Email Marketing Tips to Supercharge Your Next Event

As much as we bemoan the daily flooding of our inboxes, 40% of event marketers say that email is the most effective channel to promote events. It is a good value, is relatively easy to execute and can net an instant return. So, how do you make your emails stand out in a crowded inbox? Here are 5 tips to guarantee a strong open and click-through rate every single time.

Know Your Audience

This is a crucial part of any event marketing strategy. Do not do anything, including sending emails, until you identify who your target market is. When you understand who they are, you can tailor the email message, the design, the call-to-action (CTA) and more to the details that are important to them. For example, if your audience is teachers, use an image of a classroom schedule to illustrate your event agenda. If your audience is busy executives include messaging about how your event will bring value to their organizations. If you need to segment your audience so that you can send out even more personalized email messaging, do so! It’s worth it.

Craft a Strong Subject Line

You would be surprised at how little time planners spend thinking about this important detail. If your subject line is unremarkable or ubiquitous, your email may never be opened. It is worth the time to think carefully and strategically about a short CTA phrase that will entice prospects to open your email.

What problem can you solve for them? What promise can you deliver to them? Write the lines in your brand tone and use accessible language. Here are some examples:

• Need Some Inspiration? NAME OF EVENT Has Got You Covered!
• Meet NAME OF INDUSTRY LEADER for a personal 1 on 1
• Learn how to make NEW INDUSTRY TECH work for you at NAME OF EVENT

Feed the Funnel

The act of selling tickets follows the traditional sales funnel model. Plan a sequence of emails that charts your prospects all along the journey, from prospect to lead to registered attendee to event day attendee to the satisfied customer. Target your messaging and CTAs to the part of the funnel they are in. Use impactful video and infographics to educate prospects on the benefits of your event. To entice educated leads, use early bird pricing and other promotional triggers. Keep your content focused and consistent. If you have event marketing and automation software like Eventzilla, set up automated triggers that deploy follow-up emails when actions are taken as well as when actions are not taken. The goal is to keep customers moving through the funnel.

Make it Easy to Click

It’s important to make any link in your email, especially the CTA links, easy to find and click. It’s been proven that large and colorful buttons are clicked more often than text links. It’s also a best practice to hyperlink all images and headers to your registration page so that there is no escaping the CTA. If you are including other links in your emails, make sure the registration page is easy to find from the webpages that prospects are landing on.

Ask for Feedback

Email is an ideal method for gathering feedback because it’s relatively quick and simple to deploy for you and easy to respond to the receiver. Add a short 2 or 3 question survey to your confirmation email in order to find out how the attendee felt about the registration process. Use email to send out a followup feedback survey after the event is over. With a consistent feedback loop in place, you are armed with the critical information you need to refine your event marketing and make selling tickets easier.

Emails may be easy and cost-effective but you still need a clear strategy before you deploy them. Used correctly, emails are a powerful communication tool that engages your attendees all along their event journey.

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