Marketing your event by email is still an important way to get information to your members and other potential association event delegates. However, given that we receive so many emails every day, how can you make yours stand out from the crowd?
Mobile Compatibility
Mobile devices are becoming more and more ubiquitous and I’m sure in the past few years we’ve all had the experience of trying to access either an email or a webpage that isn’t mobile friendly. The experience is frustrating to say the least, so making sure your emails are compatible is going to become increasingly important in the future.
Some email marketing software such as Campaign Monitor or MailChimp will even allow you to track exactly how many of your delegates are opening your emails on mobile devices. In 2014, roughly half of all email were opened on mobile devices. Which means if your email isn’t mobile compatible then your information may not be be reaching as many as half of your delegates.
Using Graphics
In previous years using large graphics and lots of colour was one way to attract attention to your emails. However not only does this slow down loading speeds on mobile devices but many desktop email clients, such as Outlook, automatically block pictures and so your delegate receives an email with broken images.
It’s important to make sure that your email is attention grabbing even without the images. Make sure there are descriptions of your events and speakers to raise interest, link to your association’s website where people can more easily see the images and logos, and make sure there is plenty of white space so that there’s no information overload.
Donotreply? That’s a Funny Name
If you’re sending information about an event to delegates, don’t make them click through multiple pages and links just to ask you a question. Where possible, have your emails come from a real person in your association or at the very least a generic email that is checked regularly. No one wants to feel as if they’re being ignored and you don’t want to miss out on what your delegates are saying.
Personalisation and Relevance
With email marketing software such as Campaign Monitor or MailChimp it’s now easier than ever to send personalised emails to your delegates. Emails with personalized subject lines are 26% more likely to be opened and all it takes is a little effort on your part to import information.
74% of people get frustrated with websites when content, offers, ads, promotions, etc. appear that have nothing to do with their interests. So, it’s more important than ever to make sure the content you provide to your delegates is relevant. If your delegate attended the full conference for the past 5 years, send them the information about the full conference registration, if last year was their first year, thank them for attending and ask them for their impression of the event as a first-time attendee. Segmenting your campaign into something more personal for each delegate type can increase response rates and revenue by up to 760%.
What do I do?
When your delegate opens your email, it should be obvious within a few seconds what action your recipient needs to take.
Click Here to Register Now
If it’s a save-the-date message, include a calendar reminder. If it’s to let them know registration is open, make sure the “register now” button is front and centre in the email.
Keep it Short and Sweet
While you want to make sure your delegates get relevant information, it’s important not to cover your email in word vomit.
Keep the information short, sweet and relevant to your delegate but make sure to include a link to read or learn more on your association website. This means your delegates don’t have to scroll through large volumes of text to find the information that’s relevant to them or even worse, seeing nothing of interest to them at first glance, and then deleting your email.
Friendly but not Informal
Tone can be very hard to convey by text, but trying to keep your messages positive is important to your delegates’ impression of you and your event.
If there’s something you want your delegates to get excited about, throw in an exclamation mark or even an interrobang (‽). However, you want to steer clear from overusing punctuation otherwise your message will come across more like a text from a friend rather than an important message for your delegates!!! 😊
So, if you just keep your messages concise, friendly, personalised, and mobile friendly, you’ll find a much greater return on your association’s mass email campaigns.
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