How to Write Effective Reminder Email for an Event
Now that customers are used to receiving tons of promotions, only sincere concern and appreciation may attract their attention to an email marketing campaign. And event reminder emails are a good way to do it.
Once people have already purchased your products, be it a ticket to a conference or a video tutorial, you may think that your mission is done here. But humans, being extremely busy, tend to forget about any kind of events. And we need to politely remind them to show up for a concert or a webinar. By doing this, we actually show our respect and concern. This way, we also keep in touch and build stronger relations with our customers.
We all know that trustworthy relations with the subscribers indirectly boost your business.
How to write a good reminder for an event?
Depends on the situation. There are many kinds of reminder emails but in this article, we will talk about two of them:
Online and Offline Events.
An event reminder message is preceded by an invitation newsletter and is followed by a “follow-up” message.
Consequently, the proper order for the event marketing emails is:
➢ Invitation
➢ Reminder
➢ Follow-up.
Online events
The most popular online events are a webinar, and live streams.
Create sequences of reminder emails to make them effective. There should be at least 5 for webinars.
Message 1 Introductory Information
The first friendly reminder email should be sent two weeks before the appointment.
Let’s take a look at the example:
This event reminder email sample is called a good one because it contains almost all the necessary information we should mention when creating an event reminder letter:
1. Company Name
2. Webinar Title
3. Date
4. Hosts
5. Benefits attendees receive
Let us provide you with more specific information regarding a proper event reminder email.
Subject Line
All messages start with the subject line. To increase the open rate, some sites suggest that you use a catchy name or something really provocative. Personally, I would not feel urged to read a message with such line. When I know I am signed up for a webinar, a perfect line would be “Webinar_Name…” or “Reminder_Name”. Nothing else.
Adding Date
When is it reasonable to mention dates? Always…
Exception: if an online meeting is scheduled for today, then it should say “Today at…” or “Today in 2 hours”. But in other cases, mention full date including the time zone.
A perfect variant is “Monday, June 21st, at 6 PM PST”.
Note! All essential info on the first invitation reminder in a sequence is supposed to be placed on a banner.
Calendars
You can either create an event in Google or iCalendar and add your subscribers to it, or ask them to create one on their own. But it is essentially important to put a note on a calendar.
Note! Both Google Calendar and iCalendar are equally applicable for most of the desktop and mobile devices.
Countdown Timers
Add countdown timers to inform about the remaining time. Right now you can create one with MotionMail or NiftyImages, adjust it to recipient’s time zone. For all modern countdown timers, you may apply a transparent background to make them fit the newsletter’s colors.
Very soon you will be able to add timers with Stripo right within the Editor.
CTA buttons
Speaking of the buttons, I want to mention that currently in an invitation newsletter it is preferable to use the following CTA words:
➢ Reserve my spot
➢ Get my seat
➢ Save my seat
➢ Grab your spot
➢ Sign Up to Attend
But now we send reminders to those who are already registered with us. Consequently, we may add a “share with your friend” button.
Benefits people get by attending the webinar
People read books, newspapers, blogs and visit webinars because they want to learn something new. Thus, it is appropriate to mention once again what they are going to achieve by attending the webinar or an online meeting.
It is at your discretion whether to place it on a bright banner or add as a plain text.
Introduce the Speakers of the Webinar
Don’t forget to mention the speakers who will host the meeting. First of all, it would be polite. Secondly, this is a good opportunity to capture subscribers’ interest. Mention the hosts’ names, some achievements, and links to the website for more detailed information about them.
Message 2 Questions to Discuss with Attendees
Send this reminder a week prior to the webinar.
The second message should contain all the previous information, including the next point:
Get people involved in Preparation
Involve the subscribers in the preparation for the webinar. Either ask them to answer the questionnaire on the webinar topic, of course, if you plan to thoroughly work with the results and discuss them during the session, or ask them to read some articles on the given topic. Mention, that all the questions that will arise after reading, will be discussed at the webinar.
