What is a Digital Event Bag?

What is a Digital Event Bag?

A digital event bag is a cost-effective, digitally measurable, and sustainable way to assist event organizers and their sponsors in delivering information to attendees. You may have heard them called a digital event bag, an online goodie bag, or an e-gift bag. No matter what name it goes by, it has the same purpose: a replacement for the physical gift bag you receive at conferences and other events. The pandemic further accelerated the growth of the virtual event bag, but even before COVID-19, digital event bags were around.

How does a Digital Event Bag work?

A digital event bag is a web-based landing page where event sponsors are featured. It has interactive and reporting capabilities that go far beyond what a simple website can do without a huge programming investment. The event producer can link to the digital event bag anywhere they’d like to promote it.

Digital Event Bags Provide Data

One of the biggest perks of the digital event bag is the data that event producers can get and pass onto their sponsors. Some digital event bag software allows for the use of multiple links to help identify the source of the click through. For example, one link may be used with outbound email promotion, another used with social media, another on the event website. All of the links go to the same place. By using multiple links, the software can provide data to the event producer that indicates whether the traffic is coming from the website, email, or social media.

Digital Event Bags Have a Wider Reach

A digital event bag is both more efficient and more sustainable than a traditional event bag. The digital version can be set up and distributed to attendees far ahead of the event, and they can access it after the event is over. With a physical gift bag, the exposure of the bag is limited to the time of the event itself.

Ways to Use a Digital Event Bag

Types of properties and events that may use digital event bags:

  • Conferences and Trade Shows
  • Virtual, Hybrid and Traditional live events
  • Festivals, Fairs, Food and Gourmet events
  • Membership Organizations for events and their website
  • Sports and Entertainment Venues
  • Convention and Visitor Bureaus, Visitor Centers
  • Museums, Exhibitions, Concerts

Physical Event Bags May Not Be Worth Your Time and Energy

Assembling physical event bags takes time, energy, and resources – and on top of that it’s difficult to track whether or not attendees even looked at the items included.

If an event chooses to implement a physical gift bag, organizers need to start planning well in advance.

  • Benefits typically include a logo on the bag and the right to place marketing materials or promotional items in the bag. There are rarely any digital offerings.
  • The bag needs to be designed and then ordered. This means you need to have an idea of the number of attendees months ahead of time.
  • Some orders may take as long as six months to arrive, especially with supply chain issues.
  • Once the physical items and promotional materials arrive, you’ll need to find a place to store them.
  • The bags must be stuffed by hand and distributed. After the conference, sponsors may get a report confirming that their materials were distributed.
  • The exposure of the bag is limited to the run of the conference, typically one to four days.
  • All of the shipping, storage and handling add to the total cost of the event bag in dollars and environmental impact.
Physical Swag Bags

Get Your Digital Event Bag Up and Running in Under an Hour

A digital event bag can be assembled in under an hour, with sponsors receiving key metrics on how their offering is performing with attendees in real time!

The process for a digital event bag is smoother and has a much lower environmental impact.

  1. The event organizer secures the digital event bag online. They login and create a landing page using the provided template.
  2. They distribute a link to sponsors who create their offers using the provided templates. Individual sponsor offers include the ability to enter a drawing, set an appointment, download material, view a video, enter a silent auction, redeem an offer and much more.
  3. The event organizer approves the sponsor offers and launches the digital event bag.
  4. The event bag stays open weeks in advance and after the event. That provides 60-90 days of exposure via the promotion of the bag and access to the bag link to prospective attendees, clients, and more.
  5. Sponsors and the event producer receive performance reports about the bag and the individual offers. Sponsors may also receive the name, job title, email address and other information about visitors who clicked on their offer. This provides a list of warm leads ready for follow up contact.
Get Your Digital Event Bag Up and Running in Under an Hour