What to include in an event follow-up email

[Grace_R]

A great deal of work goes into planning and hosting a successful event. You envision exactly how you'd like the event to go, and then plan each of the elements that will bring that vision to life. You plan and manage the details for weeks, if not months. And then, during the event itself, you've got eyes and ears everywhere, making sure your attendees are happy and that everything is going according to plan. I know these things all too well - after all, my toddler's "Wheels on the Bus" themed birthday party did NOT plan itself!

Once the event is over, after you've spent time relishing in your success, there's still work to be done. And that's the event follow-up email. It's more than just an obligatory "thank you", and it's important for several reasons:

• It can be the start of a relationship with attendees who are just getting to know your business/organization
• It's a place to share the successes of your event (e.g. how much money was raised, photos of guests mingling, who won the raffle contests)
• It provides an opportunity to highlight upcoming events and garner excitement

So what key elements should be included in an event follow-up email? Certainly you'll want to express gratitude, but there are other things to include as well:

Personalization

When someone takes the time to attend your event, you want to make sure to thank them on a personal level. And using their name in a personalized greeting is a great way to do that.

"Thanks for attending our event!" isn't as warm as "Grace, we loved having you at our event"

Learn how to add a personalized greeting in your email's subject line and within your email.

Event Recap

Brag about your event! Everyone likes to know they were part of something big and meaningful, so share the event's successes with your guests. Share how many people attended and any other important information. Perhaps include visual elements like photos or videos.

Valuable, engaging content

Provide ways for your event attendees to stay engaged with your business/organization. Link to your website - perhaps to a page that includes important information, blog articles, or products for sale. A call-to-action button is a great way to do this.

Other elements that can be included:

• A survey asking for event feedback
• Exclusive offers
• Information on upcoming events with registration links
• Links to your social media pages, encouraging guests to follow

Tell us, what do you include in your event follow-up emails? We'd love to hear ideas that are relevant to your specific industry!

[Elizabeth_K]

You covered it all, @Grace_R!

I feel like for small businesses the event recap is a great networking tool. You can add a list of the vendors that were present with links to their websites or contact information, or if you had performers, include their booking info or upcoming performance dates. You never know who has attended that might benefit from the info, and it would probably leave a favorable impression of you on the vendors and performers because you were thoughtful enough to share their details. Maybe they even refer people to you in return, and maybe it leads to future collaborations...