Also, a good thing to do is to ask people which specific subjects to survey more closely.
Btw, this is also a good way to warm the subscribers’ interest.
Message 3 and 4 Remind and Schedule
The third and the fourth messages are quite alike. Here the main goal is not to warm the interest but to simply keep the audience. No banners here, no images, just a plain text with the title date.
The third message of the sequence should be sent the last Sunday prior to the meeting/webinar. People schedule their plans for the following week. So, it will be really kind of you to politely remind them about the meeting. Before they appointed a business meeting for this time.
The fourth message should be sent on the webinar day, early morning.
It should be simple, include the link to the webinar and if you please say a few words why the webinar is worth visiting.
No banners again, just a plain text.
Note! Send a Viber/WhatsApp/Messenger message notifying your subscribers that you have sent an email with detailed information.
Message 5 Last Reminder
Send the last message of a sequence 15 minutes before the start. You will urge and give them time to finish their errands. Add the link to the meeting.
Even for the last message, the subject line should say “Reminder” or “Webinar”. E.g., “[Webinar_Name] Starts in 5 minutes.
Also, it will be a good idea to send a web-push message with the link.
We do it with eSputnik.
Follow-up message
Even if you have done everything properly, some of the people who signed up for the webinar will not be able to attend it. It will be really kind of you to offer them a recording.
Maybe even those who visited it would like to watch it again to refresh some moments in their memories.
Ask people for feedback. Always useful to know their opinion about the meeting.
And to those who found time to answer the questions, you may send a message with another offer.
Offline Events
By an offline event, we mean a live concert, exhibition or a seminar, etc. A vast majority of offline events are the conferences.
How many reminders should you send here?
We recommend just two…
Message 1 Complete Information and Instructions
The first reminder email goes with general information. Make sure you send it a week or even a few weeks before the event.
Most important information, like date and time, should be displayed on a big bright banner.
But here people need even more of your concern and help.
Here is the list of information you should also include to the message:
Map
If the event will take place in the subscribers’ own town, then they will need just a map how to get there.
But what if people need to travel across the country or across the world?
Your help will be highly required with: with a hotel, transfer, sights, which airport better to use in order to get to the hotel faster, and some local events.
Prepare people for some unusual local traditions to get acquainted with the region. Like, in Greece they say “Ne”, which actually means “yes”.
Plan
Add a meeting plan to the message. Mention when the conference starts, when it is over, whether there will be a lunch break. Will the attendees be provided with food and drinks? If no, where can they find a cafe nearby?
Look at the proper example below.
Dress-Code
Let people know the format of the meeting. What clothes appropriate to wear: shorts or a smoking and a tie. In the conference reminder email, notify if the laptops and notebooks are provided for work during the meeting. Or ask people to bring in their ones.
Send out all this information at least a week before the meeting.
Instruction
Inform people what they should do first upon arriving. Whom they may contact with in case of emergency.
Message 2 Contact Information and Directions
This is going to be the last reminder letter for an event you send before the in-person meeting.
Send it a day before the meeting, if the attendees are your compatriots. If this is an international event, send this reminder 3 days before the meeting.
An offline event reminder should include: the day, the title, QR/individual code for all the participants, a map with directions, your cell phone number, not a social net link, and a confirmation button. Place all this info on a thematic banner.
Note! Send an SMS, as well, with brief information, in case the participants are on their way and do not have the internet connection.
Seems like this is it.
Summary
➢ Send reminders to show your concern
➢ You do a big favor to the attendees by reminding about the meeting|
➢ Additional info in a message, like sights and transfer, will endear you and your company to the visitors
➢Some of the messages should be bright and colorful but with simple design
Stripo Template Builder offers a big number of various ready to use templates. You are welcome to customize and use them. Try out our event reminder email template.
If you have any questions, please feel free to contact our tech support or Join us on Facebook.
I sincerely wish you best of luck in all your future endeavors!
