If you haven’t read part 1 about why content creators should care about their event websites, get caught up here. 

In part two, we’re sharing a few best practices to consider when developing a website that is designed for event and conversion optimization: 

When to use visual illustration versus plain text. 

This decision can be a challenging one. Plain text content allows your copy to be indexed by search engines and rank for specific keywords but that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t make visual illustrations a priority on your event pages. Consider alternatives like infographics, full-width data-points or even experiment with large type to create contrast and break up your content on the page. Users are ten times more likely to spend more time on your homepage if the narrative and content is visually enticing so make sure to design a website that is not only practical but also beautiful and engaging. 

Provide a clear call to action (CTA). 

You know the old saying that less is always more? Think of your CTAs in the same way. They should be concise, brief and to the point. While we love clever CTAs that are unique and differentiate your company, don’t make your users think or create confusion about where the button will lead them.  

Our recommendation for a simple yet effective CTA? Consider simply an H1, maybe an h2 and then a visual action item such as a button. Don’t over-think this step. Your calls to action should be persuasive and easy to access on all devices. 

Sell your event with visuals and strong photography. 

I’m a big fan of using photography that is shot directly at an event as opposed to using another run-of-the-mills stock photo that half of the industry has on their event websites. At the same time, there are definitely diamonds in the rough when it comes to online stock houses, but it can take up a lot of time to source the right image that supports your brand and sets your site apart from others.  

A trendy approach as of late is using gradient backgrounds or monotone imagery. Give it a shot! Whatever you do, make sure that the photography reflects your attendees, exhibitors and sponsors and make sure that it speaks to your audience. This is key. 

Ensure color contrast and accessibility. 

According to the Web Accessibility Initiative, the Web is designed to work for all people, regardless of the software or hardware they use, the language they speaker or their culture of origin, their physical and mental abilities, and in any location around the world. When the Web achieves this goal, its content can be accessed by people with a diverse range of hearing, movement, sight and cognitive abilities. 

Take this to heart. Consider leveraging online tools like Contrast Ratio or a WCAG 2.0 Contrast Grid from Eightshapes to enhance color contrast and accessibility challenges for your users. Make sure that your text can be read by all users and is ADA compliant.  

Think about your content hierarchy and white space. 

You may not spend much time thinking about the white space on your page. In fact, most of us tend to focus on the copy, graphics and other assets that live on our event websites and not the white space itself. But white space is an important part of website design that can affect your attendees’ perceptions and their subsequent experience on your website. 

Adding white space between paragraphs and in the margins has proven to increase comprehension by 20%. A large percentage of websites in the event space suffer from this challenge. It’s as simple as establishing a hierarchy between elements like H1-h5, paragraphs, horizontal rules, testimonials and many more. Legibility plays a huge role here. 

Don’t forget to include a contact page. 

Have you ever purchased a piece of software and then realized that the only place to contact the support team for more info is in their Twitter feed? If so, you know how frustrating it is to have to dig for contact information and not know when you will receive a response.  

When developing your contact page, don’t include a massive list of names with email addresses and phone numbers. Organize your contact information based off your user’s needs and include the most frequent email addresses up front. Your future registrants will thank you for making their lives easier.  

Consider also creating a page with frequently asked questions about registration, billing, accommodations, transportation and more. You’ll provide registrants with more of the information that they need up front and save your staff time from having to answer these questions repeatedly. 

If you’re looking for a compelling events management and optimization solution that can help take many of these best practices into consideration, take a look at A2Z Events by Personify. Our suite of solutions can help event organizers engage attendees, delight exhibitors and grow their events. 

The post UI/UX Considerations for Event Websites, Part Two: Optimize Your Site For Usability and Conversion appeared first on Personify.

This instant gratification has been most impactful on the consumer market, as we’ve seen the advent of digital marketplaces and their propagation into our daily life. But, the B2C world always bleeds into the B2B world. The innovation in the B2C world helps drive the path forward in the B2B world, by enabling more options for business customers in how they choose to buy. This can, however, cause some angst when technology is not prepared to manage the dynamic and varying needs of buyers in the B2B world. That is to say, the technology is there – but business processes have not yet shifted to cater to the new era of sales commonly seen in the B2C world.

