The Event Marketer’s Guide to Chatbots: Turning Conversations into Registrations, Revenue & Retention

If you’ve ever watched high-intent visitors land on your event website… and then quietly disappear because no one was “there” to help them, this guide is for you.

Chatbots have moved way beyond the annoying “Can I help you?” pop-up from 2014. Done well, they’re a 24/7 member of your marketing and sales team – qualifying leads, answering questions, booking meetings and nudging the right people towards registration or a sales conversation.

In this guide, I’ll walk through how chatbots work, the different types, what they’re actually good for in an event marketing context, and how to build experiences that don’t make people want to hit the “X” immediately.

Jump to a section:

1. What is a chatbot?

2. Three main types of chat experiences

3. Why chatbots matter so much for event marketers

4. Common chatbot challenges (and how to avoid them)

5. Designing a chatbot that actually helps (not annoys)

6. Always-on (“BAU”) chatbot experiences for event websites

7. 10 practical tips to get more from your chatbot

8. Final thought: your chatbot is a team member, not a magic trick

What is a chatbot?

A chatbot is a piece of software that simulates a human conversation on your website, in your app, or inside tools like WhatsApp or Facebook Messenger.

At a basic level, it will:

• Greet visitors and ask a simple question

• Offer clickable options or let them type a question

• Provide answers or next steps (book a demo, download a brochure, register for an event, etc.)

• Hand over to a human when needed
  

More advanced, AI-powered bots can:

• Understand intent from free text (“Do you have a group discount for exhibitors?”)

• Pull in context from your CRM and marketing platform

• Learn over time as they see more conversations
  

And they don’t sleep. Studies from conversational marketing platforms show that a huge chunk of conversations – often around a third – happen outside normal business hours. If your only “contact method” is a form, you’re missing those moments completely.

Three main types of chat experiences

You’ll see lots of labels, but most chat experiences fall into three buckets.

1. Rule-based chatbots

Think of these as “choose your own adventure” flows.

• You pre-build branches and responses

• Visitors click buttons / choose from options

• The bot responds based on rules you’ve set
  

Good for:

• Simple FAQs (dates, venue, pricing)

• Directing visitors to the right page

• Quickly qualifying people (“Are you a sponsor, exhibitor or delegate?”)
  

Limitations: If a question falls outside your pre-set paths, the bot can’t improvise. It needs regular updates.

2. AI chatbots

These use AI and natural language processing (NLP) to:

• Analyse what someone types

• Work out what they’re trying to do

• Generate the most relevant response based on your data and past conversations
  

Good for:

• Letting visitors ask questions in their own words

• Reducing support volume without forcing people through rigid menus

• Handling messy, real-world queries (“I registered last year, how do I update my details?”)
  

3. Live chat

Live chat connects visitors directly with a human via a chat window.

In event marketing, this is typically used by:

• Sales – to speak to high-intent sponsors/exhibitors in real time

• Customer success / delegate services – to help with bookings, invoices, or access to a virtual platform
  

In reality, your best setup will combine all three:

A rule-based or AI chatbot acts as the first layer, then routes key accounts and complex queries to a human via live chat.

Why chatbots matter so much for event marketers

Buyers today:

• Research in their own time

• Expect instant, relevant answers

• Don’t want to dig through long pages or PDFs to find them
  

At the same time, event journeys have become more complex: multiple touchpoints, late decision-making, hybrid experiences, tighter budgets. Removing friction from that journey is essential.

Here’s where chatbots earn their keep.

1. Always-on engagement at moments of high intent

There’s no better time to start a conversation than when someone is:

• Reading your pricing page

• Looking at the exhibitor list

• Comparing passes

• Checking sponsorship options
  

A chatbot can:

• Offer help proactively (“Got questions about exhibiting? Ask me anything.”)

• Surface the right resource (“Here’s the latest sponsor brochure.”)

• Offer a clear next step (“Book a call with our sales team.”)
  

