At eTail Connect Spring, we spoke to Tom Smith, Senior Account Executive at Imagino, to see why they sponsored for the first time.
Tom: We sponsored eTail Connect Autumn last year and it was by far the best conference we did, which is why we’re back this year. eTail Connect is definitely the best pipeline generator for us, in terms of conversations with the right people at the right seniority.
Tom: Everyone has been relevant to us, and in terms of who we are looking to speak to, out of all the customer marketing / eCommerce events we’ve been to, eTail Connect has connected us with the top people from the kinds of retailers we want to speak to.
Tom: We’ve managed to have some great conversations. Like the last eTail Connect we attended, the networking bingo at the start, last year we got some excellent opportunities from that, and today we’ve met some good people already. The eTail Connect networking opportunities are a brilliant chance for us to go above and beyond and get some extra meetings booked.
Tom: We’ve had nine meetings so far and managed to have six extra meetings. Out of the nine meetings we’ve had, all of them have booked in for a follow-up, which is perfect.
To meet this calibre of delegate, as a new business, it could take six to twelve months as you would have to work your way up the ladder and get these connections yourself. Having the opportunity to sit with delegates like this and build a rapport with them for 30 minutes and then go and enjoy a drink with them later is irreplaceable.
Our team used the attendee profiling information to help us plan our meetings and helped us have great conversations. We built little profiles of everyone we were meeting, including the challenges they were facing, and then we went and did our homework and learned about the businesses. That way, we built a picture of one, the business, and two, the individual in front of us. This allows us to have relevant conversations and show them some value about our business, hence why I think the conversion rate is so good from the event.
Tom: I’ve been to a couple of the sessions hosted by the senior retailers, particularly the ones around customer experience, customer journeys, and personalisation. These are the top thought leaders in the space and some of the biggest retailers in the country, so they’re providing some thought-provoking content, which, again, is really good food for thought to go and think about.
Tom: 10 out of 10, we've had some fantastic conversations, and it's been phenomenal; we will be back again next year. Sponsoring will 100% have positively impact our business goals this year. This will be a significant chunk of our pipeline this year, as we’ve really shown ourselves to some of these businesses and shown them how we can help them. Honestly, it’s a fantastic event, and we will be back again.
Imagino have renewed their sponsorship investment and have rebooked for eTail Connect Spring in 2025.
If you’d like to join as a sponsor at eTail Connect Spring, then get in touch and find out more about how you can get involved