Return on Emotion (ROE) in Event Strategy

Events often lead to a decision, change or action in the attendee. Strong event strategists and producers should be thinking about the “whole human” as it relates to event design, appealing to both the rational nature of attendees as well as their emotional reactions.

Return on Emotion, sometimes called Emotional Return on Investment, is future revenue or enhanced brand-love generated in attendees as a result of emotional connection.

So, what drives Return on Emotion in events?

As an event leader, we acknowledge that attendees are humans who use emotions to make decisions often more than rationality. The emotional benefit a decision can bring to someone’s life lives with them far longer than the rational benefit. This gives brands an opportunity to solidify themselves in the heart of the attendee long term.

Event design can capitalize on this notion by creating opportunities for attendees to connect emotionally to the brand beyond marketing messages.

Is “emotion” and ROE a Key Performance Indicator for events?

Yes!

Since emotions play a role in people’s decision making, it’s important to know how they feel and when/why and live events and experiences offer companies an opportunity to assess emotional reaction to the brand in real time. Event design can support this by putting “human connection and belonging” at the top of the priority list and should play into deeper human needs and motivations.

There are some neat companies in the event industry that track human emotions at events, through the use of body heat tracking (recording attendee physiological changes during various parts of an event) and facial expression recognition technology. We are at the beginning of the lifecycle of these advancements, all of which will play a role in amplifying ROE.

And what does attendee “action” look like?

Event strategy often centres around generating an action in attendees (external brand activations) like purchasing or committing to the brand as part of their lives, sharing their love for the brand on social or educating and igniting new ways of thinking in employees and leaders (internal events).

Action can mean different things but often looks like buying from the company, sharing about the brand on social, influencing their community to support the organization, and more. Start, as always, by defining your end goal, and work backwards through the lens of human emotion.

As the world continues to modernize and events are used as a strategic tactic in the overall marketing mix, remember that human beings want to support brands they feel are suited to their emotional needs and deepest desires. Event strategy can support this in a big way by bringing the brand promise to life in a powerful and emotionally charged way.

Curious to learn more about ROE and how it plays into event strategy? Drop us a line to chat!