Boost Conference Attendance With Event Email Marketing

In the process of planning an event? Maybe the event is a professional conference, an artistic meetup, or a product launch party. No matter what type of gathering, you want a strong turnout. When considering your marketing strategy, it only makes sense to put the most energy where you will see the greatest attendance impact. Email marketing is exactly where you will see that impact. Think about it. People check their email religiously like it’s the morning paper. Email marketing is like putting your announcement on the front page, which is why it is the best way to communicate to targeted audiences across the board. So, how do you use this newsletter-based platform to promote your special event from start to finish?

Event Promotion 

You don’t start sending promotions emails about your meetup a week before the date. To build excitement, your email marketing strategy should start weeks before the actual date. Email marketing sequencing is beneficial, no matter the size of the gathering. Organizing the timed release of key details is easy with newsletter marketing automation tools like scheduling. Not only does it take a task off your plate, but it is a low-effort way to stay connected to your subscribers. You keep subscribers interested and excited about the meetup or conference. Email content should highlight the event’s unique experience. FOMO is an event marketer’s greatest tool. Tease prospective attendees with exclusive offerings, information, and one-of-a-kind opportunities at the event. Newsletter scheduling is a simple automation tool that often beefs up registration numbers. 

Effective event email marketing goes past pre-event promotion. Communicating with attendees the day of is just as important. Maybe you’re hosting a workshop that is in a hybrid format. These emails are perfect for providing live stream links and social media hashtags for real-time interactions. Engagement rates can be telling of an event's success. 

Subscriber Segmentation and Personalization

Every event is not for every subscriber. Keep event emails relevant. 94% of marketers say email personalization increases sales. Tags are one of the main tools for event email personalization that drive event sign-ups or ticket sales. Maybe you are hosting a niche conference with a broad subscriber base. Based on your subscriber's behavioral patterns and personal information, you can enhance the overall subscriber experience through tags. 

Maybe the event is located in New York City. Of course, you want to send invitations to those within commuting distance of the conference, not subscribers in, say, Austin. Suppose you use tags to segment the Austin-based subscribers. In that case, their inboxes won’t be clogged with said conferences’ emails and possibly become more likely to delete future invite emails from the event organizers. They may, unknowingly, even delete invites for future conferences that are Austin-based. Or maybe you have subscribers who have RSVP’d to attend the conference and others who still need a little nudge to sign up. Because you created differentiating tags, confirmation emails are sent to those who registered, and persuasive emails are sent to those who haven’t. Leveraging tags as a way to personalize subscriber messaging shows subscriber consideration and, ultimately, boosts sign-ups. No wonder personalization is a major component in strong event email marketing strategies.   

Post-Event Insights

Event email marketing follows the basic practices of any other email marketing campaign. When determining the success of a newsletter campaign, hard metrics are the way to go. Although, with events, the audience experience is just as valuable as other analytics. Because event-based marketing metrics rely more on audience satisfaction, the main way that organizers gather post-event statistics is through email surveys. Surveys are a great tool to get audience feedback, maintain connections, and gather testimonials that could be used to promote future organized meetings. Surveys can be single-choice, multiple-choice, and short or long-open questions. All types of surveys offer valuable insights. 

Maintaining connections with attendees through follow-up emails, like thank you emails, displays audience appreciation. When someone feels appreciated, they show an increased likelihood of coming to another event and referring friends or colleagues who have similar interests to sign up for future meetups. These emails are also the perfect instance to turn leads into conversions. Consider pitching your offerings, services, products, or tickets below event highlights as a reminder of the unique value of the experience and teachings gained from the event. Another way to measure email marketing is through analytics. Read, open, click-through, and subscribe/unsubscribe rates are key indicators marketers use to determine campaign success. Incorporate the qualified metrics to optimize your event performance and convert more attendees into paying customers. Attendee enjoyment pays in the end. 

Conclusion

Hosting a conference, meetup, or launch party is a fun endeavor that requires thoughtfulness and strategic planning. Many components make an effective event email marketing campaign.  

• Create a clear promotion timeline to build excitement for the event with the use of automation tools like email scheduling. 
• Segment your subscribers and personalize your messaging. 
• Understand your audience’s satisfaction through surveys and leverage key performance metrics to convert leads into sales. 

Most importantly, event organizers need a reliable and intuitive email marketing platform to accomplish event goals. Plan your next event campaign using Buttondown. Buttondown enhances your email campaign by providing powerful marketing tools that get people through the door. Create an account for just $9/mo.