‘Outstanding’ ICE 2015 sets new records in customer satisfaction survey

The 2015 edition of ICE Totally Gaming has achieved an overall performance rating described as ‘outstanding’ by Fusion, the specialist exhibition research company. Using the Net Promoter Score (NPS) a universally adopted metric which measures the willingness of customers to recommend the brand, based on the experience of their last visit, ICE achieved an NPS of + 38 for visitors and + 49 for exhibitors.  The ratings are amongst the very highest achieved by the best performing business-to-business and consumer exhibitions staged internationally.

Phil Redwood, Director at Fusion and the person responsible for delivering the research, said: “Our role is to deliver a product, brand and customer service health check for brand owners based on an analysis of large sample market research conducted amongst relevant stakeholder groups. Whilst the research covered a wide range of issues, the Net Promoter Score is the single most significant metric and the one that we would look for first when evaluating an event.

“It’s abundantly clear that 2015 was a vintage year for ICE with both visitors and exhibitors being effusive in their evaluation of the experience.  The Net Promoter Score metric, which is also used outside the exhibition and events worlds by flagship brands including Amazon, Apple, eBay and Lego, is not only very strong – particularly the exhibitor NPS of + 49, but the underlying trend is also positive with increases registered in each of the last three years. However, the importance of NPS is that it only looks at the respondent’s last visit, which, in turn, means event organisers are forced to adopt a culture of continuous improvement rather than relying on historical reputation.”

Kate Chambers, who heads Clarion’s gaming portfolio, said: “It’s absolutely vital to measure how we are performing in the eyes of our customers and  I’m particularly pleased at our Net Promoter Score, which continues to improve year-on-year.  Undoubtedly there are a lot of positives that we can take from this research, however our focus is on those areas where the performance is not as strong as I would like to see. The macro challenge is to address the ‘large event syndrome’ and improve the movement of attendees through registration on to the show floor.  In addition I want for us to examine ways of enhancing the at-show learning programme and build on the event features and content.  There’s no doubt the research findings will assist everyone connected with ICE to achieve our ultimate goal of delivering the best possible customer experience for all of our 25,000 + stakeholders based in 130+ countries.”