Courtney Young wrapped up our week of webinars with her mobile app experience at the National Council for Community Behavioral Healthcare’s Mental Health + Addictions Conference. As a Digital & Social Media Specialist, Courtney knows that the way people are sharing information and making decisions is changing. She was thrilled to see we had social sharing features built into our mobile event apps. “CrowdCompass had already acted on something I was thinking about. I knew if they were ahead of the curve, then we’d be ahead of the curve also.”
And as trailblazers in behavioral healthcare, it was really important for the National Council to give their attendees the best experience in the field. “Healthcare is catching up to technology and social media,” Courtney said. “The National Council is better positioned to lead these efforts because of CrowdCompass. They’ve been a really good fit for us.”
This was The National Council’s 2nd time using a CrowdCompass mobile conference app. Over 3,000 people attended this year’s conference—the majority of whom were healthcare providers and CEOs. “It was really exciting this year. Everyone was talking about the app and using the QR code to download it.” Seeing so much excitement over the mobile conference app was Courtney’s favorite part. Several attendees even sought her out to share how excellent they thought the app was.
The success of their conference app was incredibly exciting given their demographic. “Because the average age of our conference attendees is 45+, we often hear our members aren’t tech savvy and don’t use apps.” So was it worth it? Definitely. Despite any doubts about attendees not being interested in or knowing how to use a mobile app, Courtney’s conference app download rate was >80%.
Over 50% of those downloads were from an iPad; the second most popular device was the iPhone. Knowing this will help Courtney make the attendee experience even better next year. “We weren’t expecting these kinds of results. This proves that our members are using mobile devices and apps. They are tech savvy and this is the kind of experience they’re looking for. ” The mobile conference app also showed Courtney useful metrics, like which sessions were most popular.
It also made a big impact on their organization. “Our attendees really became brand ambassadors for us,” Courtney said. By sharing individual experiences with other people in their networks, they were helping us build the National Council brand.” A mobile app extends your reach beyond a conference room, which is especially important considering that “80% of social media users will try things based off friends’ suggestions”.
It wasn’t just about putting their brand in peoples’ hands, though. Courtney’s focus was very much on the attendees and making sure they had an incredible experience. The conference app allowed attendees to get more out of the conference and then take it home with them. All of the content was just a few taps away. “There’s so much info with a conference as large as ours.” Attendees were able to access and create their schedule. Content was a lot more accessible. Plus, the app facilitated stronger connections between attendees, speakers, and exhibitors.
Next year, Courtney plans to maximize certain features of the app. “One way we plan on increasing engagement next year is through the in-app game, Click. It’s a fun way for attendees to get involved with every aspect of the conference. We can help guide that by putting up different challenges so attendees can connect with more people.”
There’s also huge potential to bring in additional revenue through sponsorships to offset your expenses and support your efforts. With over 105,000 impressions, the click-through rates were very high at the Mental Health + Addictions Conference. Courtney plans on sharing these results and additional opportunities with potential sponsors next year.
We’re looking forward to working with you next year, Courtney! And now that we’ve joined Cvent’s team, there’s even more potential to make next year’s conference a bigger success.
