How to Write Engaging Event Invitation Emails: With 8 Examples for Inspiration
You probably have sent out event invitation emails before and received deafening silence on the other end. It’s common — not getting enough people to click through CTAs is one of the biggest challenges event marketers face.
The solution?
Create relevant content and send it to interested audiences — event highlights such as agenda, keynote speaker information, and other details are more important than design and layout for maximizing registrations.
If you’re starting out, it can be overwhelming to plan and execute your event invite emails. But with these guidelines, you will be able to write engaging event emails that attract more followers. Let’s go through the meaning of event invite emails, what they consist of, how to create perfect event invites, and the different types of event invites and their examples.
Everything to Know About Event Invitation Emails
Event invite emails are similar to the snail-mail letters you sent to your friends for your birthday when you were a kid. The only difference is event emails reach a larger audience group, while letters are more confined to a few people.
An event invite is a message sent to your subscribers announcing the upcoming webinars, conferences, product demos, or presentations to persuade them to attend your event.
Apart from convincing subscribers, event invites consist of critical information such as the venue, date, and time of the event, how to RSVP, and other details.
An event invitation email has:
- The event name, date, time, and location,
- Mention of key highlights and benefits,
- A clear CTA.
These events can be online or offline based on your brand requirements. But their structure and content remains the same.
Key Components of Professional Event Invitation Emails
Your event email structure may vary depending on your marketing goals.
Here are key elements that are critical for all types of event invite email:
- Professional email address: While you can always pay less and use free emails, it’ll affect the way customers perceive your brand. A professional email address proves your credibility to ISPs, increasing your sender reputation and email deliverability.
- Time, date, and location: Mention your event details clearly, considering the different time zones. Even if it’s a virtual event, mention a physical address to increase brand credibility.
- Brand introduction: Use warm welcome phrases such as ”We’d love to see you among us” or ”Join us for our first-ever conference”. If your brand has a motto, share stories to incite subscriber interest.
- State the unique value proposition: Your value proposition must tell readers why they should attend your event and the benefits of doing so.
- Eye-catching design: Attractive doesn’t always mean vivid colors, bold typefaces, and extra images. Sometimes, a strong copy against a plain background goes a long way in persuading readers to sign up.
- Registration link: This is the main CTA and must be easily visible to your audience. Place your registration links just below the email header or after the email body copy for easier viewing.
- Contact information: Provide your email address, phone number, and physical address for readers in case they have queries.
- Social sharing: Including social links will maximize your invitation email reach. Even if people don’t immediately sign up for your event, they might follow your brand on socials, which is a good start.
Now, let’s learn the types of event invites you can send out.
8 Different Types of Event Email Invites (with examples)
Events range from conferences to webinars and awards. Although your email structure can remain the same, the email goal, body copy, design, and CTA vary with each event. To make it simpler for you, we have outlined the common types of event invitations:
| Type of Event | Purpose |
|---|---|
| Product launch | Focuses on product benefits and features. Mentions the exclusive experience attendees can get from the event |
| Webinar or online invitation | Tailored for virtual events and includes login details, agenda, and other interactive elements |
| Conference | Emphasizes business conferences, industry seminars, or professional gatherings. Focuses on the educational and networking aspect of the event |
| Save-the-date announcements | Sent in advance to inform recipients about a particular event such as weddings, birthdays, or business meet-ups |
| Charity or fundraising | Communicates the cause, impact, and how attendees can contribute |
| VIP or exclusive events | Targets a special audience group and provides exclusive access to content, products, etc |
| Workshop or training | Shows the need for the development of skills through guided practical sessions |
| Formal events | Geared toward sophisticated events like galas, black tie events, and business meet-ups |
Event Invitation Email Types
- Product Launch Invitation
The goal of the product launch email invite is to create hype and inform users about the product release. Focus on showcasing the product benefits, features, and exclusive experiences your attendees can look forward to.
- Webinar or Online Event Invitation
Webinars are a great source for generating leads — the more value you create for your audience, the better the chances they will convert.
Webinar invites must include:
- Login details,
- Devices required for participation,
- Alternate ways to join the webinar,
- Any digital downloads that are required.
