You’ve put a lot of time and energy into planning and hosting a successful event. Yet you missed one important element in event planning which is post-event follow-up. Post-event follow-up is a phase that can make or break your event’s impact and ROI.
Post-event follow-up is not only a way of showing appreciation to your attendees, it’s an opportunity to deepen your relationship with them, gather feedback, and generate leads.
In this blog post, we will show you how to create a post-event follow-up strategy that works for your event goals and objectives. With some tips and examples on how to write an effective post-event follow-up email that gets opened, read, and responded to.
Article Outline
What is a Post-Event Follow-up and Why is it Important?
Post-event follow-up is the process of communicating with your event attendees, partners, sponsors, and speakers after the event is over. Apart from being a courtesy, a post-event follow-up is a strategic move with tangible benefits.
A post-event follow-up is important for several reasons:
- Solidify connections
It shows that you care about your event community and value their opinions and experiences.
- Gather feedback
Post-event communication provides an opportunity to gather valuable feedback from attendees and stakeholders. Gathering feedback enables you to assess what worked well and what needs improvement for future events.
- Drive conversions
By continuing the conversation with attendees, you increase the likelihood of converting leads into potential customers or advocates. Additionally, attendees can also transform into volunteers for a charity, furthering its mission and cause.
- Strengthen your brand
It keeps your brand top-of-mind and creates opportunities for cross-selling, upselling, referrals, and repeat business, or if you are running a charity or supporter of your mission or cause.
Now that we understand the significance, let’s delve into crafting an effective post-event follow-up strategy
Post-Event Follow-Up Strategy
A post-event follow-up strategy is a plan that outlines the goals, methods, and timeline of your post-event communication.
Here are some steps to create an effective post-event follow-up strategy:
Identify goals and objectives
Before following up on your event, figure out what you want. Set clear goals and think about how you’ll know if your event was a hit. Consider the things you want to keep track of. Some common follow-up goals are:
- Getting feedback and testimonials from attendees, partners, sponsors, and speakers.
- Share the event’s highlights, key takeaways, and outcomes that happened at your event with both attendees and those who couldn’t make it.
- Give attendees extra value and resources, such as event recordings, slides, reports, or ebooks.
- Explore opportunities to upsell or cross-sell products or services to existing customers.
- Personally thank sponsors and volunteers of the event and keep them informed of your charity
- Lastly, use the post-event follow-ups to talk about what’s coming up next, like your future events, webinars, or courses. Keep the conversation going and stay connected with your audience.
Collect Contact Information
To stay in touch with your event participants, it’s important to have their contact details. Ideally, grab their email addresses, phone numbers, social media handles, or any other way they like to be reached during the event sign-up. Tools such as QR codes, NFC tags, or event apps can also help capture their contact information during the event.
However, not all attendees may provide their contact information willingly or accurately. Some may use fake or disposable email addresses, or opt out of receiving your messages. Therefore, you need a backup plan to reach out to them.
For example, you can use social media platforms like Facebook, Twitter(now X), Instagram, or LinkedIn to find and connect with your attendees.
Segment Your Audience
Your attendees have different backgrounds, interests, needs, expectations, and behaviors. As we all know, not all event participants are the same. Therefore, you need to segment your audience into different groups based on relevant criteria, such as:
- Attendance status: Did your audience register, attend, or not show?
- Engagement level: How active and involved were they during the event? As well as on breakout sessions, if there are any.
- Feedback score: How satisfied and happy were they with the event?
- Lead stage: How ready and interested are they to buy your products or services or to support your cause?
- Persona: What are their demographics, psychographics, and pain points?
Sorting your audience this way helps you tailor your follow-up messages to what they like and need. Plus, it makes focusing on the most valuable and most interested leads easier.
Develop a Timeline
Timing matters when it comes to post-event follow-up. You want to be prompt but not overwhelming. The goal is to reach participants while they’re still interested, not after they’ve moved on.
Typically, it’s a good idea to send your initial post-event follow-up email within 24 hours of the event. Within this timeframe, attendees are usually the most responsive. After that, you can send additional messages at regular intervals based on what you want to achieve.
For instance, you could send a feedback survey a few days later, a thank-you email after a week, provide extra value after two weeks, and a sales offer after a month.
However, there’s no one-size-fits-all approach. You might need to experiment to find the right timing for your audience and event.
Choose the Best Channels and Marketing Tools
Email stands out as the primary and effective channel for post-event follow-up due to its ease of use, cost-effectiveness, and trackability. Based on findings from the 2018 Endless Report Study, 40% of event marketers consider email marketing to be the most impactful channel for event promotion.
However, it’s not the sole option available for communicating with virtual events or hybrid events. You can leverage various channels and marketing tools, including:
- Social media: Platforms like Facebook, Twitter(now X), Instagram, or LinkedIn let you share event content and interact with attendees.
