One of the most interesting concepts that all ecommerce providers face is “cart abandonment”—the moment where a customer does not complete a purchase. It is such a common occurrence that many in online retail have been quick to create a wide range of tactics to address the problem. Let’s find out the equivalent of cart abandonment when it comes to meeting engagement.

After more than 20 years in events, I have begun a new venture into the field of retail. It is a harsh world, highly competitive and often weighted towards the bigger fish rather than the minnows.

It is my attempt to redress the balance between a world increasingly focused on the giants that has led me to this interesting new non-events space. My mission is to reconnect people to places, enabling smaller businesses in UK towns and cities to reconnect with their local communities—who are increasingly online.

My new digital platform called ShopAppy has meant abandoning my academic career to do something different, and we have just hit our three-year anniversary. Moving from events and academia to retail and tech startup has been a steep learning curve—more linear than curvaceous, actually.

Recently, I reflected on some of the commonalities of retail and events—they are both competitive and equally challenged by technology. Event organizers have learned and adapted to technology and now, more than ever, technology enhances events, whether from amplification, dialogue, data, presentation or simple registration processes. In retail, there is still a very significant lag as giant and well-established practices struggle to change or speed up to changing customer behaviors that are increasingly online.

In my new world, change is happening fastest in online retail, and so tech looks increasingly like the enemy to physical stores. But some of the models and processes being used in online retail could not only help traditional retail, they could help us consider better ways to keep meeting participants engaged.

Aside from the obvious analogy of failing to complete an online registration, in meeting terms, cart abandonment could be the following.

1. A person leaving the meeting.
2. A person switching off from your content.
3. A person failing to show up after registering or accepting an invite or appointment.

Here are some tactics that might be borrowed from the online retail world of cart abandonment.

The person leaves the meeting. We see it all the time (I may have even done it once or twice). In online retail, businesses try to create obstacles from doing this. I am not suggesting you place trip hazards on the way to the exit, but you might stop the customer to ask if you can help them get to better content, engage in other experiences or stop for refreshments. Or, just get feedback on why they are leaving. If you have apps activated and can detect movement, a pop-up message with some incentives to stay, to alert a delegate about the next piece of content, may well keep your participants firmly “in cart.”

Unlike in retail, a cart abandoner in meeting terms is disappointed and likely to be, at best, someone who never comes back. At worst, it’s someone who urges others not to come to your next event. Learning why a person leaves a meeting is the most valuable feedback you can get to improve—and if your team can do this in person it will be all the better, giving you a chance to inject real-time solutions and get open and honest responses.

In online retail, every customer who leaves without converting in some way is direct money lost to business. Perhaps in meetings, we would be better to make a similar analogy. Even if we have already pocketed the registration, a cart abandoner could reduce your future attendance.

The person switches off. You can’t mistake a glazed expression or a person checking their phone. Participants abandoning content mid-flow are toxic to experiences. In online retail, it is someone clicking on and clicking off your website. A high bounce rate is no good for website analytics—keeping users on the site and engaged shows you are providing the right content to the right consumer in the right way. In online retail, short surveys appear and users are invited to see similar products/customer reviews or offered an incentive to keep going.

Meeting planners specialize in maintaining engagement, but some speakers don’t. Interaction is one of the best ways to keep a mind from drifting off. A vote, a feeling that you might need to be on your toes or a simple reminder that you will be asked what you got out of the session at the end will keep participant drift to a minimum.

Briefing speakers to be mindful of participant engagement can really help them to design more engaging sessions. I went to one session where the speaker presented with a box of chocolates in front of her for the whole session. Audience members were transfixed because they were keen to know how the chocolates might be part of her story. (In the end, she took the chocolates home with her, but was pleased that the box had helped keep us attentive!)

Failing to show up is possibly the most frustrating aspect for planners. In online retail, it’s the equivalent of staring at products but doing nothing. Online retailers are specialists in viewing customer behavior like this.

First, the data of what a person is interested in is valuable no matter if they buy it or not. It means you can continue to suggest similar products they might be interested in, because they have shown you what they at least intended to do. Second, retailers can ask a person what happened next, as they showed such interest in the item, and find out about potential competitors or what made your offer less compelling. Finally, you can trigger the FOMO: “We noticed you booked to attend this session, so sad you didn’t make it. You missed a fantastic experience where more than 100 people were treated to insights from…” Of course, to be kind to the poor person who couldn’t make it, you can invite them to attend next time. Or you can just leave them feeling bad that, unlike most products, when you miss an event, it really is your last chance to experience it. Events, unlike products, go out of stock.

So, what does this teach us? We are in meetings to work in an environment that intersects with so many fields. This means we can borrow ideas and learn to adapt to build better experiences and more effective ways to secure and maintain meeting engagement. It also teaches us that when we are dealing with the most perishable of products—our events—we should be doing all we can to make sure our delegates stay in the carts we have built for them.