Your webinar email invites can also have interactive elements to make it more compelling for the audience.
- Conference Invitation
Conference invites must contain key information such as name, date, venue, time, and the attendee’s role of participation. You may also want to include a summary of the topic to prepare your attendees before the event. If your organization uses sponsors, it’s best to list them in the emails.
- Save-the-Date Announcement
This invitation email is usually sent in advance without long information about the event. The objective is to drive more people to mark their calendars such as for weddings, product demos, or birthdays.
The below example is for a grand opening of a building. The email invite also has a RSVP to confirm participation and prepare the event accordingly. Collecting RSVP helps you plan better, especially when food and drinks are involved.
- Charity Event
Charity event invites focus on fundraising and philanthropic acts. Include the details of who your organization will be helping. You can also add statistics and numbers to enhance the effect.
Sometimes, charity event invitation emails can have a simple CTA like Salomon. Their ‘Pledge Here’ button urges people to protect the continental trail that continues to be a source of joy for people in the community.
- VIP or Exclusive Event Invite
Exclusive event invites are a way to give back to the people who have supported your brand. You can customize these emails to suit your audience types. For example, send exclusive access to select subscribers to try the beta program.
To make it more compelling, you can talk about the unique freebies they might miss out on if they don’t attend the event. Much like Celcy has done — the brand introduces the beta exclusive perks and ends it with a convincing CTA.
- Workshops or Training
Workshops are similar to webinars with more emphasis on practical approach than theoritical. That means your audience will get a hands-on experience after attending your workshops or training sessions. These can range from culinary classes to dance training and martial arts.
- Formal Invitations
Formal invites are more upscale, like wine tasting, business dinners, etc. Pair these invites with a classy email layout and typography to set the tone for the event.
Let’s walk you through the key elements of this email invite type so you can sell more tickets:
- Professional language: Your formal invite is an opportunity to show your brand exclusivity. You can use sophisticated phrases like “we’d be delighted if you can attend” in your subject lines.
- Sense of exclusivity: Show your recipients that your formal event invitation is not like the rest — you can add a line at the start of your email to show readers it’s special.
- Prepare your recipients: If the event involves dress code or other specific requirements, make sure to mention these in the emails. A detailed email will help attendees prepare in advance.
Dovetail portrays its organization as cool and funky through vivid colors and doodles. The email header conveys the meet-up details instantly, making it easier for the recipients to skim through. They introduce their key speakers in a fun and engaging way, letting the readers know what they can expect from the event.
Other email invitations include team building events, parties, trade shows, expo invites, etc. Each email invite campaign should let your audience know the importance of attending them. But why are event email invites necessary in the first place? Let’s dissect the reasons!
Why Should You Send Out Event Email Invitations
The primary goal of event invites is to reach more audiences and get high attendance.
Well-planned email event invites can promote your event, spark interest, drive traffic, and do so much more:
- Reach a targeted audience: Proper segmentation strategies help you reach wider audiences interested in your events. Segmentation also increases the likelihood of your recipient’s responding to your invites.
- Cost-effective: Traditional invites usually cost more and require postal coverage too. Whereas, email invites can reach a larger audience in less than a few minutes.
- Real-time updates: Email invites help you update your audiences about the last-minute changes to your events.
- Includes Interactive content: Email invites let you add interactive elements like RSVP buttons, website links, and other critical event information. This makes it easier for your audiences to understand and participate in your events.
- Personalization opportunities: You can tailor your email invitations to suit every audience member’s needs and also address them by their names.
- Measurable results: Email marketing platforms usually make it easier to track email metrics such as open rates, click-through rates, and conversions. You can then use these to customize your future event email invitations.
- Global reach: Whether your event is local or international, emails let you get in touch with global attendees.
- Integration capabilities: Email invitations can easily be integrated into other marketing channels like social media, websites, and advertisements.
- Easy RSVP and registration: Including RSVP links in email invites makes it user-friendly for the audiences to confirm their participation.
- Brand consistency: Email invitations allow you to showcase your brand elements throughout your email campaigns. This way, people are more likely to remember your brand and interact with it.
While these are convincing reasons to use event invite emails, they also come with a set of challenges.
