A survey of event and marketing professionals has revealed an
AI trust gap between event marketers and their audiences.
According to the results of the Cvent survey, while 87 per
cent of event professionals are more confident in using AI-generated content, 85
per cent believe their audiences are growing increasingly sceptical of it.
When asked why they were sceptical, 30 per cent said
audiences question whether content is genuinely created by humans, while 29 per
cent reported increased scepticism about the accuracy of
information.
Generic or AI-generated content (27 per cent) was seen as
the greatest risk to audience trust today, more so than a lack of human
interaction at events (19 per cent).
This wariness hasn’t prevented experimentation with AI,
however. Of the 900 professionals surveyed, 90 per cent said use of AI-generated
content at their organisation had increased in the last year with 43 per cent
saying they were scaling their use and 37 per cent experimenting.
Felicia Asiedu, marketing director at Cvent, said: “AI saturation is contributing to rising audience
scepticism, changing the environment in which we've traditionally built trust
with audiences.
“Some 98 per cent of respondents say that in-person and
community-based events are an important part of their marketing strategy, and
this will only increase amidst growing AI use,
misinformation risk and media fragmentation. What matters now is
bringing together the magic of events marketing with the science needed to
drive better, more measurable results.”
Measuring impact
The survey by the meetings, hospitality and events
technology provider also found a gap between event marketers’ confidence in
building audience trust and the number of professionals actively measuring its
impact.
Almost all (96 per cent) of event marketers said they are
confident that their current marketing activity is building trust with target
audiences and 81 per cent said audience trust in their brand has increased
after attending one of their organisation’s in-person events.
However, only 28 per cent said they had a framework in place
to measure the impact of events on trust while almost half admitted that their
existing framework requires improvement.
Event marketers say they also feel pressure to prove the return
on investment (ROI) of an event as they face growing scrutiny from attendees.
Amy Lucia, chief marketing officer at Cvent, said: “Event
marketers are doing something remarkable. They're building real,
lasting trust with their audiences at a time when trust has never been harder
to earn. But confidence without measurement is a recipe for reduced
budgets and missed opportunities.
“The marketers who will lead the next era are the ones who
can prove what events actually do for their business, connecting
that investment directly to pipeline and revenue. When you can
prove the numbers, C-suite and boardroom
credibility follows.”
