In order to make your email marketing campaigns more effective, you need to pay attention to two key metrics – the open rate and click-through rate. On an average, event invitation mailers tend to have:

• 21.21% of recipients opening the emails
• 2.33% of recipients clicking links in the email

Given the low conversion rate,  a well-designed and well-written email invitation is worth the effort. For your event invitation mailers to actually get opened, consider the following points:

1. Use clever subject lines

To have an event invitation email opened in an inbox, you need to use clever copywriting. Include words such as ‘You’re Invited’ in the subject line. It’s clear, simple, direct, and intriguing.

Also, don’t forget to personalize the invites. According to an email marketing study by Avasam, personalized emails stand out better and have an average open rate of 82%. 

2. Use banners

Pictures drive conversion and what better way to incorporate images in your email than by using banners? Banners add a professional look to the email and help to communicate more with less while enhancing the authenticity of the event. You can even incorporate it as your email signature.

3. Call-to-Action

When you are trying to persuade someone to register for the event, make sure to strategically place and highlight CTA (Call-to-Action) buttons in the mailers. Don’t forget to include at least one, and a prominent CTA button. Hyperlink the CTA(s) to the right landing or registration page that has a provision to purchase tickets.

4. Segment your audience

Addressing your target audience in a way that is relevant to them is always better than sending one-size-fits-all mailers. Therefore, before scheduling event invitation campaigns, it’s a good practice to perform demographic profiling and then segregating your audience according to their location and interest.

5. Design and content

Appropriate email templates and content are the primary attributes in the email. It lays the foundation for the email campaign and will help decide whether the email will be opened or sent to a spam folder. Also, take note of the opening lines. Make the most important details stand out. Highlight the time, location, cost, and other key details such as parking and transportation.

6. Email signature

Email signature must be added at the end of the email with all contact information of the host or the relevant person from the organization. You can even add an image and link it to your event landing page. This makes it easy for the attendees to not only navigate but also find the appropriate contact details.

7. Don’t forget to test

Before clicking on the ‘send’ button, don’t forget to test the look and feel of your email on different browsers and devices. You can perform the testing manually or leverage open source testing software. Once verified, you are all ready to get going with your email invitations!

The post Email Marketing – How to Drive Conversions for your Event? appeared first on Yapsody.

The two best things about Facebook adverts are that they’re targeted and they’re cheap, and you only need a Facebook Business Page to be able to use them. Their primary motive is to drive traffic to a specific landing page, and your ads will only appear in the news feeds of people who belong to your target audience. This is decided by their profile movements and demographics.

KNOW THY CUSTOMERS

This one gives me a déjà vu because I’ve already used the same subheading in another blog post, but it’s just so apt that I couldn’t control myself.

Facebook is a platform where people demonstrate their inclination towards a wide range of interests – favorite colors, shows, actresses, destinations and so on. All of this serves as data for you to formulate your marketing strategy to cater to your customers. One of the best ways to track down people who might be interested in your brand is by tapping on the followers of your competitors. For event presenters like yourself, you might want to catch hold of people who are interested in the kind of events or concerts you organize. If you’re hosting a fundraiser for a certain cause, you might want to place your ad in the feeds of those who are actively supporting the cause or have previously attended a similar fundraiser.

KNOW THY CUSTOMERS TOO WELL

Now there’s a subheading that’s not been repeated!

While Facebook adverts are cheap, having a very broad audience is definitely going to be expensive, even for Facebook ads. Try to be more precise with the factors that you use to filter out your target audience. Maybe these filters will not work the first time, so keep experimenting as you track your traffic. After a few tries, you’ll have a clearer idea of who your audience actually comprises of.

KNOW THY CTA

Am I overdoing the subheadings? Well, you’re still reading, so probably not.

Your Call-To-Action is the make or break point of your advertisement, so make sure you frame it wisely. If you want your ad to be noticed amongst a stream of Harry Potter posts and cute puppy videos, you have to make sure it’s tempting enough to be clicked on. Try publicizing a specific offer, like an end of season sale or a giveaway, because they usually catch attention.

PICTURES SPEAK

Your Facebook ads are going to be little square boxes with minimum number of words (20%, to be precise). So, if you want them to stand out, you’ve to make sure the imagery you use is catchy. Be bold with the colors and use pictures of people, because this provides a certain level of human intimacy. Also remember that you don’t have to be gaudy to be catchy.

