In this Quadrant2Design guide, we’re going to discuss how to generate leads at an exhibition, as well as sharing our top 10 trade show lead capture apps. If you’re about to embark on a fresh run of trade shows with your business, you came to the right place.
HOW TO GENERATE LEADS AT AN EXHIBITION
Generating leads at an exhibition can be done by choosing the right technology, getting the right exhibition stand and selecting the right representatives.
CHOOSING THE RIGHT TECHNOLOGY
Firstly, choose the right technology. There are loads of apps and different programmes out there that are designed to capture trade show leads. The tricky part is choosing the one that is right for your business and your exhibition goals.
Are you trying to generate leads that your sales team can turn into customers? If so, you’ll want an exhibition lead capture app that allows note-taking, so that your sales team can tailor their pitches to become far more relevant.
Are you trying to raise brand awareness? You’ll want an app that encourages people to sign up to your mailing list using a competition or a game. Increasing your mailing list gives you more people to email market to after the event.
Later in this article, we discuss our top 10 lead capture apps.
GETTING THE RIGHT EXHIBITION STAND
Your exhibition stand is your only opportunity to make a good first impression. And on the trade show floor, surrounded by all of your competitors, first impressions count.
There are loads of ways you can attract attention to your exhibition stand. The trick is to create a 3D, interactive environment that encourages participation and increases footfall. High-level branding, integrated audiovisual elements, floor-to-ceiling graphics and unique lighting features are all things you could do to create this environment for visitors.
This is why more and more exhibitors are utilising bespoke modular exhibition stands. These reusable, reconfigurable stands offer exhibitors a much higher presence at a show – without facing the costs of a custom-built stand.
SELECTING THE RIGHT REPRESENTATIVES
Finally, be selective when it comes to your floor staff. There is no point spending time and money designing an exhibition stand and setting up trade show lead capture apps if you’ve got the wrong people working on your booth.
Your exhibition floor staff need to have the confidence and ability to strike up conversations and analyse situations very quickly. There are obviously particularly bad qualities that you should avoid. And you definitely don’t want to man your booth with someone who spends their time on their phone or eating. But the ability to analyse a situation quickly will benefit your business most significantly.
By judging situations quickly, your floor staff can filter out the genuine leads from the time wasters. By politely asking time wasters to leave your stand, your team can focus on the hot leads that are far more likely to do business with you. This means that you’ll be capturing fewer leads, but that they’ll be much more likely to become customers in the future.
TOP APPS FOR TRADE SHOW LEAD CAPTURE
Looking for an easy solution to capturing leads at your next trade show? We’re now going to look at the top 10 trade show lead capture apps.
The top 10 apps for trade show lead capture are:
- iCapture
- CamCard
- vCapture
- Leadr
- Integrate
- CompuLEAD
- Attendify
- OnSpot Social
- Cvent Lead Capture
- Gather Capture
Previously, exhibitors were capturing leads the fishbowl way. Business cards were collected, tossed into a bowl, and then handed over to a data entry clerk to manually input the names and email addresses of all those hot leads into a spreadsheet.
The time, money and resources you have to use is unjustifiable considering there are hundreds of trade show lead capture apps that can do it for you. We’re going to break down the top 10 lead capture apps, that you can consider using at your next trade show.
1. iCapture
iCapture makes it easy to capture and qualify leads at any event. They focus on helping small businesses with exhibition lead capture, and have a host of features designed to make the process easier.
Reasons why we love iCapture
- Works offline
- Measures performance over a number of events
- Scoring system – rate and segment your leads
- Capture details of the conversation for more relevant communications
- Easy to set up and use
2. CamCard
CamCard is an event lead capture software that allows you to scan and record the data off of business cards quickly and efficiently – cutting out all of that data entry. The system can read cards in 16 different languages, and allows you to synchronise data between smartphone, tablet and the web application easily.
Reasons why we love CamCard
- Allows you to edit an entry to include notes, images or reminders
- Create your own e-card to share with people nearby
- Notifies you when your contacts change employment role
- All data is stored in the cloud and can be accessed anywhere
3. vCapture
vCapture is a product by Validar, who offer a suite of solutions to help businesses before, during and after events. Their lead capture app has been designed with four tiers, allowing you to pick and choose the features that you want.
Reasons why we love vCapture
- Rank and categorise leads
- Four solutions to lead capture, tailored to your business size and budget
- Use your own device, or borrow one of theirs
- Free Salesforce Integration with lead import
4. Leadr
A smart solution to exhibition lead data capture, eliminating the need for paper at all. Leadr operates across all iOS devices and is easy and simple to set up and start capturing. Designed to make things easy for regular exhibitors, and help sales teams be more productive.
Reasons why we love Leadr
- Option to send a personalised email to every successful exhibition lead capture
- Easy to customise with your own branding
- ‘Opt-in’ fields for GDPR Compliance
- Easy to use on your own devices
5. Integrate
The Integrate event data collection app allows you to capture lead data from event badges, business cards and fully customisable forms in real-time at 1000s of events. With multichannel operating functions, you can standardise trade show lead capture across your entire team.
Reasons why we love Integrate
- Can be used on Android and iOS
- Customised data exporting
- Event analytics and reporting
- Automated follow-up email
6. CompuLEAD
CompuLEAD’s app allows you to scan badges or manually enter leads into their app, which can be used on both Android and iOS. Download the app directly onto your own device, or hire one of their tablets for your exhibition. Capturing exhibition leads has never been easier.
Reasons why we love CompuLEAD
- View attendee appointments in-app
- Optional free webinar with lead capture expert
- Automated personalised follow-up email
- Customise lead data with action codes, surveys and notes
7. Attendify
Allow exhibitors to scan badges using their own Android and iOS devices, with no additional hardware needed. The Attendify app is the only socially enabled exhibition lead capture app available, and allows you to chat with sponsors in-app after the show.
Reasons why we love Attendify
- Deep data enables relationship building
- Track performance of individuals working on the exhibition stand
- Easy to set up and use, deploys in minutes
- Lead data accessible across multiple platforms
8. OnSpot Social
Collect thousands of email addresses on the go with OnSpot Social. The app is designed to encourage leads to input their own information, giving your team more time to demonstrate products. Customise the app for your needs and easily incorporate your branding.
Reasons why we love OnSpot Social
- Allows you to monitor reports in real-time
- Works online and offline
- Automate follow-up emails and text messages
- Integrate games and contests to encourage engagement
9. Cvent LeadCapture
Cvent LeadCapture is easy to use event lead capture software that allows exhibitors to scan business cards and event badges to capture lead data. Its cross-platform functionality makes it easy to capture, analyse and follow up with hot leads after the trade show.
Reasons why we love Cvent LeadCapture
- One solution for capture, qualify and follow-up with leads
- Capture consent for full compliance GDPR
- Use on own device, both Android and iOS
- Extremely reputable platform in event software
10. Gather Capture
Integrating business card scanning, manual entry with customised forms and CRM data integration makes exhibition lead capture a straightforward process with the highly rated Gather Capture.
Reasons why we love Gather Capture
- Send validation emails to ensure accuracy
- Works offline
- Automated personalised follow-up emails
- Less than 60 seconds to scan and import each lead
CONCLUSION
This guide covers the basics of exhibition lead generation and gives you a good amount of information on the exhibition lead capture apps available. By combining everything you’ve learnt in this guide, you should be well on your way to capturing hundreds of hot leads, who are genuinely interested in your product or service.
Remember, lead capture apps make lead generation easier, but they don’t take away all the hard work. Get the right team and the right exhibition stand on the trade show floor to get your lead generation strategy off to a great start.