Reminders are important tools for an event organizer, perhaps even more so than the invitation itself! This is why it is essential not to miss this step, which can have a real influence on your event’s participation rate. At Eventdrive, we've identified the different types of reminders and have gathered up great tips on how to avoid horrible no-show rates. Are you ready to become a virtual event email reminder master? Let's get started!

What different types of reminders are available?

Invitation Follow-Up 

Sending out invitations to your next event is a good thing, but you shouldn’t rest on your laurels. Some of your guests will probably accept your invitation from the get go, but the vast majority will overlook your message, either because they are not interested or simply because they forgot.

That's why you need to remind your guests to increase the number of registrations. By doing so, you may be able to remove any doubts they had (perhaps they were hesitating to come and you’ll end up changing their mind) and allow them to complete their registration. The follow-up email also allows you to find out if your guests are still interested and if not, they can kindly decline your invitation.

Thus, you’ll increase your registration rate by following up with your guests who simply forgot to register to your virtual event when they received your invitation and remove those who are uninterested from your guest list to keep it nice and tidy.

Teasers

Don't think that everything is set once your participants have registered for your event. It is essential to marketing emails the days leading up to the event. You can show them that they made the right choice to register and make them want to participate even more by sending them:

• Teasers that highlight unique content to be discussed at your event
• Interesting information about a speaker
• Newly added sessions to your agenda.

Email reminders about an important topic that’ll be covered at your event or reminders that showcase an important speaker motivate participants to attend your event.

Countdown Till The Big Day

In addition to teasers highlighting star content, you can send a series of reminders leading up to the big day. This kind of email should be short and straight to the point: “Event ABC is in X days” all while showcasing something that’ll give participants a reason to attend your event.

Yes, the countdown emails are particularly effective as they remind your participants who may have forgotten about your upcoming event. By doing so, you will have a positive impact on your participation rate on the big day.

At Eventdrive, we know how important this kind of reminder is, that's why we advise you to send at least 4. 

The first reminder should be sent 1 week before your event. This is to remind your guests about your event that will occur the following week and allow them to verify that your event is indeed in their agenda. The second reminder should be sent the day before, ensuring they are ready to attend your event and building up excitement. 

Finally, the last two reminders should be sent just before the event. For example, you can send one 1 hour before the start of your event, which will allow them to wrap up whatever they are working on and make sure they are on time. Following this one-hour email reminder, you could send one 5 minutes before the start of your event and/or a session your participant is signed up for. 

Bonus! You can reinforce these reminders with mobile push notifications and with Text Messages. Beware, the goal is not to spam your participants so push notifications should be used sparingly, but are very effective for workshops or important plenary sessions.

When using the Eventdrive platform, you can easily automate follow-up emails and reminders as well as send your guests notifications.

4 points to respect for a good invitation reminder

1. Go Straight to the Point

As has been said, it is important that the invitation is concise and to the point. 

Your email reminders shouldn’t be too long, both the email content  and subject line. Use a friendly greeting and an effective catchphrase. Insert a CTA to convert those who are still undecided and that's it!

2. Be Original to Arouse Curiosity

It is important not to focus on your company, but on what your guests will experience at your event. Your recipient must feel that they are going to be part of something unique and that they will have a real experience by attending your event, even if it takes place online.

To achieve this, you can insert short extracts of key star content that will be discussed at your event such as a part of one of your speaker’s presentations. And why not a short video that shows what’s happening behind the scenes while preparing your event.

3. Personalize to Optimize Your Participation Rate 

Personalizing your email reminders is indispensable! You can of course use a tool to automatically insert your guest’s name in your email, and believe us, it can make all the difference!

You can also segment your mailing list into those who have already attended the previous edition from those who will be participating for the first time and referring to this in your email copy.

4. Time is everything

As you’ve understood, a single reminder isn’t enough. Remember to prepare several reminders, but be careful not to spam your guests by sending them all at once!

To avoid mistakes, you can use a marketing automation tool that simplifies your emails at regular intervals. With Eventdrive, this feature is integrated into the platform and can be combined with push notifications for an even better event communication.

You've understood that you need to take the time to prepare your reminders. They must be aligned with your target audience to allow you to meet your event objectives. By following our advice, you should have no problem writing the perfect email reminder and, above all, sending it at the right time to maximize your participation rate!