ADVERTEST BEFORE YOU ADVERTISE

Before investing a huge amount in Facebook ads, allot a small test budget for a particular target audience and run your advert for around a week, use Ad Manager to track its performance and keep changing your strategy accordingly. Under Audience and Placement, you’ll get an insight into the age groups who clicked on your ads the most number of times, and also whether the clicks were on a mobile device or a desktop.

In Conclusion, Facebook provides a highly targeted platform for advertising. You practically get to customize all aspects of your ad campaign – how long will your ad run, how many people can view it, how much can you pay for it – and analyzing the results is even simpler. If you’re smart with the budget you invest, you can exploit all benefits that Facebook adverts have to offer.

The post A Crash Course On Facebook Advertisements appeared first on Yapsody.

Segment Your Audience

Marketing 101 – Everybody is different. It’s easy to find people with similar preferences, but never exactly the same. So, sending the same email to everyone is definitely not going to work. Segment your potential audience depending on their interests and then send customized newsletters.

Personalize Your Templates 

With smart email inboxes that filter out spam getting through can be a task. Your mails fall prey to Select All -> Move to Trash. If you don’t want your emailers to end up in spam, personalize your emails. Include names of people who the newsletter is addressed to instead of shooting mass emails to your entire database. Unless your emails are engaging on a personal level, it will be ignored.

Call-To-Action

You’ve segmented your target audience perfectly, you’ve crafted personalized emails with amazing content. Now what? Now, you unleash the power of the Call-To-Action (CTA). You’ve led them on a path and now must give them a clear direction to their destination. If your emails have a CTA that redirects your readers to the registration page or a survey, they are will respond because they’re already in the flow. Make sure you use active verbs like “Register Now!” or “Take the Survey!” on your CTA buttons to create impact.

Mobile Optimization

80% of your target audience is going to view your email on a mobile device: either a smartphone or a tablet. If your email template is not optimized for mobile devices, your chances of getting a response from your email viewers will narrow down to an extremely thin line. So, ensure that your email gets displayed flawlessly on all kinds of digital platforms by adopting a responsive design.

Automate Campaigns

Email marketing campaigns don’t display instant results, so make sure you have a backup of automated emails that ensures constant engagement with your audience. Birthdays, follow-ups, blog updates – they could be anything. Make sure your entire email marketing campaign revolves around your automated schedule so that nothing goes south. Create relevant content, sit back and relax while all your emails get delivered during hours that are most responsive.

So, you see, the efficiency of email marketing hasn’t been compromised due to newer strategies. It still remains just as effective, only a few simple measures that make it all work out in your favor.

If you’re a presenter or an event marketer looking to automate your email marketing strategy, Yapsody’s ticketing platform offers MailChimp Integration to simplify your efforts through email marketing examples.

The post Smart Tips for Effective Email Marketing appeared first on Yapsody.

1. Create website content that can make conversions happen

Since your website is where people will land before they buy event tickets or think of buying, you’ve to make sure it not only prevents them from changing their minds, but also eggs them on. In order to optimize your website content so that it generates maximum ticket sales, follow these simple rules:

• Begin with your conclusion
• Use headings, subheadings, bullets, and numbers
• Keep things short and sweet. Avoid long sentences and paragraphs
• Incorporate overviews and summaries
• Highlight vital details
• Be considerate towards privacy and copyrights

Your website defines your credibility, so including your speakers, feedbacks from your past attendees, press mentions, photos from the previous events etc. can be a great idea. Also, keep updating your website and make sure no outdated information is lying around. Embedding Facebook or Twitter feeds and having an active blog also keeps customers in the loop. Avoid advertisements or banners on your website that may distract and annoy your visitors.

2. Design your pricing and promotional offers creatively

Because only pretty websites and newsletters can’t do the trick. Divide your tickets into at least three categories – Early Bird, Standard, and VIP. You can decide the price range by evaluating the average price of your tickets. If the average price of your ticket is $40, you can offer Early Bird category at $20-$30, the standard ones at $50-$60 and the VIP at $70-$80. Categories that convey urgency and are time/quantity restricted always work. If you have special discounts and offers, promote them widely. These can include ‘Buy 2, Get 1 Free!’, couple and group discounts, and referral coupons. With Yapsody, you can even have Access Codes, which are special codes that aren’t available to everyone and come along with special features such as a free dinner or an after-party. Never offer a lower price for the tickets than you’ve done before. This may cost you your attendees, and a great deal of reputation.

