When it comes to managing trade show exhibits, it’s easy to miss the forest through the trees. Juggling myriad details—from staff training and logistics to exhibit design and construction—exhibit managers often relegate lead-capture planning to the bottom of their to-do lists.
The thing is, though, leads are one of the main reasons people exhibit at trade shows. Sure, you might also want to generate awareness, forge new partnerships, or even recruit employees. But at their core, leads are the lifeblood of your exhibit-marketing program. Without them, your marketing program withers and dies—and your career likely expires along with it.
To ensure your lead-capture tools and methods are efficient and effective, and to remove “research lead-capture strategies” from your to-do list, here’s a primer on the what, why, and how of trade show lead capture tools and tactics. Specifically, we’ll examine not only what lead capture is and why you need it but also what tools are currently available and how you can effortlessly convince attendees to give up their deets.
What is Exhibition Lead Capture, and Why Should You Care?
Lead capture is the process of collecting information from customers or prospects who have expressed—or might later express—interest in your products or services. Within the exhibition industry, “lead capture” also refers to the technology, processes, and sometimes even the follow-up methods used to collect, qualify, analyse, and deliver lead data. A lead typically comprises contact info (e.g., an individual’s name, title, company, phone number, and email address) along with additional insights specific to your goals.
These insights, then, are where the rubber meets the road for the sales cycle. An effective lead doesn’t just tell salespeople who to contact. It explains what this person is interested in, which demos they saw in the booth, if and when they plan to make a purchase, whether they have the authority to do so, what they like and dislike about your offerings, and more. This additional data turns a cold call into a relationship.
Plus, if you’re so inclined, your lead-capture strategy can help you secure myriad insights useful to not only salespeople but also people in marketing, product development, management, etc. Lead-form queries can help you understand how attendees feel about the competition, your products, your messages, etc. Staffers can even use lead forms to note whether attendees seemed to respond favourably to specific demos, presentations, activities, etc.—delivering valuable insights to help you increase expo stand effectiveness. Granted, attendees won’t answer more than a few short questions, so you can’t blast them with a laundry-list of queries. The point is, however, you can capture far more than contact info with an effective lead-capture strategy.
It’s also important to note that lead-capture data is a solid metric against which to measure your program’s performance. Metrics on the quantity and quality of leads are one of the few hard-core data sets available to prove the value of your program, track incremental improvements, compare shows, assess different tactics, etc.
So why do you need effective lead-capture tools and strategies for your exhibit?
They turn foot traffic into actionable leads and insights—and they transform temporary structures into a lead-generating machines.
What Are the Main Lead-Capture Categories?
When it comes to lead-capture tools and technologies, almost all options fall into one of the following four buckets.
Badge-scanning systems available through the show.
Most shows in Australia provide badge-scanning capabilities and technology at no additional cost to exhibitors. The opportunity to add extra features and functions is sometimes available for an added cost. Depending on the show’s chosen system, badge-reading mediums include everything from smartphones and tablets to old-school desktop scanners.
Purchased systems that dovetail with your company’s database.
Purchased systems typically comprise stand-alone software or apps hosted on tablets, mobile devices, or touchscreens. Users scan badges or input data, and the collected insights are transferred to and stored in the cloud, providing real-time metrics for lead counts, device use, and additional data from query answers.
While purchased systems come with a cost, most provide increased portability, allowing staff to take their phones or tablets—and their lead-collection capabilities—anywhere, be it a hospitality event, hotel elevator, nearby bar, etc. Data stored in the cloud can also be integrated into a compatible CRM for immediate follow-up. Plus, you can sidestep most compatibility issues by carefully vetting systems during the purchasing process.
Components of pre-purchased systems
Lead-capture capabilities are also available through marketing-automation platforms, CRM software, and event-management platforms, which often have built-in or add-on lead-capture functionality. For example, if your company already uses options such as HubSpot, Mailchimp, or Salesforce, or the event employs Cvent, Eventify, or other event-management platforms, you may be able to use these existing platforms to capture and manage your trade show leads.
Manual printed lead forms.
Old-fashioned printed lead forms may sound archaic today. But depending on the volume of leads, sophistication of your company and audience, and other factors, this may be a viable option to consider.
So which lead-capture option is best for you?
A host of factors play into this decision, including your budget, booth activities, end-user preferences, existing CRM systems, available electronic devices, etc. But often, it all comes down to your objectives.
If you want to collect myriad leads as fast as possible with minimal qualifying, then a simple badge scanner from the show might be your best option. If you want to ask purposeful queries or allow staffers to input subtle observations—and/or you want some data-analysis tools and cloud storage options at the ready—a purchased system might be the way to go.
Before you make any decisions about your lead-capture technology, however, make sure you’ve considered your follow-up process.
While trade show lead follow-up is an entire article unto itself, it’s important to consider who, how, when, and via what methods you’ll follow up on your leads. For example, you can’t gather 1,800 paper leads and expect six salespeople to follow up with them within the month—or the year for that matter. The point is, lead follow-up should be not only an important consideration during the purchasing process but also an integral part of your entire lead-capture strategy.
What Lead-Capture Systems Are Available for Purchase?