- SMS: Use text messages for quick updates or to gather feedback.
- Phone: Have direct conversations to nurture relationships, qualify leads, or close deals.
- Webinars: Offer detailed content or product demonstrations.
- Chatbots: Automate responses and guide attendees through the next steps in a personalized manner.
Choosing the best channel and marketing tool for your post-event follow-ups depends on your goals and objectives, audience and event type, and budget and resources. You can also use a combination of different channels and tools to optimize your post-event follow-up results.
Craft Thank-You Emails
Sending a thank-you email is a straightforward and impactful method to express appreciation to your event participants. It not only fosters rapport and trust with your audience but also establishes the tone for your upcoming communication.
A thank-you email should include the following elements:
- A catchy and personalized subject line that grabs attention and entices curiosity.
- A warm and sincere greeting that addresses the recipient by name.
- A heartfelt and genuine expression of gratitude that acknowledges their participation and contribution.
- Summary of the event highlights, key takeaways, and outcomes that reinforce the value and benefits of the event.
- A clear and compelling call to action inviting the recipient to take the next step, such as filling out a feedback survey, downloading a resource, joining a community, booking a demo of your product or services, or an opportunity to volunteer.
- A friendly and professional sign-off that includes your name, title, and contact information.
Effective Post-event Follow-up Email for your Next Event
Email stands out as a potent and flexible tool for post-event follow-up. It helps you to accomplish numerous goals like gathering feedback, sharing insights, delivering value, nurturing leads, and driving sales.
However, writing effective follow-up emails is more challenging than it sounds. You need to consider several aspects, including the subject lines, content, tone, design, and call to action. Avoiding pitfalls such as being overly generic, lengthy, or untimely is also essential.
Here are some tips and best practices on how to write effective event follow-up emails:
Email Subject Lines
The subject line is the first thing that your recipients will see when they receive your follow-up email. It should be catchy, relevant, and personalized. It should also convey the main purpose and benefit of your email. Additionally, it must effectively communicate the primary purpose and advantage of your email.
For example, instead of using generic subject lines like “Thank you for attending our event”, you can use a more specific and enticing one like “You’re awesome! Here’s a gift for attending our event”.
Content
The content is the main body of your personalized emails. It should be clear, concise, and compelling. It should also follow a logical structure and flow. You can use the following formula to craft your content:
Gratitude
Show your gratitude and appreciation for the recipient’s participation and contribution to your event.
Event Highlights
Offer a concise overview of the standout moments and key highlights that made your event unforgettable. Additionally, celebrate the successes of the event and acknowledge the contributions of participants. Share any significant achievements, milestones, or special mentions that occurred during the event to highlight their impact.
Greetings
Start with a warm and friendly greeting that addresses the recipient by name. For example, “Hi John,” or “Hello Jane,”.
Media Content
You can also add some media content to your post-event follow-up email to make it more engaging and appealing. Also, invite attendees to post their photos and stories on social media using a specific hashtag or mentioning your account.
Feedback Request
Include a link to a survey or feedback form that asks them to rate their overall experience, favorite sessions, and suggestions for improvement. This will help measure the event’s success and identify areas of opportunity.
Speaker or Performer Appreciation
Express gratitude and recognition to speakers, performers, or sponsors who contributed to your event’s success. Also, include links to their online profiles or websites, where the attendees can learn more about or contact them.
Event Statistics
Make your post-event follow-up email more informative and impressive by sharing some statistics or data from the event. Highlight the number of attendees at the event, how many social media posts or comments were generated, or how much feedback or leads you collected.
Discounts or Special Offers
Offer discounts or special deals with your attendees, to create a sense of urgency and excitement for your future events or products.
Summary
Offer a concise recap of the event’s highlights, key lessons, and outcomes, along with actionable steps. Moreover, encourage attendees to stay connected on social media by sharing relevant hashtags and handles for continued engagement.
Value
Provide additional value and resources to the recipient, such as event recordings, slides, reports, ebooks, and other materials. If relevant, include links to download these resources or access presentations from the event.
Call to Action
Motivate the recipient to participate by sharing their feedback or becoming part of a community. Additionally, offer contact information for any inquiries or additional support needed, ensuring attendees are aware of how to reach out for further information.
Sign-off
End with a friendly and professional sign-off that includes your name, title, and contact information.
Tone
The tone reflects the attitude and emotion conveyed in your email, aligning with your brand’s voice and the recipient’s expectations. For example, a casual and humorous tone might suit a relaxed event, while a formal and respectful tone is appropriate for a professional setting.
Design
Design refers to how your email looks and is laid out. It should be eye-catching, easy to read, and adaptable to different devices.
