Capturing leads will be a top priority for people considering exhibiting at your trade show, exhibition or event, so providing a great lead capture tool could help persuade them to sign on the dotted line.

Here, we profile 5 of the best solutions for organisers that can be deployed across your event not only for the benefit of exhibitors, but also to enhance the experience of your attendees.

1. yellobox

New to the market this year is yellobox. According to its creators, it’s both affordable and scaleable and with it they hope to “disrupt the SME exhibition space”.

As the name suggests, the technology is contained within portable boxes, known as yelloboxes, and all data flows through one yellohub, which is positioned in the venue and connected to the Cloud.

The system allows exhibitors and attendees to swap contact information, distribute digital content and prioritise leads without the requirement for an app, bluetooth or beacons.

A yellocard, which is provided as an entry badge, is simply tapped on the yelloboxes to capture exhibitor content. Attendees can collect content as they pass through the event and view it instantly in a social media-style feed on any web enabled device.

Meanwhile, exhibitors can give captured attendee details a lead priority and add personal notes using any web enabled device. All attendee details can be exported to Excel at any time during or post event.

The event organiser can access an online dashboard to view valuable, real-time analytics, based on the flow of information happening around the venue between boxes and cards.

2. Poken

Starting at $9,000 (£6,940), Poken provides a higher end solution utilising smart badges with ‘Touch-to-Collect’ microchips. Exhibitors load their marketing documents or any other relevant content into Touchpoints; sensors that can be placed anywhere around the venue.

Every time an attendee collects this information by touching their smart badge on a sensor, they ‘opt-in’, leaving a digital business card. The exhibitor has the details of everyone who has dropped by their booth and collected their information.

There are perks for the event organiser too, who can track attendee movement and interaction around the venue and as they check into meetings and sessions, with full metrics reporting.

Poken also enhances networking by allowing attendees to swap contact details by tapping their hand-shaped smart badges together (a digital high five). Meanwhile, organisers can encourage attendee engagement through Poken’s gamification capabilities.

3. Leadature

Leadature is an app-based solution that exhibitors can use on their own mobile devices (or organisers can rent devices from Leadature). Each device can be named so it’s easy to track which sales person is recording which leads.

To record a lead, exhibitors use the camera on their devices to scan QR codes on attendees’ badges. They can then qualify each lead with custom surveys and add notes and comments before saving the lead either online or off.

Exhibitors can opt to send a contact email straight away, with links to electronic content that has been pre-loaded to Leadature. They are also able to capture attendee data by photographing business cards and saving them directly into Leadature.

Real-time dashboards show information such as total number of leads collected, leads collected per hour and leads collected by device. Data can be exported to Excel or straight into a CRM system so sales and marketing can get to work straight away.

4. Konduko

Konduko uses proximity technologies (NFC, beacons, internet and cellular capabilities) to facilitate ‘digital handshakes’. Touchpoint readers are positioned around an event and on exhibitor stands to allow the exchange of information with the tap of a badge.

The visitor’s interests and contact details stored in the badge are transmitted to the exhibitor, while the exhibitor’s information is transmitted to the visitor. Exhibitors can then track how attendees interact with their content, for example, if they share any information on social media or by email.

Exhibitors can also record leads by using mobile devices to scan attendee badges. A profile is created, which can be updated with notes and products of interest to the visitor (the app also acts as a digital catalogue for salespeople working on the booth).

Konduko offers exhibitors deep insight into their performance. At any time, they can visit the Konduko Cloud to view a breakdown of visitors to their booth, the popularity of different products, and start their follow-up sales campaign by exporting contact details to Excel, CVS or CRM.

According to Konduko, shows using the system can expect 80% visitor engagement and double the usual number of leads for exhibitors.

5. Noodle Live

Noodle Live’s lead capture solution combines radio frequency identification (RFID) enabled badges, Swipepoints and a mobile app. Attendees can use the Swipepoints to collect event content and check-in to sessions.

The content they collect is stored in the Cloud and can be accessed through an event app, which also features useful information such as schedules, floor plans and speaker profiles.

Noodle Live also provides exhibitors with handheld Swipepoints to enable the exchange of information directly between a salesperson and an attendee. A swipe of the attendee’s badge lets exhibitors instantly capture visitor data, with options to share documents and add notes and tags to captured leads.

The exhibitor is then provided with a complete data set within eight hours of the close of the event. The same tablets also track event and session attendance, so organisers can glean valuable data from the system.

Conclusion

Providing a lead capture tool that also makes it easier for attendees to collect information from the exhibitors they’re interested in is a win-win. Not only does it eliminate the need for visitors to carry around heavy literature, it’s better for the environment too.

Meanwhile, your exhibitors walk away from your event with an orderly stack of qualified leads, instantly ready for their post-show marketing campaigns.