While show-provided lead-capture systems and paper lead forms are certainly viable collection methods, they offer far fewer variables than purchased lead-capture options. And employing components of your company’s other platforms can be super effective and allow for easy integration. However, not everyone has access to existing marketing automation, CRM, and/or event-management platforms. So we’ll limit our scope to lead-capture apps and standalone technology.
Trade Show Lead-Capture Apps and Software
When it comes to lead-capture software and apps, some options allow you to do little more than secure the demographic info encoded in attendees’ badges. Others include myriad bells and whistles, such as analytics, lead scoring, contact management, email tracking, reporting, offline functionality, etc. Here’s a sampling of some of the more common lead-capture software and apps available today.
- Captello—Captello is a multifunctional event platform that provides lead capture, gamification, marketing automation, CRM, lead management, and more.
- iCapture—An intelligent lead-capture app, iCapture collects, sorts, and delivers leads directly to your CRM.
- Leadature—Leadature offers a suite of tools to manage the entire lead-capture process from collection, to qualifying, to follow-up.
- Leadvalu—Designed specifically for trade show applications, Leadvalu offers customizable surveys, real-time scoring, CRM integration, and data analytics and reporting.
- OnSpot Social—OnSpot Social is an app designed for email and lead capture at events and in stores. Users can create branded games, photo booths, surveys, and more.
- QuickTapSurvey—A type of software designed to create and distribute surveys via various devices, QuickTapSurvey offers multiple distribution options, data analysis, and integration with platforms such as Slack and Salesforce.
- Zuant—A mobile lead-capture app, Zuant provides customizable forms, business-card scanning, offline functionality, CRM integration, and a digital showroom to house marketing collateral.
NFC and RFID Integrations
Lead-capture technology also can be paired with near field communication (NFC) and radio frequency identification (RFID) technology. While the technology captures contact info and can usually integrate well with existing CRM systems, it typically provides valuable insights about visitor preferences, experiences, and more.
Applications often look something like this. Exhibitors secure attendees’ demographic data in exchange for an NFC- or RFID-enabled device (e.g., wristband, badge, chip, etc.) that’s linked to each person’s data. As attendees explore your booth, sensors interact with the device to track attendees’ interactions with staffers, demos, presentations, etc. The technology also allows attendees to effortlessly request product info, generate follow-up requests, enter a drawing, etc. without staff assistance. In exchange for wearing the device, attendees typically receive some form of branded swag at the end of the exhibit experience. Sometimes, gifts are tiered to coincide with each visitor’s level of engagement.
The technology allows exhibitors to gather not only contact information but also valuable data about each visitor’s interests, activities, preferences, etc. The flip side of this coin, however, is that the technology can decrease staff-to-attendee interactions. That is, among other things, it’s often used to automate literature and demo requests, potentially eliminating valuable points of attendee-visitor interaction.
How Do You Tempt Attendees to Participate?
Now that you understand why lead capture is important and what tools you might employ as part of the process, let’s talk about how to obtain attendees’ information.
How can you convince people to fill out a lead-capture form or to provide their info so staff can complete it?
No matter what type of lead-capture technology exhibitors use, most lead-related queries and processes are subtly worked into staff-attendee conversations. After all, this is face-to-face, as opposed to face-to-screen, marketing. In fact, according to a recent Sales Lead Survey from EXHIBITOR magazine, 72% of respondents indicated they collect lead data via informal conversations, and 44% employ defined questions and talking points.
In practice, it looks something like this. As staffers talk with attendees, they establish a rapport, conversate for a bit, and then ask the attendee if they can scan their badge or collect their contact info. As the conversation continues, staffers gather additional discoveries and subtlety note them via lead-form questions or added notations.
Aside from staff-attendee conversations, many exhibitors also enlist trade show lead-generation tactics—e.g., engaging activities, rewards, information, and more—in exchange for visitors’ lead data and insights. In effect, they offer something of value in exchange for visitors’ contact info.
Just about any engaging and/or interactive activity can be “gated,” requiring that attendees give up their details before participating. The key is to make the reward well worth attendees’ time and details. Here’s a host of tactics to promote lead generation at trade shows.
Interactive and Engaging Activities
- Interactive Games, Quizzes, Trivia
- Prize Wheels
- Photo Booths / Insta-Worthy Photo Opps
- Interactive Product Demos
- Scavenger Hunts
- Interactive Walls
- Charity Donations
- Instant Polls
Incentives/Rewards
- Instant-Win Prizes for Survey Completion
- Exclusive Discounts
- Gift Cards
- Free Samples
- Branded Swag
Valuable Content
- Whitepapers and eBooks
- Webinars
- Industry Reports
- Workshops, Seminars, Presentations
- Expert Consultations
- Literature and Demo Requests
Exclusive Experiences
- VIP Loung Access
- Exclusive Product Previews
- Meet and Greets with Influencers/Executives
- Hospitality Zones
- Relaxation Stations, Massage, etc.
Understanding the what, why, and how of trade show lead capture is crucial for maximizing exhibit-marketing returns. By blending the right tools—ranging from badge scanners to advanced apps—with engaging activities and valuable incentives, exhibitors can effectively transform booth visits into business opportunities.
If you need help with your lead-capture tactics or technology—or you’re in need of a rental or custom exhibition stand—ExpoCentric can help. Reach out today for an obligation-free conversation to discuss your exhibiting needs and to explore a host of lead-capture options to meet them.