3. Your Call-To-Action (CTA) is your Superhero

Do not underestimate the power of that tiny button with two little words, because it has the potential to make, or break, a sale. To make sure you are using your CTA effectively, incorporate these factors in it:

• Offer benefits to your buyers. As covered in the previous section, this can be done by offering early bird discounts, group discounts, and referral coupons.
• Create a feeling of urgency by putting a time or quantity restriction. Make your audience feel as if they’d be missing out on something huge if they don’t register immediately.
• If you offer a money back guarantee or full refund, your attendees are more likely to register right away because of the reduced risks.
• Use imperative verbs for your call to action, like “GET YOUR TICKETS!” or “BUY NOW!”

4. Develop a lovable registration process

A lot of people, on seeing your website/newsletter/advertisements are going to think of buying event tickets online. But, if you have a gloomy, boring, lengthy registration process, they might drop it mid-way. Here are a few tips on how to make the process optimized for your attendees:

• Keep it short and simple. If there are ambiguous fields, add necessary descriptions.
• Information that isn’t needed shouldn’t be asked for.
• Although asking them to create an account may not necessarily lengthen the procedure by many fields, users tend to go ‘meh!’ when they are asked to do so.
• Know and use the currency, payment methods, and language that are local to your target audience. This is known to have boosted ticket sales by 300%.
• Conserve your brand identity by keeping the registration native to your own website instead of redirecting users to a third-party site or service.

5. Make your registration all-device-friendly

In an era where people browse the internet on their watches, building websites that aren’t compatible with mobile phones and tablets will work against you. While personal computers and laptops are usually used for browsing stuff that’s informative or entertaining, people resort to their mobile devices when they actually have an action to perform and a purpose to fulfill. If your CTA button or registration form is not mobile-friendly, users might get annoyed and give up, losing you a good 70% of your potential attendees.

In Conclusion, just take care of two basic factors – your website and your event’s registration form. All the above 5 steps revolve around these two, and in order to make a great impression, these are the boxes you should be tidying up.

The post 5 Little Tips to Increase Ticket Sales appeared first on Yapsody.

Sugar? Yes, Please!

Sweet talking still works, always a classic, that one. Let them know they’re special, show them how much they mean to you, and they’re already in the bag. And what better way to express your gratitude than by giving discounts and freebies? Make sure your call-to-action is luring them into availing early bird discounts or claiming any privilege that is only offered to club members or those with a customer card. This will make things easier for you to work with caterers and hotel blocks with cut-off dates.

Nothing’s Happening if it’s not ASAP-pening.

That’s right. Humans are like rockets – they don’t work unless you set them on fire. We usually save everything for later, even cardiac arrests, for that matter. “Meh, it’s just my heart fooling around. I’ll go see a doc later!” A call-to-action creates a sense of urgency, if you use powerful words to convey that there aren’t a lot of registrations left, or your special discount offer expires in two days, or there won’t be free food for those who register after a certain date (believe me, this is going to work like magic, or even better than magic would).

A Good Designer never reveals his Source, a Good Marketer needs to.

You’re going to market the event to sell your event tickets on several social media channels, and there will be call-to-action links redirecting to your website, landing page, or registration page. A little code can help you find out which source is landing the maximum hits, and this way, you can accelerate promotions on that particular website or application. At the same time, you can stop putting in efforts with channels that aren’t meeting your standards. Hitler was a villain and everything, but he did teach us some basic principles of survival of the fittest. That’s one thing to R.I.P with, Adolf!

Always remember, every action you carry out can be scaled to fit larger needs. Your call-to-action isn’t just a button or link; it can do lots more if used significantly. And if you can’t twist and extract the last drop of juice from a dried lemon, make lemonade and sell it for 20 bucks, what kind of presenter are you, anyway?

The post Why You Should Have Call-To-Action For Event Promotion appeared first on Yapsody.