The Biggest 2 Trade Show Giveaway Problems Exhibitors Have – And How To Solve Them

Last month we published the results of our exhibitor survey about their trade show giveaway strategies, choices, and perceptions, which we wrote about here.  But that wasn’t all we learned.

While exhibitors were strongly positive about the advantages and benefits of using a trade show giveaway, they still had problems with them. Here’s how exhibitors ranked 5 problems experienced when offering a trade show giveaway:

What stood out to us right away is that of the top 2 problems exhibitors have experienced with giveaways, our Virtual Prize Wheel game can help exhibitors solve them both!

#1 problem exhibitors experience with a trade show giveaway: not getting lead data from people who took a giveaway

“Not getting lead data from people who took a giveaway” was the #1 problem experienced by exhibitors with giveaways, and the only problem shared by over half of our survey respondents. Put yourself in their shoes (easy if you’ve had the same problem): You’re standing in your booth, an attendee strolls in, grabs your best giveaway on the table, says thank you, and … leaves!

Sure, you get the value of a gift with your logo on it going home with a potential prospect.  But you don’t know who that person was.  You have no way of following up, or tracking a potential sale to your trade show investment. How frustrating!

So, how does our Virtual Prize Wheel solve this top exhibitor problem with their trade show giveaway? By requiring booth visitors to provide their contact data BEFORE they can spin the Virtual Prize Wheel. Attendees enter in their name and email address, and any other info you want, before they spin.

Perhaps surprising to some, this adds a level of excitement and drama that encourages even more people to enter your booth, so you get even more value from your trade show giveaways. Just look at the photo on the top of this page – see how trade show attendees are lined up, just for a chance to spin the Virtual Prize Wheel. They don’t grab-and-go, they wait in line – which makes them even easier for your booth staffers to talk to them.

So, no anonymous trick-or-treaters.  You get lead data from all the people who get a trade show giveaway. Attendees get their prizes, and have even more fun getting your giveaways. High fives all around!

#2 problem exhibitors experience with a trade show giveaway: running out before the show ended

Running out of their trade show giveaways before the show ended was the second-most frequent problem, experienced by almost half of exhibitors surveyed. This is not only embarrassing, but also harms an exhibitor’s reputation with their booth visitors who get their hopes up, only to not get what they were offered.

But users of our Virtual Prize Wheel can mitigate this possibility because:

1. Our Virtual Prize Wheel clients must bring multiple prizes to display on the wheel, and so usually bring lots of lower-value prizes in case of a run on their booth, and
2. Our game software automatically tracks the number of each kind of giveaway you have on the wheel, and takes it off the wheel once the inventory falls to zero.
3. If you are worried that you will run out of a popular giveaway long before the show ends, our Virtual Prize Wheel lets you lower the probability that prize will be awarded, so it will last closer to the end of the show.

So, if you are using a trade show giveaway in your booth (and most exhibitors do), you can prevent the #1 and #2 problem exhibitors have with giveaways by using our Virtual Prize Wheel game.  Plus, the game helps draw even more visitors to your booth!

If you’d like to see more about how you can drive more booth traffic and capture leads with our fun interactive trade show games, (and better manager your trade show giveaways with our Virtual Prize Wheel), feel free to contact us with questions or to discuss your event with one of SocialPoint’s Digital Strategists. We’ll help you generate a serious increase in excitement, crowds, and leads.