Insight they could act on, company-wide
Customer-centricity sits at the heart of Clarion's strategy, so the business needed to understand its customers at a level that attendance numbers and headline satisfaction scores could not reach. It wanted to know which visitor and exhibitor groups were genuinely satisfied, which customers it had to work harder for, and where the real opportunities for growth were. And it needed that understanding to be consistent enough to inform both individual event decisions and portfolio strategy, not to sit in a report no one used.
A partner across the portfolio
Clarion brought Explori in to go deeper than a single attendee or exhibitor view. The teams broke each event's audience into customer personas and surveyed each one, building a detailed picture of what every customer group thought about the events they attended. The relationship was built around strategy rather than survey delivery. As McGough puts it, it became a partnership rather than a supplier service, with Explori close enough to Clarion's ways of working to generate the insight behind real business decisions.
Customer insight built for decisions
Insight that turned into action
Research as a business rhythm, not a filed report
The research did not sit in a drawer. Explori's team presented results to whole business units so feedback was understood at every level, with specific actions assigned to each event team. Customer insight became a bedrock of the intelligence the senior management team reviewed regularly, used to decide the future direction of the business and the sectors it serves. Clarion also compared its events against others in their sector to understand relative importance, market share, and how essential attending one of its shows was to its audience. Whilst individual teams used the data to improve specific events, senior directors used the same research to shape strategy across the portfolio.
"It becomes much more of a partnership rather than a supplier service because we can then say, This is my strategy. This is what I'm trying to achieve. Your closeness to our ways of working help us to be able to generate the right insights, to make the right decisions about our business strategy."
James McGough · Managing Director, Clarion Events
Clarion Events is one of the world's leading event organisers, running live and digital events across multiple sectors. Its strategy centres on customer-centricity, using research at both event and portfolio level to evolve its products and stay relevant as its markets change. Clarion has worked with Explori as a customer research partner across its event business.
Frequently Asked Questions
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