Top 3 Challenges With Event Invitation Emails
Much like any email marketing campaign, event emails come with their downsides —- difficulty in creating attractive and responsive HTML templates, measuring campaign performance, and getting people to sign up for the event.
However, there are more problematic areas that need more attention, such as:
- Deliverability issues: A common issue with any email campaign type — email deliverability can affect your brand reputation and eventually your sender reputation. Especially with the ESPs becoming stricter with promotional content, you might want to adapt to better sending practices to sustain in the long run.
- Competition for attention: With a multitude of emails cluttering your recipients’ inboxes, getting through can be a challenge. A good way to avoid this is to use enticing and clear subject lines and email body copy.
- Reminder emails: Setting a cap on the number of reminders you must send can be challenging — you must understand your audience’s behavior and previous purchase history to know this.
You can avoid these pitfalls by focusing on the most important areas of your email marketing; deliverability and sender reputation.
Remember, regardless of the type of event email invite, sending only one invite will do nothing — you need a strategic approach to an event email invitation campaign.
Event Invitation Email Campaign: How to Create Invites That Get More Responses
76% of marketers report using email as a main communication method to reach audiences. According to industry standards, event invitation emails have higher open rates on average. This doesn’t happen by coincidence; you must send out a couple of email invites before they get traction. Here are common ideas to get more responses from your audiences:
| Email Series | Event Email Invite Ideas | Purpose |
|---|---|---|
| Email Sequence #1 | Early bird invites | Gear up excitement and inform users about an event |
| Email Sequence #2 | A follow-up email | Refresh the users’ memory and persuade the others to join in |
| Email Sequence #3 | A last-chance email | To convince the readers that they are missing out on important events |
| Email Sequence #4 | Thank you email | Shows gratitude and respect for participating and spending time |
| Email Sequence #5 | Missed opportunity email | Tells customers about the important things they missed in the event |
The above is only an outline, but you can send any type of event invite series. A good rule is to keep it between 3-5 emails in a campaign, spread out in intervals. This will give customers ample time to think about the event and RSVP. If your event becomes a hit, you can send your attendees feedback and review request to improve your event the next time.
For any of these emails to work, you need a catchy subject line that encourages the audience to open your emails. Let’s give you a few examples below to help you craft your own.
Appealing Subject Lines For Event Invitation Emails
If your subject line is long and boring, it’s likely your customers will lose interest in your email, and eventually your event. Writing catchy subject lines is an art, and requires consumer psychological principles to be applied. Let’s not go that far — we have prepared a list of subject lines you can customize and use in your event email campaign sequences.
| Type of Event | Subject Line Examples |
|---|---|
| Formal event | “You’re invited to an evening of elegance” |
| Informal gathering | “It’s party time! You’re invited to [event name]” |
| Product launch | “Be the first to experience [product name]” |
| Webinar | “Webinar alert: speaker shares insights on [event name/subject] |
| Conference | “Enhance your business fundamentals: save your spot for [event name]” |
| Charity and fundraising | “Change lives: support [cause] at [event name]” |
| VIP Exclusive Event | “Exclusive VIP experience just for you, join us [event name]” |
| Networking | “Connect with industry leaders at [event name and date]” |
| Holiday party | “Jingle, mingle, and jolly good time at [event name]” |
Let’s review major subject line best practices to increase the likelihood of user participation for your event emails.
Subject Line Best Practices to Entice Your Readers
Here are 5 subject line best practices to help you craft the perfect offers for your audience.
- Make it personal: Attend to your customers’ needs in your subject lines. Your aim is to make them feel at ease and create interest to learn more about your event.
- Communicate scarcity: Use urgency-based words like ”soon, immediately, and just for you now” in your subject lines. This will help your customers know more about your event while also making them feel special.
- Ask a question: To promote interest, you can ask personalized questions to your audience. For example, “Would you donate to make this child smile again?”. However, don’t ask too many questions in your email campaigns since it will make your emails less interesting.
- Use emojis: Emojis used in moderation can make your emails more creative and compelling. Use universally known symbols and emojis. Be extra careful, as some emojis can be offensive to certain communities.
- Create exclusivity: Even though it’s not a VIP invite, you can still make your customers feel like superstars. For example, “we care about your company, join us for [event name]”.