2. Personalised journeys, not one generic script

Modern chat tools can use targeting rules such as:

• Page URL (e.g. exhibitor vs visitor pages)

• UTM parameters (campaign-specific experiences)

• CRM fields (returning delegate, key account, lapsed sponsor, etc.)

• Firmographic data (industry, company size via enrichment)
  

That means you can build very different experiences for:

• A returning platinum sponsor

• A brand-new visitor from a specific vertical

• A lapsed delegate you’re trying to win back
  

3. “Red-carpet” experiences for key accounts

For high-value sponsors, exhibitors or strategic partners, you don’t want them:

• Filling in generic forms

• Waiting for a call-back

• Getting stuck in a generic FAQ bot flow
  

You can create a dedicated “concierge” chatbot experience that:

• Recognises them (via CRM data or targeting rules)

• Greets them by name or segment

• Offers a fast path to sales (“Chat with your account manager” or “Book a meeting now”)

• Captures context before the handover
  

4. Real-time qualification and pipeline acceleration

It’s not realistic for sales to manually qualify every lead from your website at scale.

Chatbots can:

• Ask qualification questions in a natural way

• Score visitors based on answers and behaviour

• Route the hottest opportunities straight to sales

• Offer to book meetings or demos on the spot
  

Some organisations have seen significant increases in pipeline from this approach – even doubling their lead-to-pipeline conversion rate when chat is properly integrated and optimised.

5. Support and churn reduction

For high-volume delegate or customer queries, chatbots can:

• Handle common questions (access, logins, invoices, agenda, app issues)

• Point people to relevant help articles

• Collect key details before handing over to support

This saves your team time and creates a smoother experience for attendees.

Common chatbot challenges (and how to avoid them)

Chatbots are powerful, but they’re not magic. A few pitfalls I see a lot:

Misunderstood messages

AI chatbots can still struggle with slang, typos and ambiguous questions. If you’re using AI:

• Give it good training data

• Monitor conversations and add “catch-all” responses for tricky areas
  

Asking visitors the same questions twice

If your bot isn’t integrated with your CRM or event system, you risk:

• Asking known contacts for info you already have

• Making sales reps repeat discovery questions on calls
  

Solution: map your fields properly and make sure the bot can see key data points.

Missing key opportunities

If everything goes into the same generic flow, your most important accounts will have the same experience as anonymous visitors.

Solution: create a separate path for:

• Target accounts

• Open opportunities

• High-intent visitors (e.g. pricing page, late in the campaign)
  

Route these to real humans quickly.

“Set and forget” syndrome

Your event, messaging and audience change. If your chatbot doesn’t, it will slowly become less useful (and more annoying).

Solution: treat chatbots like any other campaign asset:

• Review copy and branches regularly

• Create v2 versions with updated info pre-event

• Retire or refresh experiences after each edition

Designing a chatbot that actually helps (not annoys)

Before you open any chatbot builder, get clear on a few things.

1. Who is this experience for?

Define the primary audience for each bot:

• New visitors

• Returning delegates

• Target sponsors

• Lapsed exhibitors

• Existing customers
  

Each group needs different questions, routes and CTAs.

2. What problem are you solving?

Don’t add a bot “because we should have one”. Decide on 1–2 main goals:

• Increase visitor registrations

• Generate sponsor or exhibitor leads

• Boost retention of past attendees

• Answer FAQs to reduce support volume

• Accelerate pipeline in open opportunities
  

Everything in the flow should ladder up to those goals.

3. What does success look like?

Set clear KPIs such as:

• Conversations started

• % of sessions that turn into conversations

• Leads captured via chat

• Meetings booked

• MQL → SQL conversion from chat

• Revenue or pipeline influenced by chat
  

This helps you decide what to optimise – and prove value internally.

4. Get the tone of voice right

Your chatbot is part of your brand.

• Keep it human, clear and friendly

• Avoid sounding robotic or overly formal

• Match your event’s tone (e.g. more playful for a festival-style show, more professional for a board-level summit)
  

For AI chatbots, your system prompts and training data matter. For rule-based bots, your scripted responses are your “voice” – treat them like micro-copy.

