How to create compelling emails for your B2B event

Every event manager knows the feeling: “Will attendance for my event be high enough?” The invitation and other event mailings are more important than you think! 

Increase your attendance with the perfect invitation email

We at Spotler have seen tens of thousands of event mailings go by. So we’re giving you the golden tips & tricks to make sure your invitee immediately wants to clear his/her calendar to come to your event. 

Address ambition 

This is the most important tip: ensure you understand your target group’s ambition and address them accordingly in the invitation. In other words, if you know what your target group wants, you will immediately have their attention. 

Many invitations still start with: “Dear Mr X, you have been invited to event Y on date Z.” But there’s scope to do so much better! 

Use this valuable first sentence to show that you know what concerns the target group. For example: “You’re busy, Rutger. Do you also long for more peace in your work? Then sign up for the webinar Digi-rest for event professionals.” 

Make a clear promise

Clearly show what the invitee can expect at the event. Why wouldn’t you want to miss this event? Again, put yourself in the recipient’s shoes. 

For example, ‘Meet guaranteed interesting new people within your field’. The more clearly you name what benefit the invitee will get, the more likely they will sign up for your event. 

Add a calendar item to the confirmation 

Your target audience is busy, so the calendar will likely fill up quickly. Adding an agenda item to the confirmation email reduces the chances of the event being snowed under by other to-dos. This is especially important for free events. 

Provide a clear unsubscribe link 

Getting cancellations for an event is not always fun. But nothing is more annoying than empty chairs on the day itself. So make sure your invitee can easily cancel at any time. The earlier you know that someone cannot come, the better. This way, you avoid waste in catering, or in the case of popular events, you might be able to offer someone else a coveted spot. 

Need help formulating promise and ambition? Spotler has a handy tool for your event’s objectives, core message, and promise: the Event Blueprint. This tool is free for all event pros. Create your own Blueprint here. 

Design tips for event emails with impact 

Colour use

Give the email the same look and feel as the event website. Brand or logo colours are a good starting point. Choose a primary and a secondary colour for headings, buttons and, for example, the footer. 

Header 

The header image determines the first impression. Create a nice image and incorporate the organisation’s logo or colours. This will ensure recognisability. 

Don’t use too much text in the header; make sure all critical info (date, location, time) is also mentioned in the email, in case the image is blocked. 

Readability 

Keep enough white space in the email. Choose a font that is not too small and ensure sufficient contrast between the text colour and the background. 

For design pros 

Are you a designer, or do you have one on your team? Then, you can place images between the content blocks to blend them together. 

Tips for text & CTA 

Keep it short! 

Try to keep the number of words in the email to a minimum. Nobody is keen on long chunks of text. These tips will help: 

• Use bullets whenever possible. 
• Write in short sentences. 
• Opt for short headlines. 
• Make sure there is enough white space. 
• Communicate one message per email. 
• For more info, refer to the event website. 

The call-to-action 

A CTA (Call To Action) urges the reader to do something, e.g.. ‘Sign up’. Here are some tips for a compelling CTA: 

• Keep it as short as possible. 
• Provide enough space around the CTA. 
• Use one primary CTA per email and give it the most striking colour. 
• Put the primary CTA at the top. 
• Multiple CTAs? Use a more neutral colour or a link for that. 

Improve your email results 

Well-designed emails are useless if they are not delivered or opened. Email statistics can provide a lot of information. 

Check your bounce rates 

When an email is not delivered, it is called a bounce. There are two types of bounces: hard and soft. 

A soft bounce means that the email cannot be delivered temporarily, for example, because the mailbox is full. The cause then lies with the recipient. With a hard bounce, there is an issue with the email address: 

• The email address no longer exists. 
• The email address contains an error. 
• The receiver has blocked the transmitter. 

Therefore, always check email addresses carefully and ask for clarification from the recipient if necessary. 

Stay out of the spam folder! 

While you can never completely prevent your mail from ending up in the spam folder, you can reduce the chances with the following tips: 

• Avoid ‘spam-sensitive’ words (free, win, action, offer) and punctuation (*&^%#$@!) in the subject line. 
• Add images in small format. 
• Keep the subject line short (max 55 characters). 
• Ask the recipient to add or whitelist the sender address 
• Do your own spam check, for example, at MailTester. 

Get inspired by others

Get inspired 

To help you create effective event mailings, we have scoured some examples from other event organisers:

Event invites

Event reminders

Event updates

Event surveys

Event management with Spotler

With Spotler’s event management software, event professionals easily manage the registration for physical, online, and hybrid events. 

No more hassle with Excel and Outlook, but an overview from one user-friendly tool. Working with Spotler saves time and prevents mistakes. 

Spotler is a leading player in the event software industry, with clients including KLM, ABN-AMRO, Municipality of Amsterdam and several universities. Spotler Events has roots in the event industry and has been developing software closely cooperating with its customers for more than 10 years. 

Some of the Spotler Events features: 

• Visitor registration 
• Checking in visitors 
• Audience interaction 
• Event mailings 
• Event website 
• Event ticketing 
• Event survey