Welcome to the event manager blog series. Here at RBL, we are well aware that event planning is not for the faint of heart. As a matter of fact, it is a very stressful profession. There is so much depending on the success of your event and we are here to help you get those RSVP’s rolling in. Last month, we talked about the ways you can use email marketing to increase the attendance of your event. Well, this blog post is all about strategies that will make your event email reminders hit the high notes! Sending event reminders to those who have RSVP’d is a great way to increase engagement with them while sending a friendly email to those on your lists who have not yet responded could boost your event attendance overall. But before getting into which event email reminder techniques really work, let’s begin by looking at what information you need to include in them first.
What To Include In Event Reminder Emails
Because event email reminders act as a follow-up to your initial invitation, they don’t need to be as lengthy or descriptive as the original. Below is some key information that you should include in your event email reminders:
What Is The Event About: Is your event a business casual networking event? Is it a formal cocktail event? Is it a workshop? Do you have any guest speakers? These are some details to add in your reminders title or in a couple of sentences. This information builds a level of expectation among your attendees as well as what they will gain by attending your event.
When Is The Event: You should include the date and time of your event. Include the day (e.g. Wednesday, August 22nd ) if it’s an in-person event, and time zone (e.g. 12pm EST) if you are hosting a webinar, podcast or any other kind of event online.
Where Is The Event: If your event is an in-person event, make sure to provide an address and relevant information like finding your event once in the building, or a link to relevant transit information. If you are running an online event, include a link to the event as well as some details about what information your attendees may require in order to log in.
Sign Up Information: If you are sending an event reminder to members of your email list who have not yet committed to attending your event just yet, make sure that they still have time to RSVP and include a call-to-action button to allow them to easily sign-up.
Add A Link To A Landing Page With More Details: Because email reminders tend to be brief, if you want to provide your attendees with additional information, include a link to a landing page or a blog post which they can go to for more details about your event.
Include An FAQ Or Contact Information: Questions from your attendees can be hard to predict. That being said, including a link to an FAQ page where they can find common answers is a great way to increase satisfaction with your audience. You may also include the contact details of your event manager, which they can contact directly with questions about the venue, or make changes to their reservations.
Make It Shareable: Always make your event email reminders shareable. Anything from email forwards or social share icons are great ways to boost your event attendance. For example, if one of your email recipients is not able to attend, but has a friend in mind that would be interested in your event, they can easily forward that email to their friend. This helps you get access to an audience you are not otherwise able to reach.
Use A Captivating Subject Line
There’s an old adage in branding; you only get one first impression. The same is true for email subject lines – which includes event email reminders. While you don’t need to give away the farm with the subject line, it should include verbiage that would grab people’s attention. As far as reminders are concerned, if you are sending the email to those who are attending your event, that is people who have already engaged with you, your subject line simply needs to remind them of that fact. But if you are sending reminders to those who have not yet committed to attending your event, you must stand out with a solid email subject line. A few good examples of words to include at the beginning of your subject line “You’re Invited”, or “Save Your Spot”, or “Don’t miss your chance”. If you like, you can use FOMO (fear of missing out) phrases such as “seats are filling up fast”. But be careful with the later one; I once was drawn into attending such an event and there weren’t that many people there. Make sure you are being honest with those on your email list because once they unsubscribe, they are gone for good!
Keep Key Details At The Top or Above The Fold
A great event email reminder should make it impossible to overlook key details about your upcoming event. Therefore, make sure you put all key and relevant event details at the beginning of your email reminders, or above the fold. A perfect way to accomplish this is with a Hero heading; using this method, key details such as your event name, date, location and time can be shown in HTML text over a background image and above the fold. If that’s a bit too technical for you do not worry. Just make sure that the key details of your event are clearly shown on separate lines, in bullets, or bold text so that they are not lost in the rest of the body of text.
Include A Call-To-Action
Think of any email as an inverted pyramid; the logical flow should point down towards a clearly defined call-to-action at the end. This may read “Click Here To Register”, or “Buy Tickets” if you are sending a reminder to those in your email list who have not yet committed to attending, or a link to a landing page or blog post where those who have RSVP’d can visit to find out more about the upcoming event.
Get The Timing Right
Before interrupting those on your email list, take a moment to consider your event. For instance, if you are planning an online event like a workshop or podcast, you can boost registration by sending a reminder just a few hours before the event goes live. Conferences, trade shows, networking events and fundraisers require several reminders not only to keep registrations rolling in but to keep excitement and engagement levels up as well. This really depends on the type of your public occasion and your audience. The last thing you want to accomplish by sending constant event reminders is to upset your audience by distracting their work or life routines.
Final Thoughts
Effective event email reminders require constant testing; from subject lines, message copy, images, even the colour of your call-to-action buttons! While it will take you a lot of time and effort, getting the right mix will deliver the results as a reward. As far as email marketing is concerned, you don’t have to go at it alone. Here at RBL Communications, we have specialized in organizing and hosting events and we are here to share our experience planning amazing events with you! The last thing you want to happen with your event is to fall short of its goals by falling short when it comes to taking full advantage of email’s marketing capabilities.
So, what are you waiting for? Leave us a comment, tell us your story, share your passion for event planning, or get in touch by email and we would be happy to help you plan and host your next event.
