UFI & Explori Global Visitor Insights shows interesting regional differences

Summary

In November， UFI released UFI Explori Global Visitor Insights to help organisers properly understand their visitors– their behaviours， their level of loyalty and advocacy， their needs – and， the extent to which these needs are being met by the industry. The results show interesting differences when comparing overall results regionally. Events in the more developed exhibition markets tend to achieve higher satisfaction levels than those in less matured markets. Despite this the researchers find that events in less matured markets benefit from a “return bonus” effect， with higher levels of loyalty than might be expected from their satisfaction scores.

The Data

The data used to create this report has been collected via visitor surveys - conducted with over 900 exhibitions across 30 countries， in 14 languages. Surveys are conducted online in the days following each event， and cover areas such as visitor objectives， satisfaction， advocacy， event importance， and likelihood of future attendance. The results include data from regional-independents， trade associations and large multi-national organisers ranging in size from less than 500 to 100，000+ visitors. In addition， the data represents a wide range of industry sectors from security and defence， to beauty and cosmetics.

The Findings

The results show interesting differences as the researchers compare overall results regionally. Events in the more developed exhibition markets tend to achieve higher satisfaction levels than those in less matured markets. Despite this the reports finds that events in less matured markets benefit from a “return bonus” effect， with higher levels of loyalty than might be expected from their satisfaction scores. The researchers also see an inherent difference between what satisfied and dissatisfied visitors say when providing feedback on events. Dissatisfied visitors tend not to focus on so called “hygiene factors”such as venue layout， signage or catering， but highlight far more fundamental problems as the cause of their lack of satisfaction.

Although the report identifies differing visitor perceptions and behaviour across the regions and sectors， the most commonly cited issue – across all areas – is events not delivering the innovation that visitors expect. The data shows that the desire to see the innovations in their sector， both in the content and particularly on the exhibition floor， is a more important driver of satisfaction than educational content or networking.

Summary data：

· Advocacy， as measured by Net Promoter Score is highest in the Americas at +20， whilst at -6 Asia / Pacific have the lowest；

· Americas also achieve the highest Overall Satisfaction score at 3.95， compared to Asia / Pacific with the lowest at 3.69；

· Likelihood of Return is highest in the Middle East / Africa at 4.13， whilst Americas and Europe are the lowest - achieving 3.90

and 3.89 respectively.