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Info for you on how to inform people on how to put an invitation url link into their newsletter

0 Votes

Over the past 6 months I've called Customer Service a few times to try to figure out how I could get the option to register yes or no (where I can collect their names and info so not with the simple poll option button you have).  It is very difficult to figure this out and in my 3 conversations I got 3 different answers and none of them helped me to do what I wanted to do.  I finally figured it out myself.  It is incredibly complicated and my wish is that you would make it much easier but if you cannot change the way the site works you could at least create a video that answers how to do this.  These are the directions I have written for myself to use next month when I create my next newsletter. 

 

Instructions for making an invitation and getting the url link for it to embed in my newsletter

1. Create newsletter and add buttons to it in places where I need people to register for something. 

2. In order to make an invitation (which is the only place where they get that option to reply yes or no I can't make it) - You must create an Event first and make it live.  (I don't click to have a landing page on so nobody is even going to see the Event page so don't spend too much time working on it unless others will see it).  

3. After making the Event live you must click the option on the right side of the page that says create an invitation.  It doesn't show any of the information you have already entered about your event unless you click on the preview button and then you'll see your info.  Change the text in the letter to say what you want it to.  (If you've already put a lot of detail in your newsletter than this invitation can be short and sweet). 

4. Unfortunately the page does not provide you with the url to your invitation at the top of the page like it does when you are creating an Event.  I don't know why it doesn't provide that because in order to get the url so you can embed it into your "register button" on your newsletter, you have to jump through several hoops.

          1) When you are creating the invitation, there will be a box that says "Put a check in the box for webpage version." Put the check in that box.

           2)  You cannot send a preview of the invitation to yourself unless you create a group that includes just you.  I made a group called 1Preview and just put my own email into it.  

            3) Email yourself the invitation to the 1Preview group so it will come to your email. 

             4) Open the email.  In very small writing just above the invitation it will say "If you are having trouble seeing this email, click here" - click it. 

             5) the invitation will open with the url to the invitation in the url box at the top of the page.  (WHY CAN'T THE URL JUST BE AT THE TOP OF THE PAGE WHERE WE MAKE THE INVITATION LIKE IT IS FOR EVENTS?  THAT WOULD BE SO MUCH EASIER) 

             6) Copy the url and go back to your newsletter and highlight the words on your registration button.  A window will open that allows you to click the link button and then you can paste in the url into the space provided.  

Now when someone reads your newsletter (where you can put photos and exciting information about your event if you want to) they will click on the registration or RSVP button you provide and it will bring them right into the invitation page where they can identify that they can come or they cannot come.  It is only through Invitations that you can resend a letter to only the people who have not yet rsvp'd. 

Whew!  

Thank you for sharing this with your customer service providers because most of them do not know how to answer this question. I hope you'll also make a video about this to put in your video section because currently there is not a video that answers this question.  Better yet, it would be great if these glitches were redesigned to make it easier for people and more intuitive to figure out.  I spent a lot of hours trying to figure this out. 

Thank you. 

Susan 

4 Comments
Candace_M
Employee
Status changed to: Open Questions

Hello @ShirAmi,

Thank you for taking the time to supply us with that very detailed feedback. I'm sorry that you had difficulties finding the answer you were looking for. It sounds like you didn't send the email out through the event and I was wondering why that was?

Frankie_P
Moderator
Status changed to: Closed - No Action

Thank you for taking the time to post in the Community. We haven't heard back from you so we are going to close this idea. This doesn't mean that we aren't listening to your feedback! If you would like to continue the conversation, please feel free to reply here in the Community or vote on any of the other open ideas to let us know what you would like to see.

ShirAmi
Rookie

I spoke with someone in customer service. What I was told is that the feature that allows people to click that they cannot come does not work and that CC is not planning to fix that because they are encouraging people to use Eventbrite instead.  

 

I write newsletters for a temple and sometimes I send out a newsletter and I want to include several events in the one newsletter for people to sign up for - i.e. there could be a shabbat service and two different classes.  What I've been doing lately is just creating an event registration page and including that url in the newsletter where I give description about the event.  There is no option there for people to decline from the registration page and no way for the next email to only go out to those who have not yet responded.  

 

I tried to explore the eventbrite feature once but I didn't like the options it gave me for designing the invitation and I also wasn't sure if both eventbrite and pay pal would both be taking out a % if people were buying tickets.  I just went back to using the Constant Contact event and have been keeping it simple by not trying to create a landing page.  

 

I do wish there was a way on the simple registration page for someone to decline.  It would be awesome if you could add that feature. 

Susan 

Caitlin_M
Administrator

Hi @ShirAmi. Admittedly, there is an issue with you declining someone when you are in your account. However, I haven't seen anything reported with the recipient not being able to decline themselves from the event invitation. Could you let us know how you haven't been able to have a contact declining an event, whether you doing it yourself or them declining from the event?

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