That begs the question, how do we as event professionals shift our business processes to leverage the psychology behind immediate gratification? How do we deliver on these expectations while boosting revenue for the event as well as adding value to your entire event audience?

There are many facets of event tech in the marketplace for event professionals to utilize. One of the most popular and widely used is floor plan technology: the ability to manipulate your tradeshow floor; merge, assign, delete, move, etc. Most of us use the core functionalities, but what about the other assets within your floor plan technology that can drive the business in the direction it needs to move toward?

B2B sales mostly focus on the consultative approach, not the instant gratification of one-click shopping, as it drives home the value as well as fulfills specific needs for the buyer. In this era of click, click, pay–we seek to drive the behavior of our exhibitors, buyers and sponsors to a consultative approach to understand and help them meet their event objectives. As event professionals, you are the best positioned to provide guidance and value to your purchasing audience by working with them, within their business constraints, to enable success at your event.

B2B products typically impact more than an individual person and involve a longer-term relationship with the buyer and seller. This is why it is critical event professionals play a key role in purchaser success–to provide expertise for long term success for a participating organization. The consultative sales approach for events is, in this era, the correct approach to maximize the available benefits provided by event professionals.

As event professionals, this can be accomplished by using event tech with your floor plan solution, regardless of whether you focus on booth sales or sponsorships sales. Your floor plan tech should absolutely have the core functionalities to help you manipulate the trade show floor- this is a necessity. But, it should also have the assets to help you drive a consultative sales approach. These assets and features will enhance your ability to demonstrate the value of your event and influence the behaviors needed to sell effectively.

Let’s take a look at some of the features that can help drive this approach:

Layers

A critical component of walking a potential prospect through the sales process and your event is to clearly understand the needs of their exhibit space. Exhibits with large machinery need access to 240v ports, others may need access to water, while some and most likely all vendors would be strongly opposed to having a column inside their booth. Accounting for layers can help you walk a prospective exhibitor through the areas and options that would be best fit their needs. Providing this type of value from the start, helps the prospective exhibitor understand that you are there for their needs.

Markings

When hosting a multi-vertical event or an event without uniform audience interests, creating specific pavilions that cater to different themes enable a more fluid attendee journey. By leveraging floor plan markings, show organizers can create easily visualized areas for specific exhibitors and activities. During the consultative sales process, this allows show organizers to influence exhibitor placement to drive the right attendees to their booths and enhance both the exhibitor experience and the attendee journey.

Filtering

One of the most valuable and underrated features in floor plan technology is the ability to filter. A filter view within floor plan technology allows prospective exhibitors to be shown specific booths, exhibitors and exhibitor groupings to understand options within their criteria. This helps streamline the consultative sales process by getting directly to a prospective exhibitor’s needs and providing potential options in real-time. It might not be a one-click to purchase but filtering the floor plan view when working with prospective exhibitors mirrors the processes often seen in B2C digital sales. It allows for not only a consultative experience but also a rapid buying process.

Real-Time

What is real-time? For us, it’s the ability to make a change to the floor plan in the organizer console that immediately takes effect on the front-facing digital floor plan for exhibitors and attendees to see. This real-time feature is HUGE in the consultative sales approach is it gives you the ability to manipulate your floor plan in real-time while talking on the phone to a prospective exhibitor. A key aspect of the consultative sales approach is to show instead of tell. Real-time floor plan changes allow the prospective exhibitor to see and visualize what their booth can look like on the floor plan at that very moment. Don’t leave these little pieces up for interpretation or imagination. Close the sale by showing.

It’s a hard choice to make: Should you decide to move forward with the consultative sales approach to deliver increased value to your exhibitors or give in to the immediate gratification for short-term gains? It’s tough to say no to immediate revenue, no doubt, but it is more important to build sustainable growth that will deliver results for years to come.

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