Data acquisition is a big piece of e-marketing especially for B2B. Previously Frontiers Digital helped German-based trade show organizer, Messe Frankfurt, to conduct an exercise for testing the user patience level when acquiring buyer registration over the Internet. Two forms were designed with one shorter and the other one has a longer length. They were randomly assigned as the link of Google adwords.
The result has no surprise. The short form is 200% more effective than the lengthy version. Because the web is designed to be spontaneous and instant, patience level can be very low when the users are browsing on the web. They don’t spend excessive time for each click. The best practice of acquiring data is to break the process into phases. You first collect a few crucial information such as email, name, and company. Don’t worry about the missing pieces because once the users grant you the permission to communicate with them via email, you have the best chance to follow up with them and to collect the rest. They are more happy to submit the information when the time is right with no rush.
You can also understand the user patience level through web analytics. A basic aspect is to look at the time spend and the average page view contributed by each visitor. In my experience, average page view per visitor for a trade show website is less than 1.5. The top five B2B portals in China have the average per user page view up to 5.
I’ve seen many trade show organizers are putting huge effort to enhance the event websites. Now if your visitors will only read one page on your website, what would be the best page that you want them to read? This question deserves a strategic thought.
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Thanks for visiting this weblog. I am a digital marketer based in Hong Kong. After founding a marketing consulting company, merged it with a trade show company, and completed my tenure in 2007, I am blogging my insight and commentary for marketing and entrepreneurial experience. Now I am the Managing Director of 
