Trade show ROI: a method you can defend, and a calculator

• The space and the stand build, or the rental and the shipping.
• Travel, hotels and meals for everyone who goes.
• The time of your staff: hours at the show, in preparation and in follow-up, at their cost to the company.
• Your lead capture tool, giveaways and printed material.
• Marketing before the show, such as invitations and ads for the stand.

Count the gross profit of the deals you can trace to the show, not the revenue. Gross profit is the revenue minus the cost of delivering it. ROI is then the gross profit minus the total cost, divided by the total cost.

Sales cycles in trade-show industries are often long. A show can pay back six or twelve months later, so measure the same leads again after three, six and twelve months instead of once.

The numbers below are an illustration, not a benchmark. A show costs 12,000 in total. It gives 150 leads. 4% of them become customers, which is 6 customers. An average deal is worth 8,000 and the gross margin is 40%.

Revenue is 48,000 and gross profit is 19,200. The net result is 19,200 minus 12,000, which is 7,200, and ROI is 7,200 divided by 12,000, which is 60%. Each lead cost 80 and each customer cost 2,000.

• Counting every contact as a lead, including people who only took a pen.
• Leaving out the time of your own staff.
• Counting revenue instead of gross profit.
• Crediting the show with deals that were already in your pipeline.
• Judging the show at the end of the week, before any deal could close.

Mark every lead with the show it came from, grade it the same way for the whole team, and keep one list. Followbooth saves each lead with who scanned it, an A, B or C grade and the show, and exports everything to CSV, so you can count customers per show later in your own sheet or CRM.

No native CRM connectors yet (CSV export, an API, webhooks and Zapier instead), no badge barcode scanning, and the native apps are not in the stores yet: the iPhone app, which works without signal, is in testing, and the Android app is coming to Google Play. In the browser, reading a card needs a connection. WhatsApp messages go out from your team's own linked number; an official WhatsApp Business route is planned.

Start free with 10 business card scans, no card needed. Prices exclude VAT.

Event Pass: €149 per show

Up to 3 people and 300 leads, with access for 30 days after the show. For teams that exhibit a few times a year.

Team Annual: €790 per year

Up to 5 people, unlimited shows and 1,500 leads a year, then €0.30 per lead. Includes QR file groups for every show and a data processing agreement.

• How to capture leads at trade shows
• Trade show lead capture app
• Exhibition lead capture form