How do you calculate response rate?

Divide the number of people who responded by the number who saw or received the request, then multiply by 100. At an event, that's usually people who texted in or scanned, divided by the size of the audience.

What is a good response rate for text-to-join at an event?

There's no reliable single number, because it varies with the offer, the audience, and how the call to action is delivered. How many respond depends most on what you offer.

What is the difference between response rate and completion rate?

Response rate counts people who started, such as texting in. Completion rate counts how many of those finished every question in the flow.

What is response rate?

Response rate is the share of people who respond to a request out of everyone who received or saw it. It's usually written as a percentage. In email it might be replies divided by emails delivered; in a survey, completed surveys divided by people invited. For a live event, it usually means the number of people who text in or scan a QR code divided by the number of people in the audience.

It measures how well a request worked on a given group. It says nothing on its own about whether those people are good contacts, which is a separate question.

How does it work?

The calculation is simple: responses divided by the people reached, times 100. The hard part is defining both numbers.

The bottom number. At an event, is it everyone who registered, everyone in the room, or everyone in the room when you gave the call to action? A keynote with 600 registered and 450 still seated at the end gives two very different rates from the same sign-ups.

The top number. Does a response mean texting in, or finishing every question? Starting and finishing are different measures. The share of people who finish after starting is usually called the completion rate, and the number of questions in your capture flow affects it.

Pick one definition and keep it the same from event to event, so the numbers are comparable.

Why it matters at live events

Response rate is how you tell whether one talk, booth, or show did better than another, and why. The things that move it are mostly in your control:

The offer. How many people respond depends most on what you offer. Today's slides or a session worksheet pulls more than "join my newsletter." See lead magnet.
When you ask. Before the applause, while people are still seated, beats after they've stood up.
How often and how clearly. On screen and said out loud, more than once.
How easy the first step is. A QR code for close-up spots, a short keyword for the stage.

To compare, you need separate counts for each placement. Each Textiful flow has one trigger, so each keyword or QR code reports on its own. QR code scans are counted with bots filtered out. The keyword activity report shows totals by date range, and the dashboard shows text-ins and audience growth.

There are no reliable benchmarks to quote for event text-ins, and any single figure would hide the difference between a room that wanted your offer and one that didn't. How many people will text in at my event? goes through what to expect and how to plan for it.

Key takeaways

Response rate is responses divided by people reached, as a percentage.
Define both numbers (who counts as reached, what counts as a response) and keep them consistent.
Response rate counts starts; completion rate counts people who finished.
The offer, the timing, and how clearly you ask move it the most.

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Response rate