Audience research
Part of One big survey or many small ones for event marketing audience research
How an event marketing agency uses customer interviews
How an event marketing agency can use attendee interviews to test audience assumptions, shape campaign briefs and improve event messaging.
What to take away
- A customer interview programme is a research method, not a sales call. It tests what your research assumes about needs, triggers and objections.
- Buyers now expect that evidence. Proposals for agency work and software purchases increasingly ask how an audience claim was formed.
- England is the working geography here. Advertising and data rules can differ in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland, so check before running a UK-wide programme.
- Recruit six to ten past or prospective attendees per segment from your own ticket or registration data.
Why interviews, why now
Interviews belong in campaign planning when an agency needs to test an audience assumption before creative work begins. A short conversation with real attendees is a practical way to check that assumption before the campaign takes shape.
An event marketing agency can recruit from a client's attendee records if it is authorised to use them for that purpose. If the client sells tickets through Eventbrite, its ticketing portal can help identify people who chose to attend; that is a recruitment route, not evidence of why they came. See Eventbrite's portal for selling concert tickets online.
Cost is the other driver. A round of eight conversations takes a few days to arrange, and the person who will write the brief can run it. That is often less than the price of one poorly targeted ad flight.
Interviews also surface the wording people use. That phrasing earns its place in headlines and emails faster than anything invented in a workshop.
Start with the audience assumptions in the client's brief and existing campaign research, so interviews fill gaps rather than duplicate work.
Inclusion criteria to apply
Set the criteria before you book anyone, and write them down.
Inclusion criteria checklist
- Attended, booked or declined in last two years
- Matches a current or planned segment
- Can describe a real decision
- Based in England unless cross-border test
- Not a colleague, supplier or close contact
- Log exclusions and reasons
Recruit people who match the campaign's intended geography and audience. For an England campaign, keep the sample focused on people in its target area; for a UK-wide campaign, include the locations the campaign is intended to reach.
A programme shape for message testing
| Situation | Choose | Avoid |
|---|---|---|
| Testing message wording before a campaign | Six to eight interviews per segment, before creative is signed off | One group session where a voice dominates |
| Comparing channels | Interviews, then a small paid test using Google Ads Quality Score guidance | Judging a channel on one anecdote |
| Direct outreach to a professional audience | Interviews supported by LinkedIn sponsored messaging | Cold calling a list without evidenced consent |
| Testing a new city or venue | Interviews in that location only | Extrapolating from a London sample |
Question design that holds up
Ask about past behaviour first. "Walk me through how you decided to come last time" produces a usable answer. "Would you attend a premium version?" produces a polite guess.
Keep the guide to around eight questions and let the conversation run for 30 or 40 minutes. Leave silences, because people often add the most useful detail after a pause.
Avoid leading wording, and never stack three options into one question. To test price, give a labelled example, such as a ticket at £45 against one at £75, and ask what they would have done.
Draw from more than one segment where the budget allows. If every voice comes from the same buyer type, the findings will describe that group well and the rest of your market badly.
Recording and using the findings
Use one recording and consent process across the programme. Before each interview, tell participants which organisation or organisations are responsible for the research and explain the agency's and client's roles. Give a clear notice explaining the purpose, whether recording is optional, who can access recordings, how long they will be kept and how quotes may be used; ask permission before recording. Provide privacy information covering the lawful basis, recipients, retention period, participant rights and how to complain to the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO), in line with the UK GDPR and Data Protection Act 2018. Anonymise quotes unless participants agree to attribution.
Create a simple coding framework from the audience segments in the client's brief, then tag each transcript against the needs and objections it covers. Note themes that do not fit the existing segments too, so the agency can flag where the audience picture needs revisiting.
Feed conclusions into the next brief as short statements with numbers behind them. "Seven of nine attendees mentioned travel time" is defensible. "People care about travel" is not.
Share a one-page summary within a week of the final interview. Note what surprised the team as well as what confirmed the plan, because the surprises are what the next brief should chase.
Common questions
How many interviews are enough?
For a single segment, six to ten is usually workable, and the same points often repeat by the eighth conversation. Add more only for a genuinely new audience.
Can interviews run without incentives?
Yes. Incentives are optional. If offering a discount code, agree its value and terms with the client in advance, and make clear it is offered for taking part, not for giving a particular answer.
Do I need consent to record?
Ask before recording, explain the purpose and how the recording will be used, and store files in line with your data protection obligations. The UK GDPR and Data Protection Act 2018 apply to personal data. For invitations or follow-up messages by email or text, assess whether they are direct marketing under the Privacy and Electronic Communications Regulations 2003 (PECR); where PECR applies, follow its requirements. The Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) is the UK data protection regulator.
Should agencies interview clients' customers?
They can, if the client authorises recruitment and the parties agree their data protection roles, access arrangements and how results will be used. An agency that hands over coded evidence makes the next campaign easier to brief.
