Strategic Pivot: Expanding Into the $162B Large, Complex Event Market
Splash is an event marketing platform that Empowers brands to create, manage, launch, & measure Small repeatable experiences
Splash excelled at helping hosts create and manage small, repeatable events: city tours, product launches, happy hours, panels, dinners, half-day single venue conferences, webinars, etc…
The strength of focusing on these types of repeatable events is that brands can rapidly generate brand-compliant events at a lower cost and consistently build pipeline into their sales funnels.
High volume + low cost = consistent ROI.
Problem: The gap in Splash’s platform for large, complex events was losing prospects and risked customer churn
Splash had a gap servicing high attendance, high complexity events: multiday, multivenue, & multisession conferences (Braze Forge, Salesforce Dreamforce), segmented registration cohorts, speaker management, hybrid, etc… It was built for small events with straightforward use cases that can be churned out rapidly—meaning lower cost and consistent ROI.
This gap meant losing prospects and risking churn amongst existing clients who needed a platform to capable of also handling high attendance, high complexity events, globally a +$162B annual market.
So the goal was to close the gap by expanding Splash’s capabilities to gain a foothold in increasingly complex, high attendance events. The hypothesis being if we build features that address the needs of large, complex events, we’ll increase business.
Prospects wanted an all in one solution and customers were facing pressure from their CFOs to consolidate their tech stacks.
Role: LEveraging Research to Drive a Strategic Pivot
As the Senior UX Researcher, and an experienced product designer, I led the research effort to understand our position relative to complex events and how we might bridge the gap. This meant collaborating with cross-functional teams to align priorities, generate evidence, and influence a roadmap that would address both user and business needs:
Market & competitive analysis
Internal data stores (Sales calls, support tickets, Salesforce reports, feedback forms)
Stakeholder interviews (Sales, Customer Success, Support, Product)
Survey design and analysis
User interviews
Users: Enterprise Event Organizers & Internal Stakeholders
Enterprise Event Organizers:
Event organizers & Splash customers managing large, complex events (e.g., 2,500+ attendees, multi-day, multi-venue).
Used Splash for their small, repeatable events as well as other tools to handle their large, complex events
Why? Understand the gaps that exist between Splash and their large, complex event tools. Where did Splash fall short in the most impactful ways?
Event organizers & Splash prospects managing large, complex events (e.g., 2,500+ attendees, multi-day, multi-venue).
Prospects who were evaluating event marketing tools based on relative advantage, compatibility with tech stack, complexity of implementation/use, trialability, and observability of its impact/ROI.
Why? What are the ways in which prospects evaluate whether Splash is an appropriate tool for their large, complex events?
Internal Stakeholders: Sales, customer success, product, support
Why? Internal stakeholders had direct conversations with customers and prospects. What were their perspectives on our gaps? What were the trends and things they were hearing?
External Users: People who attended large, complex events
Scope & Constraints: Balancing Ambition with Realistic Timelines
The project had a five-week timeline and budget constraints.
We needed to balance the needs of addressing market gaps for large-scale events against Splash’s existing capabilities for smaller events. This meant prioritizing features that delivered the most value while aligning with Splash’s long-term product roadmap.
The other additional constraint was that executives already decided to invest in building an Attendee App by the end of Q2. A tool that large, complex events frequently use.
Process & What I Did
1 Market Deep Dive to Understand the Competitive Landscape
Research Question: What is the competitive landscape and industry trends? How do competitors communicate their offerings? What do users of attendee app and complex event vendors say about their experience?
What did I do: Dug into analyst/industry reports, review sites, downloaded review site data, synthesized qual and quant data from review sites, reviewed closed won/closed lost data, performed analysis on Gong.io sales and success calls, and reviewed support logs.
Result: I discovered that
Attendee Apps are purpose built for large, complex events
78% of companies using attendee apps for large events reported improved ROI, and
the attendee app market was projected to grow to $2.8 billion by 2030, with a 14% year-over-year growth rate.
64% of event attendees consider apps the most desired event tech, and
91% of event organizers believe apps are crucial to their event’s success.
There are a total of ~760 attendee app vendors, suggesting a fragmented market
Over 100 closed lost reports cited “attendee app” as partly a reason for the failed deal and +20 churn reports
Users of app vendors most common issue with the tools are data integrity and integration as well as customization limitations
2 Internal Stakeholder Interviews to Align Priorities
Research Question: What are the internal priorities and perspectives on large, complex events? What evidence, hard or anecdotal, do internal stakeholders use to support their perspectives? Why do internal teams think Splash has issues with breaking into the large, complex event market?
What did I do: Interviewed 12 stakeholders spread amongst sales, customer success, product, support, and engineering
Result:
Sales highlighted the need for an attendee app to meet RFP requirements, when Splash can’t check the attendee app box prospects move on. Sales assumed that having an attendee app solution would lead to more deals won.
Customer Success believed that there were other capabilities that needed to prioritized because customers were at risk of churning without progress. In addition, Success believed that Splash could grow revenue by adding capabilities that would eventually fit together to support large, complex events.
Both Sales and Customer Success agreed that Splash needed to expand its capabilities to capture more of the complex event market.
3 User Surveys to Quantify Needs and Pain Points
Research Question: What are the attitudes, reported behaviors of our customers? What is the level of appetite our customers have for attendee apps/complex events?
What did I do: To gather quantitative data on user needs and pain points, I crafted a four question, targeted survey and sent it out to 1,500 enterprise users. Enterprise defined at Splash as companies with $100MM annual revenue and +1,000 employees.