To achieve this, follow these email design best practices:
- Use a simple and clean font like Arial, Helvetica, or Verdana.
- Use a single-column layout that adjusts to various screen sizes.
- Incorporate white space, bullet points, and headings to break up text and improve readability.
- Enhance your message with images, videos, or GIFs.
- Highlight your call to action with buttons, links, or icons for easy clicking.
- Use a recognizable sender name and email address.
- Include a pre-header text summarizing the main point of your email.
By following these tips and best practices, you can write an effective follow-up email that gets opened, read, and responded to. You can also use templates, examples, or tools to help you create your email faster and easier.
However, remember to always personalize email to suit your audience and event type.
Post-event Follow-Up Emails for Different Scenarios and Audiences
Depending on your goals and objectives, you may need to send different types of event follow-up emails to different scenarios and audiences.
Here are some examples of event follow-up emails for different scenarios and audiences:
Event follow-up email for no-show registered attendees
Subject: Sorry we missed you at our event!
Hi May,
The EmpowHer Team noticed that you registered for our event on “EmpowHer Summit: Igniting Women’s Potential” but you were not able to attend. We understand that life happens and sometimes things get in the way.
We don’t want you to miss out on the valuable information and insights we shared during the event. That’s why we have recorded the entire event and made it available for you to watch at your convenience.
Click here to access the event recording and see what you missed. You can also download the slides, transcripts, and other resources from the event.
We hope you enjoy the event and learn something new. If you have any questions or comments, please feel free to reply to this email or contact us at empowher@wemeanpower.com.
We hope to see you at our next event!
Sincerely,
Melissa Miller
Event Manager
Event follow-up email for attendees who showed up and engaged
Subject: Thank You For Being Part of Our Event
Hi Ame,
Just a quick note to say a big thank you for joining us at our recent event, “EmpowHer Summit: Igniting Women’s Potential”. We hope you had a blast and took away some awesome insights!
We loved having you there, alongside other fantastic attendees from various industries and backgrounds. Your enthusiasm and active participation truly stood out. Your questions were spot-on, and the feedback you shared was super valuable!
We’d love to dive deeper into your thoughts and suggestions to make our future events even better. Could you spare a few minutes to fill out our short feedback survey? Your input means the world to us and will shape the experiences of future attendees.
As a token of our appreciation, we’ve got a little something special for you! Click here to grab exclusive access to event slides, recordings, and transcripts. Plus, don’t forget to explore our website for more resources like reports, ebooks, and case studies – all geared toward helping you succeed.
Got any questions or comments? Feel free to hit reply or reach out to us at empowher@wemeanpower.com.
Once again, thank you for your time and interest. Can’t wait to catch you at our next event – it’s going to be a blast!
Warm regards,
Melissa Miller
Event Manager
Event follow-up email for partners or sponsors
Subject: Thank you for your support!
Hi Lisa,
We would like to express our sincere gratitude and appreciation for your support as a partner/sponsor of our event on “EmpowHer Summit: Igniting Women’s Potential”. Your contribution made a huge difference and helped us make the event a success.
We are happy to share with you some of the results and feedback from the event. Over 500 attendees from various industries and backgrounds, rated the event 4.5 out of 5 stars. There were also over 200 leads and prospects, who expressed interest in our products and services. All this will not happen without your support.
We hope you enjoyed the exposure and recognition your brand received during the event. We proudly featured your logo, name, and message across our website, socials, and email blasts. And of course, we made sure to give your brand a big shoutout during the event itself!
We would love to continue our partnership and collaboration with you for future events. Please let us know if you are interested and we will send you more details and opportunities.
Thank you again for your support and generosity. We hope to hear from you soon.
Warm regards,
Melissa Miller
Event Manager
Post-event email for keynote speakers
Subject: Thank you for speaking up at our event!
Hi Angel,
We wanted to extend a heartfelt thank you for being a speaker at our recent “EmpowHer Summit: Igniting Women’s Potential” event. Your expertise and insights truly enriched the experience for all our attendees!
The captivating presentation you gave was a highlight of the event, and we’ve received fantastic feedback from our audience about the value they gained from your session. Your contribution played a significant role in making our event a success, and we’re incredibly grateful for your participation.
We would love to have you as a speaker again for our future events. Please let us know if you are interested and we will keep you updated on our upcoming events and topics.
Once again, thank you for your invaluable contribution to our event. We look forward to the possibility of working together again in the future.
Warm regards,
Melissa Miller
Event Manager
Use the Features of Event Espresso for Your Future Events
Post-event follow-up is a vital part of event management. It helps you to show your appreciation, measure your success, and plan for improvement. By following the tips and examples that we provide, you can create and execute a post-event follow-up strategy that works for your event and your audience.
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