreed actions, times 100 |
| Customer follow-up rate | Customers with completed follow-up divided by customers attending, times 100 |
| Partner enablement completion | Partners completing required enablement divided by partners enrolled, times 100 |
| Expansion opportunity rate | Qualified expansion opportunities divided by customer accounts engaged, times 100 |
| Referral conversion rate | Accepted or qualified referrals divided by referrals submitted, times 100 |
These are measurement structures, not benchmarks. Define qualified, engaged, influenced and completed in your own operating model.
Reference
A worked example (fictional)
| Measure | Calculation | Result |
|---|---|---|
| Attendance rate | 42 attended of 54 confirmed | 78 per cent |
| Action completion rate | 18 completed of 24 agreed after 60 days | 75 per cent |
| Customer follow-up rate | 13 of 16 attending customers | 81 per cent |
| Expansion opportunity rate | 3 qualified of 14 accounts engaged | 21 per cent |
| Referral conversion rate | 6 accepted of 15 submitted | 40 per cent |
Reference
Customer and partner event dashboard
| Area | Example measures | Primary owner |
|---|---|---|
| Audience | Invited, confirmed, attended, no-show | Event owner |
| Customer relationship | Satisfaction, feedback, issues, relationship actions | Customer success |
| Adoption | Training, product questions, usage actions | Customer success |
| Expansion | Signals, opportunities, pipeline | Sales and account management |
| Advocacy | Speakers, references, content candidates | Customer marketing |
| Partner relationship | Attendance, satisfaction, open issues | Partner marketing |
| Enablement | Training, certification, assets used | Partner team |
| Integration | Milestones, blockers, owners | Product and technical teams |
| Referrals | Submitted, accepted, progressed | Partner and sales teams |
| Operations | Check-in, incidents, supplier issues | Event operations |
| Efficiency | Cost per account, cost per participant, staff time | Marketing operations |
| Long-term impact | 30, 60 and 90 day outcomes | Programme owner |
Reference
30, 60 and 90 day outcome tracker
| Organisation | Objective | 30-day status | 60-day status | 90-day status | Commercial or relationship outcome | Owner |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
For attribution of pipeline and revenue, use the methods in the Trade Show ROI Guide.
Frequently asked questions
How do you measure customer event success?
Against the relationship objective: feedback, issues resolved, adoption actions, renewal and expansion progress, advocacy outcomes and follow-up completion, not attendance alone.
How do you measure partner event success?
By enablement completion, integration milestones, joint account plans, referrals and co-selling outcomes, plus partner satisfaction.
When should you review the outcomes of a customer or partner event?
At 30, 60 and 90 days, because relationship and commercial outcomes take time to appear.