Effective Tips for Event Email Marketing
- Updated on: 2017-08-19
- Read original article here
Do you run events for your business?
Regardless of whether it’s a launch event, networking event or a conference, the effectiveness of your event is directly related to the number of attendees you get through the door.
And there’s no better way to reach an audience and increase attendees than using email marketing.
In this post, we’ll share with you the 6 key elements of an effective event invitation email and show you some examples from our customer email gallery of event invitation campaigns that got it right.
An event invite email is a campaign designed to increase awareness of your event and encourage people to attend.
In order to get the maximum amount of awareness and attendees from your event invitation email, try including these 6 different elements in the campaign.
Depending on how you built your email list, it could be made up of people from all over the world.
However, if your event is being held in downtown San Francisco then chances are people from Australia aren’t going to be able to attend (unless it’s a seriously big event worth traveling for).
So in order to keep your open, click-through and response rates high, it’s better to segment your list and send your campaign only to those nearby.
A great example of this is our campaign for our recent Future of Email Marketing event in London, UK.
Before we sent this campaign, we used the Geolocation Segments feature to create a segment of our newsletter list containing subscribers who lived within 50km of London, UK, and then sent the campaign only to those people.
By doing so, we ensured that only those who had the ability to attend the event received the campaign and those outside the area didn’t receive irrelevant information about an event they couldn’t attend.
So next time you’re creating an event invitation campaign, try segmenting your lists using features like geolocation segments and only send the campaign to those who are able to actually attend. You’ll receive fewer unsubscribes and higher open, click-through and response rates as a result.
In an event invitation email, the value proposition should be a short statement that concisely explains why the recipient should attend the event.
As an example, take a look at the value proposition in this campaign from Fairline Boats:
As you can see, the email contains a prominent value proposition that reads Fairline’s new 48 range.
This value proposition succeeds because it doesn’t just inform people the event is on but instead focuses on conveying the benefits of attending: a hull design so clever, it has turned itself into three remarkable boats.
This lets readers know what’s in it for them and increases their motivation to attend the event.
So when creating your event invitation email, make sure to include a value proposition that clearly outlines what the event is and the benefits of attending, as this will increase people’s motivation and compel them to click-through and purchase tickets or RSVP.
Now that you’ve caught your subscriber’s attention with the value proposition, it’s time to back it up with a detailed description of the event that outlines exactly what attendees can expect to see and do at the event and what they will get from attending.
An example of a great event description comes from this campaign from Hudson Ranch and Vineyards:
As you can see, the email contains a detailed event description that outlines what attendees will enjoy during the event.
So when creating your next event invitation email, make sure to include a detailed description of the event. You should aim to answer questions potential attendees might have like what will happen at the event, what they will learn, who they will see or hear from, etc. By answering these questions in your description, you’ll increase people’s motivation to attend and compel them to click-through and purchase tickets or RSVP.
Despite your best efforts to choose a central location and appropriate time, not everybody on your list is going to be able to make it.
By including the details of the event, such as time and location, in your invite email, you help people quickly identify whether this event is something they are going to be able to attend and increase the chances of them clicking through to your site to RSVP or purchase tickets.
British fashion label Fred Perry do this well in their event invite email for their popup store.
As you can see, the email very clearly shows the location of the event as well as the different times it will be open, making it easy for people to identify whether this is something they can attend and start making plans to be there.
So in your next event invitation email, make sure you include any relevant details about the event that people might need to know. If it’s a physical event, this could include time, location, dress code, parking details, transport information, etc. Alternatively, if it’s a virtual event like a demo or webinar then make sure to include URL’s, dial-in numbers, access codes, login details, etc.
As an added extra, it can also help to include a link to a calendar event that automatically adds itself to your subscribers’ preferred calendar (Google Calendar, iCal, Outlook, etc) when clicked. This helps remind people when your event is taking place and increases the chances they’ll attend.
Even if your event is free, people are paying with their time and may have some natural hesitation and anxiety towards attending.
This can be caused by any number of things, including:
So in order to help get people to click-through from your email, purchase tickets and attend your event, you need to take steps to reduce that anxiety.
A great way to do this by including social proof elements, such as testimonials or expert reviews of your event, in your campaigns.
Franklin Road does a great job of this in their invitation email for upcoming shows.
By including a review of the band’s latest album in the email, they help ensure readers of the band’s quality and reduce any anxiety they might have about whether the event will be worth their time.
When you are creating your next event invitation email, try to include elements of social proof like testimonials from previous attendees, expert reviews or even attendee numbers from your last event to reduce anxiety and reassure readers it’ll be worth their time and money.
Now that you’ve provided all the information recipients need about your event, it’s time to include a prominent call to action to get them to take the next step.
While you might be tempted to simply tell people about your event and hope they turn up, there’s actually a much higher chance they’ll attend if you get them to commit to it via a registration or ticketing process, even if registration or tickets are free and the process is largely arbitrary.
This is because, according to renowned psychologist Robert Cialdini, when human beings commit to doing something (like attending an event), they are much more likely to go through with it even when the consequences of not doing so are minor.
SXSW understand this and used it to their advantage in their event emails:
By including a prominent call to action button encouraging people to RSVP for the event, they are able to get people to commit to attending.
So next time you’re creating an event invitation campaign, make sure to include a prominent call to action button that links to some sort of registration or ticketing process. Tools like Eventbrite make it easy to do this, and even if the registration and ticketing process is arbitrary it will help increase the chances people will show up at your event.
The event invitation email is one the most important email campaigns you can send to increase the effectiveness of your events.
So next time you are creating one, ensure it has the 6 key elements:
By including these 6 elements, you ensure that you get the best results possible from your event invitation campaign and drive large numbers of attendees who will make your event a success.