Now that we have addressed the ‘why’ factor, it’s time to move to the ‘when’ factor of sending your email invites.
Best Time to Send Event Invitation Emails
Certain events are best announced early (6-8 months in advance) to give attendees more time to prepare. You should also consider your recipients’ travel needs and make arrangements if necessary. However, for other events, you can use the following times to send them out:
- The initial invitation
Based on a study, event organizers sent out emails during three stages:
- 2-3 months (25%),
- 1 month before (25%),
- 2 weeks before (15%).
To determine the perfect time to send your email invites, think about your event type, size, and other variables. To be safer, send your invites early for larger events or close to holiday events. This is a great chance to send out early-bird coupons and adjust your pricing strategy accordingly.
However, this doesn’t hold true for smaller events — you don’t want to risk recipients losing your emails or forgetting about them. For example, if you’re hosting a dinner party, send your email invites about a week in advance.
- The number of emails to send
Your event may be well-known, but that does not guarantee 100% attendance. People need reminders from time to time until the event date.
In a survey:
- 25% of the event creators send 3 emails for an event,
- 30% send 4-5 emails per event,
- 22% send 6 or more emails.
However, be mindful not to send out too many emails at once. A good count is between 2-4 reminders per event based on the event size. For smaller events, send a maximum of 2 reminders before the event.
- The best time to send email invites
The day and time of your email are crucial to determining the success of your invite. Most event organizers believe Tuesdays are the best days to send event invitation emails, with Wednesday and Thursday as the second-best choice.
Send your emails between 9 am and 1 pm for maximum reach and interaction. Most people check their emails right before lunchtime, and this can increase the chances of their participation.
While these are guidelines to get you started on sending out email invites, the best time depends on more crucial factors, such as the nature of your event and email campaign metrics.
What Factors Should You Consider For Your Email Timing
Your audience’s browsing habits and behavioral data should guide you in setting the right timing for emails. In general, your email send times can vary with time zones and audience demographics.
Here are more factors to consider for your email invitation timings:
- Industry and business type: Consider your industry’s best practices and stick to the usual email timings. For example, a food brand would typically send out emails mostly during non-working hours as opposed to B2B emails.
- Nature of the event: Your event type will dictate the best time for emails — a marketing lecture is prepared more in advance, rather than a friendly dinner party. You can also browse the previous data to understand when your audiences are the most active.
- Seasonal Variations: Sometimes of the year are busier than the others. Hence, consider holidays and special days when planning your event invitation emails.
- Global considerations: When you set your email schedule, group your audiences into different time zones and pick a time closest to the most prominent time zone. This way, you can avoid sending emails when your customers are sleeping or busy running errands.
- A/B testing: Any day, your email campaign metrics show you better results than adapting to industry trends. Regularly review your email invitation metrics and tailor your email marketing strategy accordingly.
You can also set up drip campaigns and automate them to keep your users updated at all times.
With that, let’s learn how to set up your email invitations for success.
How to Set up Your Event Invitation Emails For Success?
To get more people interested in your events and click through to the CTA, you need more than appealing designs and great body copy.
Let’s see the important aspects of setting up your event email campaign:
- Understand your buyer’s journey,
- Track your engagement rates,
- Segment your email list,
- Set up a double opt-in process,
- Use the right email marketing platform.
While you can handle everything on your own, dedicated email marketing software helps you save time and send emails to the right audience without wasting resources.
Why You Should Send Your Event Invitation Emails With Campaign Refinery
With 98% of organizations opting for email invitations as the main communication method, this could be your opportunity to get back in the game. To succeed with your event invitations, your email deliverability and sender reputation must be intact, which is where Campaign Refinery excels.
Our premium software sets you up for success by providing the necessary tools and features in a single place — use our campaign library with rich templates, and an automatic email list cleaning feature to remove harmful email addresses, and our powerful automation and segmentation feature to reach the right audience.
Regardless of our stalwart tools and features, our only aim is to give you the highest email deliverability rate in the market.
And we have accomplished that with our past clients — they have seen an increase in email deliverabilty rate up to 6x.
Looking to know more about us and how we can help?
