How to create effective pre and post-show event emails

One of the biggest mistakes an event marketer can make is overlooking customer touchpoints before and after an event. It’s easy to focus your marketing strategy on pushing ticket sales and growing your list through contests and giveaways, but what happens after your fans attend a show? Do they fall off your radar until you’re ready to promote the next big event?

Pre-show emails build excitement for your upcoming event while providing important details to give fans peace of mind. Paired with a post-show ‘thank you’ - these small interactions can play a big part in giving your fans a positive experience with your brand. Which means they are more likely to become repeat customers and encourage others to join them.

Here are a few easy ways you can build effective pre and post show emails.

Keep it simple

The best way to approach pre and post show emails is to keep it simple.

Pre-show emails should address the questions fans might have before attending your event. What is the best time to arrive at the venue? Is parking available? Where do I find my ticket the day of? Outlining relevant information within a clean email design will give your attendees peace of mind as they build excitement for your event.

Quick Tip: We’ve seen Hive users include helpful reminders in their pre-show emails such as wearing comfortable shoes and bringing sunblock to an outdoor event. These simple suggestions can help guests feel prepared for the big day.

‍

‍

Post-show emails focus on thanking your guests for attending the event - keep it simple and straightforward. We recommend focusing on one goal you want from this follow-up interaction. Maybe it’s collecting feedback through a survey, sharing event photos from your Facebook page, or offering a discount on their next ticket purchase. As fans are more likely in a state of “post show glow”, use this opportunity for higher engagement and conversion rates.

Make fans feel appreciated

Saying ‘thanks for attending’ is nice, but you know what’s even better? The chance to win free tickets. Your fans are most engaged 24 hours after attending an event, so use this time wisely. Sharing an exclusive offer such as the chance to win backstage access or a discount code for an upcoming show will make them feel appreciated. These types of rewards after attending can also help encourage a sense of exclusivity and VIP status from being a part of your community.  

Quick Tip: If you are building your SMS contact list, introduce a ‘text to enter’ campaign within your post-show emails. This is the perfect opportunity for data capture as your audience’s attention is heightened and they are more engaged.

‍

‍‍

Work smarter with automations

Some of the biggest benefits of marketing automation are saving time, higher revenue, and customer retention. Industry insights show 77% of marketers that have implemented automations in their strategy have seen their conversion numbers increase. Although automations require a little bit of pre-planning, they are totally worth it in the long run.

When it comes to pre and post show outreach, scrambling to send ‘thanks for attending’ emails for multiple shows is only adding stress to your already busy workload. Setting up email automations to trigger after a ticket purchase will make sure these touchpoints are never missed.

Quick Tip: Try setting up a generic automation for your venue that will send a food menu or merch link a few days before the event, and a discount offer for an upcoming show 1 day after.

‍‍

‍

Wrap up

If your marketing team has already implemented pre and post show emails, it’s always a good idea to revisit the design and copy to optimize this interaction. Ready to implement pre/post show emails for your fans? Remember to keep your message simple, follow up with appreciation and use automations to keep these emails on schedule.

With Hive, you can connect your ticketing system and trigger pre/post email templates with our automation feature. Once a contact has completed any ticket order or a ticket order for a specific event, they will be added to an automation - no added stress or manual work for your team. Schedule a demo to see this feature in action.