How to Write an Effective Event Reminder Email

Once people have purchased your products, be it a ticket to a conference or a video tutorial, you may think that your mission is done here. But people tend to forget about any kind of event due to being extremely busy. And we need to remind them to attend a concert or a webinar politely so they won't regret missing out. We show our respect and concern by sending reminder messages about an upcoming event. In this simple way, we also build stronger relations with our customers.

How to write an effective event reminder message?

We must remember that an event reminder email never goes alone — you must create a series of them to make this campaign effective.

An event invitation precedes a reminder newsletter, and a "follow-up" email comes next.

• invitation;

• reminder/series of reminder emails;

• follow-up.

The content of a reminder email for an event depends on the type of event per se. There are two major types of them: Online and Offline. Let's survey them both. 

Online events

The most popular online events are webinars, live streams, and online course platforms.

They all need proper registrations and reminders. There should be at least four reminder emails in a sequence.

Email 1. Confirmation of registration

This is your first email to your attendees right after their event registration. Here, you just need to confirm that a person's "seat" is reserved.

You need to remind them about the name of the event (preferable duplicate it in the subject line and the message itself) and the venue details.

(Source: Email from Litmus)

This is a triggered email that should be sent right after registration. Do not make people wait for it for hours.

Email 2-4. Send event reminder emails themselves

The key to the effectiveness of a reminder email campaign lies in precise sending time - the first email should be sent a few days after the registration/two weeks before the date, so event participants won't forget to pre-plan their time correctly.

(Source: Email from OptinMonster)

We can say this event reminder email sample is a good one because it contains almost all the necessary information we should mention when creating an event reminder email:

• company name;

• webinar topic;

• date of the event;

• panelists;

• the benefits people get from attending your event.

Key elements to include in your event reminder email

Write a clear subject line

Make it pretty clear and concise. Perfect examples of email subject lines are "Webinar_Name…" or "Reminder_Name." Nothing else.

(Source: Gmail)

Mention the date

When is it reasonable to mention dates? Always…

Exception: If an online meeting is scheduled for today, it should say "Today at…" or "Today in 2 hours". But in other cases, mention the full date, including the time zone.

A perfect subject line is "Monday, June 21st, at 6 PM PST [Event title]".

Note! All essential info on the first invitation reminder in a sequence is supposed to be placed on a banner.

Add Calendars to event reminder email Campaign

You can either create an event in Google or iCalendar for your event reminder messages and add your subscribers to it or ask them to create one on their own. But it is utterly essential to put a note on a calendar.

(Source: Email from Stripo)

Use Countdown Timers

Add countdown timers to inform about the remaining time. Attendees need to know when the event begins.

(Source: Email from Email on Acid)

Please watch our video below for more information on how to use timers in emails.

The "Share with your friends" option

Don't neglect a chance to spread the word about your event/company. We may add a "share with your friend" or "invite your friends" button. And if we do, we will make it easier for your attendees to invite their friends to your webinar. Who knows, they may become an essential part of your prospective audience.

Benefits attendees get 

People read books, newspapers, and blogs and visit webinars because they want to learn something new. Thus, it is appropriate to mention again what they will achieve by attending the webinar or an online meeting.

It is at your discretion to place it on an engaging banner or add plain text in your event reminder message.

(Source: Email from Similarweb)

Names and photos of speakers

Don't forget to mention the panelists. First of all, it would be polite. Secondly, this is an excellent opportunity to grab subscribers' interest. Mention the speakers' names, some achievements, and links to the website for more detailed information on their projects.

(Source: Email from Techopedia)

Location

Always mention where the webinar/online meeting is about to take place. 

It is crucial to add a link to the online event. Otherwise, how the event attendees will participate in it?

(Source: Email from Stripo) 

Questions for further discussion

Involve attendees in preparation for the webinar. Either ask them to answer the questionnaire on the webinar topic 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 questions arising after reading will be addressed in the webinar.

Also, a good thing to do is to ask people which specific subjects they'd love to investigate more closely.

Btw, this is also an excellent way to warm the prospective attendees' interest.

(Source: Email from Litmus)

Option to get a recording

There always will be some people who would love to attend your online event but can't make it on time. Let them know you will provide them with a recording once you have it.

(Source: Email from Techopedia)

Maybe even those who visited it would like to watch it again to refresh some moments and improve their learnings.

Email 6-7. Last reminder emails

Send the second to last email a day before the online event to remind attendees they need to plan their day with your webinar in mind.

(Source: Email from Toucan Toco)

And the last sequence email is to be sent an hour before the start. You will urge and give attendees time to finish their errands. Add the relevant links to the meeting.

(Source: Email from Mailcon)

The subject line should say "Friendly Reminder" or "Webinar" with the event name even for the last message. E.g., "[Webinar_Name] Starts in 5 minutes".

Also, it will be a good idea to send web push and mobile push notifications with the link to the event.

Email 8. Recording of a webinar

As we said, sometimes, not all event attendees can make it to your webinar no matter how much they want to listen to it. Share a recording of the webinar as soon as you have it.

(Source: Email from Litmus) 

Email 9. Follow-up email message

Ask attendees for feedback. Knowing what they think about this webinar/online conference is always helpful.

(Source: Really Good Emails)

Did you know that you can embed questionnaires and open Forms in emails? These forms collect up to 5 times more feedback from your attendees.

For more information on types of Surveys and ways to add them to emails, please refer to the "Survey Invitation Emails" blog post.

Offline Events

An offline event means a live concert, exhibition, seminar, etc. A vast majority of offline events are conferences and shows.

How many reminders should you send here?

We recommend just three.

Email 1. Confirmation

Here, you need to send either a simple confirmation if this is a free event or add tickets if this is a paid event.

(Source: Email from Web Summit)

Email 2. Key details about the event and instructions

This reminder email goes with general information about the upcoming event. Make sure you send it a week or even a couple of weeks before the event.

(Source: Email from Web Summit)

Key details to include in your offline event reminder email

Here is the list of information you should also include in the message:

Map

If the event takes place in the subscribers' town, they will need a map of how to get there.

But what if people need to travel across the country or the world? Think thoroughly when preparing this email for an event.

Your help will be highly required: with a hotel, transfer, sights, information on which airport is better to get to the hotel faster, and some local events.

(Source: Stripo template)

Agenda of the event

Add a meeting agenda to the message. Mention when the conference starts, when it ends, and whether there will be a lunch break. Will the attendees be provided with food and drinks? If not, where can they find a cafe nearby?

(Source: Really Good Emails)

Dress-code

If this is an essential part of the event, don't forget to mention it in the reminder message to avoid misunderstandings. Let people know the format of the meeting. What clothes are appropriate to wear: Shorts or a tuxedo. 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.

Directions

Inform people what they should do first upon arriving and overall event rules, whom they may contact in case of emergency, covid and luggage restrictions, etc.

(Source: Email from Web Summit)

It seems like this is it.

This post contains several great, in our opinion, event reminder email examples. We hope they inspired you to build your emails for reaching out to your attendees after registering for an event you host.

Final thoughts

Stick to these simple recommendations, and you will drive as many attendees to your event as possible:

• send event reminder emails to show your concern;

• build a sequence of reminder emails to make your campaign effective;

• add additional info on sights, weather, and the transfer will endear you and your company to the visitors;

• always write a clear subject line and highlight the most critical data in your reminder emails.

I sincerely wish you the best of luck in all your future endeavors!