Result: The survey revealed that
671 total responses, a 44.7% survey participation rate (3% margin of error, 95% confidence)
62% of our customers reported no usage of attendee apps,
Of those who said no usage and provided a reason:
55% citing no perceived need,
13% deterred by cost, and
8% dissatisfied with vendor capabilities.
53.7% of "No" respondents did not provide a reason for not using an attendee app, suggesting a lack of engagement on the need or interest in an attendee app.
38% of our customers reported that they used attendee apps with the following breakdown:
24 different vendors were reported, suggesting a fragmented market.
Additionally, 13% of respondents said Splash was their an attendee app, suggesting customer confusion, a need to clarify, and further investigate the market
Learnings: There was an opportunity to learn from customers about their usage of attendee apps as well as how Splash fit into their world. The survey also suggested that product marketing would need to clarify Splash’s offerings and how our Host App was different than an Attendee App.
4 User Interviews to Uncover Deeper Insights
Why: To gain deeper insights, I contacted over 30 users and was able to recruit 5 users who had taken the survey and conducted in-depth interviews.
Result: Users emphasized the importance of needing data to populate their attendee apps, data that Splash was not capable of generating. In addition, they expressed a need for session management, flexible scheduling, and attendee engagement tools, even for smaller events.
Learnings: While attendee apps were important for large events, the overall attendee experience needed improvement across the board.
5 Solution Development to Address User Needs
Why: Based on research findings, I recommended a dual approach: enhancing Splash’s core platform to support complex events and developing non-app solutions (e.g., web apps, QR codes, SMS integrations) for smaller events.
Result: The product roadmap shifted to focus on improving session management, segmentation, and engagement tools, while exploring integrations with attendee apps.
Learnings: By addressing the entire attendee experience, Splash could differentiate itself in a crowded market and capture more market share.
Outcomes
Impact: Research-Driven Roadmap Shifts Position Splash as a Leader
My research directly influenced Splash’s product roadmap. We shifted our focus from simply integrating with attendee apps to building out core features that supported any event, big or small. This meant improving session management, creating more flexible scheduling tools, and developing better ways to engage attendees. These changes not only addressed the immediate need for large event functionality but also strengthened our platform for all users.
Driving Revenue, Retention, and Market Share
Attendee Apps are Critical for High Attendance, High Complexity Events
Attendee App Adoption Rates: Research showed that 64% of attendees adopt apps for events, and 67.5% of attendees agree that apps are a vital part of the event experience.
ROI Improvement: 78% of companies using attendee apps for large events reported improved ROI.
Market Growth: The attendee app market is projected to grow to $2.8 billion by 2030, with a 14% year-over-year growth rate.
User Satisfaction: 21.4% of users are open to changing vendors, indicating a significant opportunity for Splash to capture market share by addressing user needs.
Therefore, Splash decided to build an attendee app integration with Guidebook
Think Beyond the App:
The Attendee Experience Extends Beyond the App
The research highlighted that attendees care about more than just the app—they want a seamless, engaging, and efficient event experience. Key pain points included:
Session Management: Attendees want the ability to easily find, view, and alter their schedules.
Event Navigation: Attendees need clear guidance to navigate venues, sessions, and activities.
Communication: Hosts need tools to communicate effectively with attendees, whether through push notifications, SMS, or email.
Engagement: Attendees want opportunities to connect with others, provide feedback, and participate in polls or surveys.
By addressing these broader needs, Splash could improve the attendee experience for all events, not just large, complex ones.
Lightweight Solutions Can Deliver Value for Smaller Events
For smaller events, Splash identified opportunities to enhance the attendee experience without requiring a full app:
QR Code Integration: Embedding QR codes into emails or event materials allows attendees to quickly access event information without downloading an app.
“Day of” Event Page: A centralized web page with event details, schedules, and navigation tools can serve as a lightweight alternative to an app.
SMS Integrations: Sending updates and reminders via SMS keeps attendees informed without requiring them to download an app.
Engagement Tools: Features like polls, surveys, and networking tools drive higher attendee satisfaction and engagement.
These solutions are cost-effective, easy to implement, and accessible for smaller events, making them a valuable addition to Splash’s offerings.
Data is Key
Splash Lacked the Data Infrastructure for Attendee Apps:
Attendee apps rely on real-time data (e.g., session schedules, attendee check-ins, feedback) to function effectively. Splash’s platform wasn’t equipped to generate or stream this data, limiting its ability to support large, complex events.
We Needed to Build Core Features First:
To enable data streaming, we had to prioritize building foundational features like segmentation, complex registration, and multi-site support. These features would not only capture more market share but also generate the data necessary to power attendee apps and fulfill their use case.
Data Streaming as a Future Goal:
Once these core features were in place, Splash could focus on developing the ability to stream data to attendee apps, ensuring organizers had the real-time insights needed to optimize large, complex events.
Communication Matters: Clear communication about Splash’s value proposition and capabilities is essential to avoid user confusion.
User Confusion: Some of our customers thought Splash was an attendee app vendor, highlighting the need for clearer messaging about its role in the event ecosystem, differentiation with Splash’s Host App, and content marketing about attendee apps.
Reframed Messaging: Splash clarified its value proposition as a comprehensive event management platform that supports events of all sizes and integrates with leading solutions like Guidebook to enhance attendee engagement and on-site communication.
Impact on Marketing: Updated messaging and the Guidebook integration led to higher engagement, increased demo requests, and stronger positioning as a leader in the event management space.
