Getting Optimum Open Rates on Email Invites

Let’s face it — we all get a lot of email!

With over 4 billion users daily, the email market is expected to increase to 5.6 billion users by 2027. Email isn’t going anywhere.

Whether it be a friend, a family member checking in, “marketing” emails, bill reminders, receipts, you name it — you get it!

However, emails are often being ignored or ‘not read’ — and this has become more commonplace. But, let’s say you worked in an industry where you require your audience see and respond to your emails (or invitations). How do you make it stand out? How do you ensure that it gets opened (and read)?

One of the biggest marketing questions planners face is when to send your event invites. Sending them at the wrong time could be costly, and there’s a risk they’ll get lost in an inbox somewhere. If you send too many, you run the risk of getting sent to spam.

When to plan your event

Gatsby believes planning your event in advance is very important. Gatsby equips you with all the tools to make that happen — and then some!

What does Gatsby recommend for sending an initial invite?

Gatsby recommends sending your initial invite 2 to 3 months in advance. This gives you enough time to properly plan your guest list and get optimal attendance. Note that this timeline may vary depending on the type of event you host.

With Gatsby’s newly created Campaign system, sending your emails has never been easier. Messages can be created in basic or marketing mode and are customizable, personable, with mail merge, design, scheduling and more built right in.

Gatsby Campaigns is proven to get you high response and open rates with less work.

Gatsby also has that personal touch email, which has also been proven to increase open rates. People want and crave that personal touch.

Research from Pinpointe marketing found that by using a specific personal name, rather than a general email address or company name, can increase open rates by as much as 35%!

Have you ever wanted to send an event invitation on behalf of your team or executive? With Gatsby, you can.

Gatsby also connects with Gmail and Outlook email accounts. Senders report open rates are highest when messages come from familiar accounts.

Additional things to consider

Event size: Big festivals and conferences announce dates much earlier in advance, especially for recurring annual events. This makes sense if an event will sell out or if guests need to make plans way in advance to get there. But for smaller events or people who host an event every week, if you send your first email too soon, you can risk recipients forgetting about it.

Date of Event: If your event is happening at a busy time of year (like a holiday weekend), send it earlier than usual to get a jump on the competition.

When and How?

There’s a fine line between your audience’s awareness and pestering them with too many emails.

Don’t assume that “more is better.”

What does Gatsby recommend?

Gatsby recommends sending 4–5 emails prior to their event. During the month leading up to your event, we suggest sending one email a week. Gatsby helps you along the way by saving drafts and allowing you to ‘reuse’ sent emails very easily.

No matter how far in advance you send your first email, the busy period for your campaign will most likely be closer to the event itself.

Day and Hour

Based on user feedback, Tuesday is the best day to send emails, followed by Thursday, and Wednesday. For optimal opening, user feedbacks suggests scheduling the send between 9 am and 1 pm works best.

What are you waiting for? Reach your audience now with less work — with Gatsby!