Right people, right event
Getting the right people to the right event might seem a pretty obvious objective for an event organiser however making sure it happens can be tricky….
It's all down to the data, (Information...it's gold dust), getting hold of strong data is the first challenge. Assuming you’ve been successful in that, the second challenge is using that data to tailor the content towards your audience. Last, but not least, getting the subject line right for your emails provides challenge number three.
The good news is that you can do something about all of the above.
1. You can buy your basic data and build on it. There’s loads of places online where you can buy data lists, some better than others. The basic rule of you get what you pay for generally applies here. Research thoroughly and try and get some test data first to validate. If you’ve got some time and resource available then a combination of LinkedIn and web search makes it possible to build a fantastic database of prospects.
2. Once you’ve got the right information, it’s all about using it and making sure the recipient of your invite reads something that is relevant to them.
Having recently received an email from a health club where I have held a membership for 8 years, the opening gambit was “Dear Valued Member”! They know my name, I gave it to them all those years ago so have no problem with them using it! This email then went on to ask me to vote for their Spa in a “Salon/Spa of the Year” competition. Although I’m a man who takes care of himself ( I moisturize, that counts right? ) I’ve never stepped foot into the Spa. However my wife, who is also a member, has several times yet they didn’t email her. My point here wasn’t that they shouldn’t have emailed me as a member (I expect such emails), but if they’d used their data smartly they could have addressed the email to me and asked if my wife would vote for them and that would have engaged with me.
If you’re sending invitations to clients or prospects about an upcoming event, make sure you target those that may have an interest in what the event is about and don’t forget to use their name!
3. The good people at Campaign Monitor published a post last summer called The 15 most powerful words in subject lines. The subject line is all about making the right first impression and it was interesting to see that when “Invitation” is used as the first word, there is a 9.45% uplift in open rates and when used as the last word, a 7.69% uplift.
There’s no such thing as an exact science when it comes to subject lines, so it’s always worth creating a few and comparing the results to see which one is getting the best open rates.
Getting these three things right isn’t easy, but when you do, the benefits are well worth all the groundwork beforehand.