If you give attendees a reason to attend, they’ll walk away with an experience. If attendees give you their time, you’ll gain new relationships and business.
It’s the concept of reciprocity – creating a situation that benefits both parties.
Here are three ways to create a relationship of reciprocity with your audience for higher attendance rates and happier attendees.
Think about it, when was the last time you didn’t attend something you paid for? Guests are more likely to attend an event when they're financially invested.
Another way to gain attendee investment? Create an element of exclusivity.
If your event requires guests to apply to attend, they’ll be investing their time, interest, and even their ego. People won’t spend time applying to an event unless they really want to be there.
Inspire them to take action by providing some sort of exclusive access. This could be access to content, resources, or connections.
Be sure to include other valuable benefits like early bird discounts, limited deals, or one-time perks in your messaging. The more specific you can be about the value they’ll get out of attending, the better.
We all know the event will speak for itself. You're the one hosting it, after all.
But attendees don’t know how great your event will be…yet. So, the more validation they receive leading up to the event, the more likely they’ll attend.
Our data suggests five emails is the magic number to send before your audience starts losing interest.
That means you have five opportunities to reassure your audience that attending is the right move.
Mention a fellow guest they’ll want to meet. Give them bragging rights with a unique detail about your venue. Build up their confidence by including new skills they’ll learn.
The last email in your sequence, we call this the “lock it in email,” should ideally come from a real person – whether that’s the host, a sales rep on your team, or another point of contact.
In this email, try to establish day-of specifics – schedule a time, location, and preferably a person they’ll meet at the event. It can be you, one of your team members, or a fellow attendee you want to connect them with.
Attendees will appreciate the personal touch in an inbox overflowing with “we can’t wait to see you there” emails. And at the end of the day, it’s harder for someone to no-show another person than to no-show an event.