5. Nail the greeting and expectations

The first message is your digital handshake.

It should:

• Say what the bot can help with

• Be honest about what it can’t do

• Avoid pretending to be a human (adding “Bot” to the name helps manage expectations)

For example:

“Hi, I’m EventBot, I can help you: • Find the right pass • Get the sponsor brochure • Book a call with our team”

That’s much clearer than “Ask me anything!”

6. Make the next step obvious

Every branch should end with something tangible:

• “Register now”

• “Download the brochure”

• “Book a 15-min call”

• “View the agenda”
  

Don’t just answer and leave people hanging.

Always-on (“BAU”) chatbot experiences for event websites

For event portfolios, you want a mix of core, always-on experiences plus campaign-specific ones. Here’s a simple blueprint adapted from large event teams using chatbots across multiple shows.

Sponsor & exhibitor experiences (start ~11–12 months out)

• Key account concierge Route strategic accounts directly to sales or their account manager.

• Past sponsor / exhibitor retention Recognise previous partners and offer renewal conversations or early-bird packages.

• High-intent pages On sponsorship, exhibitor list or floorplan pages, offer the brochure and a quick route to sales.

• Upsell for current exhibitors For logged-in or recognised exhibitors, surface sponsorship add-ons.

• Pipeline acceleration Special flows for:

  • Open opportunities

  • Leads marked “tried to contact” or “not yet contacted” in your CRM
    

Visitor & delegate experiences (start ~6–7 months out)

• Pre-pop registration experience For warm lists (past visitors, registrants, interested leads), serve a chatbot that pre-fills details and makes registration fast and frictionless.

• Persona-led experiences Build 1–2 flows tailored to your key audience groups (e.g. manufacturers vs tech providers, investors vs founders).

• “Engage all” general experience A friendly, on-brand flow for first-time or unknown visitors that signposts registration, agenda and key FAQs.
  

Treat these as your baseline, then layer in campaign-specific bots for big announcements, price deadlines or new features.

10 practical tips to get more from your chatbot

Based on real-world use across event portfolios, here’s a condensed playbook.

• Start with your goals Decide whether this experience is about registrations, leads, retention or support – not “all of the above”.

• Use targeting rules properly Don’t show the same bot everywhere. Target by page, UTM, list membership, opportunity status, device, location and more.

• Use enrichment for “unknowns” Tools that offer firmographic enrichment can help you tailor experiences even when you don’t know who someone is yet.

• Keep the copy human Emojis, GIFs and conversational language (used sparingly) can significantly boost engagement.

• Get your workflows and routing right Define what happens when a lead is captured, when a key account arrives, or when no rep is available.

• Integrate your systems Map fields between your chatbot and platforms like Salesforce, HubSpot or Pardot so data flows cleanly.

• Experiment with pre-pop experiences For warm lists, combine pre-populated data with chat to make registration almost one click.

• Test like you mean it Create a testing schedule, add yourself as a seed, and use specific UTM parameters so only testers see new flows.

• Track meaningful metrics Look beyond vanity metrics. Focus on conversion from session → conversation → lead → opportunity → revenue.

• Let chat replace ugly forms For assets like reports or webinar recordings, try capturing details via chat instead of long, off-putting forms.

Final thought: your chatbot is a team member, not a magic trick

The best way to think about chatbots in event marketing is as a hybrid of:

• 24/7 receptionist

• Triage nurse

• Junior SDR

• Delegate services assistant
  

They’re there to help people get what they need, faster – and to make sure your team spends their time on the right conversations, not repeating the same FAQs all day.

If you’d like support designing chatbot experiences around your event websites – from strategy and targeting through to copy, testing and optimisation – that’s something I help clients with at CDM (Caylee Donaldson Marketing).

You can find out more at cdonaldson-marketing.co.uk, or drop me a message if you’d like to explore how chat could slot into your existing event marketing campaigns.