5 simple ways to use email to boost ticket sales
Simple ways to use email to promote your events – no in-depth marketing knowledge needed. Phew.
You don’t need a marketing degree to effectively use email to promote your events. Yes – email marketing strategies can be based on reams of complex analytics and carried out on a massive scale. But there are also lots of really simple ways you can use email to increase ticket sales.
In this quick guide, we cover five more-than manageable ways to use email in your event promo:
- Send follow-up emails
- Reward your email list with early bird releases
- Celebrate customer milestones
- Send time-limited discounts
- Send pre-ticket sale teasers
Send follow-up emails to attendees
When you’ve run a successful event, it can be a great idea to cash in on your attendees’ sense of satisfaction by sending a follow-up email soon after. The idea is that you land in their inbox while your incredible event is still fresh in their minds. This way, recipients are much more likely to feel motivated to buy tickets for your next event than if you were to email them weeks down the line.
A simple email pointing attendees in the right direction to get their tickets for your next event might work. But it’s best to put a little more thought into your follow-up email so that it feels less sales and more aftercare. For example, you might want to thank attendees for attending your event or for being a great audience. Speaking to us in a recent interview, Chris Hester from Hester’s Theater of Magic talks about his approach to this easy email promo tactic:
“Sent a day after the event, these emails thank our guests, offer a discount code for a return visit, and include direct links to leave a Google or Tripadvisor review. Ticket Tailor gives us full control over when these reminders and follow-ups go out, making it an incredibly powerful tool for maintaining guest engagement. My follow up email is worded as if it’s a personal email from me to them, and Ticket Tailor allows you to address them by first name (automated) and include personal details from their order to make it feel even more direct.”
As Chris highlights – follow-up emails also give you the chance to point attendees towards your chosen review platforms. Nice!
Reward your email list with early bird tickets
Email marketing is all about rewarding those who already have an affiliation with your brand. In the world of events, that’s likely to be people who’ve bought tickets to your event before. Or, it might be that you’ve got an email subscriber list made up of people who actively follow your latest content and updates. Either way, sending exclusive access to early release tickets can be an effective way to boost ticket sales. If your email recipients know they’re getting an exclusive discount, they’ll be more likely to grab their tickets before prices go up.
Plus, this is a nice way to nurture your existing fans and keep them engaged with your future events.
Tip: Don’t have an email list yet? Check out our guide: 5 simple ways to build an email list for your events promo.
Celebrate customer milestones
Sending celebratory emails to loyal customers as they reach certain milestones can be a lovely way to keep them engaged with your events. For example, you could send out an email each time a customer attends a certain number of workshops or classes. And of course, you can include a sales call-to-action (CTA) in your email, too. This could look something like:
Jen, you’re officially a yogi 🧘!
You’ve attended 10 Zen with Zoe classes in a row – Yippee!
Keep the momentum going and get booked onto our spring term before it sells out:
[CTA link taking the recipient to the relevant booking page]
Alternatively, rather than pushing more sales, you could choose to celebrate customer milestones with a reward. For example:
Jen, you’re one of our most loyal fans!
You’ve attended five of our networking events.
Next time you attend [name of event], your first drink is on us.
Simply show us this QR code to redeem.
Tip: With Ticket Tailor, it’s super easy to sell extras to ticket buyers at the point of checkout. To help keep things running smoothly, you can issue QR codes to anyone who buys extras, which can be presented to redeem their add-ons at your events.
Send time-limited discounts
You can use email to send exclusive discounts to your mailing list at any time – it doesn’t have to be just something you do directly before or after your events. Sending a fun “Limited time only” deal can help to create a sense of excitement and scarcity around your event. Putting a time limit on the deal or discount gives things a more urgent feel, prompting recipients to make that spontaneous purchase so they don’t miss out. These types of emails could include a simple percentage discount, a two-for-one deal, or even bundle discounts, where recipients get a reduced rate for buying a certain number of tickets.
👀Tip: If you’re not sure which email marketing platform to use, discover what we think are the 12 best email marketing platforms right now.
Send pre-ticket sale teasers
Finally, you can use email to send enticing content to your mailing list. Think: sneak line-up previews, or inspiring video footage of past events. This tactic is all about reminding your mailing list how great your events are, and giving them a healthy dose of FOMO. When they watch a clip of last year’s festival’s headliner, or receive an exciting guest speaker announcement for your conference – they’re likely to feel excited and motivated to grab tickets now. Otherwise, they risk missing out on what is set to be an amazing experience.
Sending these types of ‘teaser’ emails before your tickets go on sale is a good way to make recipients feel even more desperate to grab their tickets when they can. Making them wait increases anticipation and could even get people talking to others about your event, boosting your promotional efforts even further.
A ticketing platform that supports your promo needs
No matter how simple or complex your event marketing strategy is – you need a ticketing platform that supports you. Ticket Tailor is designed to genuinely help event creators, while letting them hold onto as much of their precious profits as possible. When you sign up for free with us, you’ll get to enjoy:
- The lowest ticketing fees around – we just charge a simple flat fee per ticket.
- Integration with your favorite email marketing platforms, like MailChimp, Constant Contact, HubSpot and ActiveCampaign – so you can easily email your ticket buyers with reminders, follow-ups and useful information.
- Robust and easy-to-digest reporting and analytics.
- Tons of useful ticketing features from seating charts to customizable box office pages, a free check-in app and so much more 😌.
We sell ticket events of all shapes and sizes!
Don’t just take our word for it!
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