You just hosted your first Splash + Zoom virtual event. You’re riding the post-event high, and your coworkers are flooding your DMs with messages like, “You nailed it!” and “That was the best virtual event we’ve ever done!” Feeling like a million bucks, you take a deep breath of relief, sit back, and wait for your manager to hit you up and tell you that you’re getting a promotion because you’re best event marketer in the game.
While waiting for that email, you’re scrolling through your attendee data in Splash and notice something you’ve never had the luxury of knowing with live events: check-out data.
Hold up.
In all the excitement of launching new features in Splash and prepping for your event, you didn’t even notice that the Virtual Event Page Touchpoint feature does more than just check your guests into the event — it records how long they stayed, too.
If you’re not jittering with excitement and geeking out on all the new data you just got your mitts on, you’re in the wrong role. This is a game-changer. Now, your team can follow up with attendees in a targeted and personalized fashion like never before.
This is uncharted territory for you. You’ve always sent the usual, “Thank you for coming” or “We missed you” emails to attendees and no-shows. But you’re a Splash customer now….and that, my friend, comes with serious perks. Perks like this one: four follow-up email cadences you can copy, paste, and send to event attendees based on the actions they took at your virtual event.
Don’t fix what isn’t broken. If you’ve already built the muscle of emailing a thank-you note to all event attendees, keep doing what you’re doing.
Regardless of how long they stayed, all attendees should get an email thanking them for attending your event. Here’s how to find all of your attendees in Splash:
Here’s an example of what your follow-up email could look like. Heads up: I’m using personalization tags, so you can literally copy and paste these into Splash’s email sender and have your event’s info dynamically added. You’re welcome :)
From: [event_hostname]
Subject Line: We hope you loved our virtual event as much as we loved hosting you.
Preview Text: What did you like best at [event_title]?
Hi [first_name],
It was a pleasure hosting you today at [event_title]. We hope you enjoyed the content and learned something new that you can put to work today.
We want to make sure our events are valuable and worth attending. Would you mind filling out a survey to let us know what you liked most and where you think we could improve?
Looking forward to seeing you next time!
<Button> Take the Survey
Asking your attendees to complete a survey after any event is a best practice I always follow. It’s a great way to understand how you can optimize your next event, plus it gives your attendees a voice and a chance to offer their opinion.
Don’t let your no-shows completely slip away. Since webinar fatigue is still a real ‘thing’, you’re always going to have registered attendees that don’t quite make it in the virtual door. Plus, some registrants may have always known they wouldn’t be able to attend the live event, but just registered so they could be on your post-event communications (I’ve definitely done that before!).
But you still have to show them the love and convince them that you’re delivering experiences that are worth their time.
To find out who registered but didn’t attend your event live, here’s what to do in Splash:
Here’s how I usually create my no-show emails:
From: [event_hostname]
Subject: We missed you today at [event_title]. Interested in watching the recording?
Preview Text: It doesn’t come close to the energy we had at the live event, but the recording is jam-packed with content you can’t resist.
Hi [first_name],
We missed you at [event_title] today. It was inspiring to have so many like-minded people in the same virtual room, talking and learning about our shared love of [insert topic here].
Luckily, the event was recorded, so you can still take advantage of everything we learned.
We hope to catch you live next time we gather.
<Button> Watch the Recording
Whether you’re using Zoom Webinars or Zoom Meetings, both produce a recording of the virtual event you can share. It’s up to you whether you want to gate the recording behind another Splash page or just send them to the ungated version.
Here’s where you can get crafty. Check out the steps to find these folks in Splash:
Adding a personalized touch like this lets your attendees know that you care about them and what they think. Offering a platform for them to voice their opinion about the event might increase the likelihood of them attending another.
Here’s what you should arm your sales or account managers with so they can send a 1:1 note:
From: salesperson@yourcompany.com
Subject Line: I noticed we lost you halfway through [event_title]
Preview Text: Catch the second half with the event’s recording
Hi [first_name],
Thanks so much for joining us today at [event_title]! I was excited when I saw your name pop up on the list of attendees because I know how valuable the content my team presented today could be for your role.
I noticed you dropped off halfway through the event. In case you want to check out what the second half was all about, I have a link to the recording here. You can check it out whenever you have a free few minutes.
If you dropped off because you felt like you weren’t getting value, do you mind sharing with me where we can do better? I want to make sure the virtual events my team puts together are events people want, and your input is exactly what we need to make that happen.
I appreciate any and all candid feedback.
Thanks again!
[Salesperson name]
It’s up to you whether you think adding the link to the survey is the right call here. Remember, this is the second follow-up email this person will receive regarding this event, and the survey was included in the original thank-you email from marketing.
Pro Tip
If you’re looking at the check-out data from your event and notice a ton of drop-off at a particular time, you might have identified a weak spot in your content. Take a look at the recording and try to pinpoint what went wrong that made so many people drop off.
We’ve all been guilty of realizing we registered for an event, forgot it started, and tuned into the last few minutes. From scouring tons of event data throughout the years, I’ve noticed that this happens more often than you might think. So you might as well empower your sales team to reach out to these people with a message tailored to their event experience.
To pull this attendee list in Splash, here’s a step-by-step:
Here’s what I typically write to these late arrivals:
From: salesperson@yourcompany.com
Subject Line: Want to catch the beginning of [event_title]?
Preview Text: I have the recording of today’s event if you want to watch the first half
Hi [first_name],
I’m so glad you were able to catch the last few minutes of [event_title] today. I was excited when I saw you on the list of attendees, but noticed you checked in a little late.
The first half of the event was packed with some noteworthy information, so if you’d like to rewind and catch up, I grabbed the recording for you.
Is there anything you were hoping to learn at the event that you didn’t hear about? Any questions at all?
I’m here to get you answers and more info whenever you need it.
Looking forward to hearing your feedback on the event,
[Salesperson name]
Virtual events have allowed event marketers to capture more data than ever before, and it’s up to you to carve out new ways of engaging your audiences both at and after your events. You can now understand your guests’ behavior down to the minute they click off the screen. It’s time to do more with that data than just passing it off to the sales team.
Luckily, with Splash, you’ve got the necessary tools to do the job right.
Hey, it’s been a few minutes since you started reading this. Did your manager email you about that promotion yet?
