9 Critical Customer Success Factors to Consider When Shopping for an Event Management Tool

With the vast amount of software available in the market, it can be challenging to find the right event management tool for your business. Like any good SaaS tool, the quality of your partner lies in how they can empower you through your unique customer journey. While fancy feature lists may be appealing, as shiny new things tend to be, they don’t necessarily lead to success. In a similar vein, look at the “easy to use” label on any event management tool with caution. Is it easy to use because it’s been highly optimized? Or is it because it lacks the necessary feature depth that other tools provide? Onboarding and time investment can be daunting. But don’t miss out on feature-rich tools because you want to skip that step. It could be a big loss in the long run. 

Choosing the right event management tool for your team and organization isn’t easy. There are important considerations to take into account to ensure your own customer success. We’re here to help you find the right tool and partner for your needs. Here is the ultimate checklist of what to think about beyond the features of the tool.

(psst….We also have this downloadable, 2-page pdf that outlines the 9 key considerations, plus 32 must-cover points to discuss with prospective software vendors.)

Checklist of key considerations for event management tool shopping:

• Understanding your needs and pain points through the sales process 
• Having a client onboarding checklist
• Identifying your organization’s measure of success and maximizing adoption
• Clear training program that considers all your team players and roles
• Clearly identified support and issue management process and channels
• Collaborative approach
• Mapping your customer journey
• Open to feedback 
• Path to early adoption wins so your team sees quick success

#1: Understanding your needs and pain points through the sales process

The sales process can sometimes feel a little awkward, spilling all the beans on your organization’s needs and challenges. However, the reality is that the more information that you share, the higher likelihood of a successful fit and partnership. It can also get frustrating quickly though when, during the training and onboarding process, it feels like you need to start all over again, restating the same information that was previously given. Ideally, the company that provides your chosen event management tool ensures a seamless handoff to your customer success team. As such, be sure to inquire into their onboarding process. Do they tailor the onboarding experience specifically to you and your team’s situation? Or is it a generic, off-the-shelf process?

#2: Client onboarding checklist

Onboarding is a crucial step to ensure that organizations are set up for success. Move quickly so that you don’t lose momentum after you’ve made the decision to move forward. One good practice you should be looking for from your event management tool is an existing onboarding checklist. This checklist should outline the steps and rough timing to get you from the first onboarding/training session to fully onboarded. As such, during the sales process, it’s always important to ask for an example or template of their onboarding checklist. Learn how they communicate the included steps and information that will take to ensure your success.

#3: Identifying your organization’s measure of success and how to maximize adoption

To really maximize what you can get out of your event management tool, the first thing you should do is lay out the goals you want to achieve through using the platform. The preparedness of the event team and their alignment with these goals will be critical to maximizing efficiency and making the most of the platform. Make sure you define key goals, you map out anticipated challenges, and you share targeted wins. Most good partners will respond well to that. 

When things go wrong with the new system, the initial reaction is often to place the responsibility on your partner. However, ensuring your team is ready, engaged, and excited, can go a long way to your success. To allow that to happen, be sure you have a strong, senior sponsor or champion supporting your efforts. This person should hold the team and your partner accountable and should work to best align the teams.

#4: Clear training program that considers all your team players and roles

Having a clear training program can make a big difference to comfort and adoption of a new tool. Organizations should ensure there is a clear training program in place that operates at a reasonably steady pace. Here are a few keys to training success:

• Live, online training on the new event management tool.
• Self-study materials
• Sel-paced exercises
• Training articles
• Discussion of best practices
• Tips and tricks articles
• Step-by-step videos
• A strong library of support articles
• Annual refresher training and quarterly webinars on key capabilities and new features
• Refresher training upon renewal 

For medium and larger-sized event management teams that typically have numerous people and roles, it is important to make sure that the training accounts for this and that permissions can be set for different people in different roles.

#5: Clearly identified support and issue management process and channels

Issues will inevitably surface. When they do, it’s important to know both your internal key point of contact and the one on your event technology partner’s team. This ensures smooth channels of communication. It is also important to set up processes so that the team can escalate major issues, requests for assistance/support, and how to engage to re-up on training or to provide feedback and make feature requests. A best-in-practice SaaS event management tool has in-app support where users can log tickets for assistance or to report issues. This is non-negotiable and should be considered a given to have access to.

#6: Collaborative approach to partnership

Throughout the sales process and during onboarding, it usually becomes apparent how your event management tool partner views you and your success. The best ones will make it feel like they are part of your team. They’ll go above and beyond, often buildinging strong relationships with key stakeholders and users. A strong collaborative approach ensures transparency, responsiveness and commitment to your success, but remember that collaboration is a two-way street. The more you treat your partner like a partner and not a transactional vendor, the stronger the collaboration will be. This helps your chances of success going through the roof.

#7: Mapping your specific customer journey

From the first kick-off session, be sure that the discussion and focus is around your challenges and your business. Make sure the company specifically tailors training, and everything afterwards, to your use-case. Don’t waste time on speaker management training if you have no plans on using the tool for speaker management. Working with your partner should be a process to identify your journey. What types of events will you host? How big will they be? How many events are on your yearly calendar? Sharing this upfront will help the vendor tailor the solution to best meet your needs. The best tools, while not “customizable”, are “configurable”. When your account is set up, those configurations will make your training and adoption a painless process that is more suited to your needs.

#8: Openness to feedback 

Some event management tool and software vendors are very rigid, inflexible and very opinionated on how their software works and how you should use it. Conversely, Steve Jobs is famous for believing in his product vision and execution as always being ahead of the customer. The truth, and what will work for most organizations, is somewhere in between. Good software partners will be very good listeners, but will also help you see different ways of doing things. Rather than helping you automate an existing but inefficient process, a good partner will instead show you how you can use their tool to do it better.

The key is to always ensure an open mind towards suggestions on aspects of the tool that could use improvement, or new features that could make it better. This should be an ongoing discussion and mechanisms should be in place to allow for both communication of this feedback and a way to respond.

#9: Path to early adoption wins so your team sees quick success

Work with your event technology partner to identify some quick wins. This will help your team feel successful and more aligned with your new software tool. Doing so can allow your team to feel more confident in the tool and more willing to place their trust in it. This also allows the team to get a better understanding of the event management tool in a more real-world situation, rather than just in training. 

To achieve this, first identify some key successes that you will be able to communicate up in your organization to show early wins with the decision the organization has made. Then, begin to use the event software as quickly as possible – first on test events, then on 1-2 real events. If possible, also schedule some refresher training to get clarification on things that the team needs additional help with after some initial usage.

Conclusion

Choosing an event management tool partner can be a challenging and time consuming process. But if you avoid it, the results can be devastating. Once you figure out your own organization’s goals and needs, a good partner will help guide you to the solutions and processes that are a fit for you. Through this checklist, you can be sure if an event management tool will work for your organization and allow for growth and efficiency that wouldn’t have been possible otherwise. 

If you want to know more about event management tools or are looking to switch to a new one so you don’t unintentionally fall behind with your events, talk to our team about how Attendease can help fill in the checkboxes for your organizational event needs.

Download the full checklist that outlines the 9 key considerations, plus 32 must-cover points to discuss with prospective software vendors.