.@Guidebook Says: Know How Much Your Event App Really Costs

We know. Your event budget is about as tight as it gets and there isn’t much room for wiggling. But you also want to run super-awesome events that are sporting the latest and greatest event tech. We feel the pain of the event professional’s dilemma, so we made it our goal to find out just what event planners were spending their money on and how an event app fits into it all.

Over 500 survey responses later we ended up with a 35 page report that details the state of mobile event tech. What we found was enlightening. It turns out that mobile apps are making up a very small portion (1.2%) of per-attendee cost. Check out more in our infographic, “The Real Cost of an Event App.”

Here are some other gems we found in our study:

EVENT APPS ARE MAKING PLANNERS BETTER AT THEIR JOBS

The #1 most important success metric for event planners – attendee satisfaction – is also the #1 value event apps deliver.

PLANNERS ARE GETTING A RETURN FROM EVENT APPS

Of respondents to whom the question applied, 91% said that their adoption of mobile event apps has produced a positive return on investment.

ECO-FRIENDLY EVENTS ARE A FOCUS FOR MOST PLANNERS

Cutting back on printing and shipping is the best way to ‘go green’. 70% of respondents said it’s important for their organization to go green. 82% of those said the #1 way to go green is by reducing printing and shipping.

EVENT APP PROMOTION IS A CONCERN

More than half of respondents–53%–reported that they feel they are not doing enough to promote their event apps, suggesting a need for education and resources to make it easier.

PLANNERS SHARED THEIR CHALLENGES

Planners are worried that their competitors have an edge with budget (28%) and access to new tech (28%). Their most-cited overall challenges are budget (45%) followed by staff concerns (9%).

We love to see that mobile event tech is truly changing the industry and driving satisfaction and ROI. What has been your experience with budgeting for and using mobile at your events? You can see more great insights in our annual report. Also, learn more about what real event planners like yourself are saying about event costs.