Digital Experiences Benchmark: Q1 2021 Report

The first quarter of 2021 marks the year anniversary of marketers’ big pivot from physical events. In the past year, marketers have become more adept at creating digital experiences and are deploying digital experiences with more opportunities for engagement. In turn, audiences are thoroughly engaged in these experiences and engagement metrics continue to rise.

Evaluating Q1 2020 to Q1 2021, the rate of creation for webinars rose 39.8%. In tandem, engagement metrics, like questions asked, engagement during experiences and engagement following sessions (Calls to Action, CTAs), all increased. Additionally, average time on experiences also increased from Q4. This is a strong signal about the success and long term opportunities for digital experiences: as marketers deploy experiences with more engagement opportunities, audiences consume and reciprocate on those actions.

Importantly, registration to attendance conversion rates for content experiences and personalized experiences increased. This is a sign that audiences are taking advantage of on-demand content to consume. Marketers must evaluate how to incorporate these techniques into their marketing mixes, especially as conversations about the future of events and hybrid take center stage.

You may be asking yourself or hearing it from others within your organization, “Is there webinar fatigue?” However, audience engagement metrics continue to increase.

While marketers may be feeling fatigued with digital experience creation, as evidence of the breakneck seed with which they have been leveraging digital marketing tactics, audiences continue to crave and deeply engage in them. Marketers must continue to innovate on creating engaging digital experiences and find new methodologies to deploy on-demand experiences as well.