Invitation emails are a terrific way to invite people to register for your event! Eventsforce allows event managers to create and send invitation emails to invitees. Unique invitation emails can be set up for different attendee categories.

This article will cover the following:

Creating invitation emails
Adding invitees
Removing duplicates
Assigning a category and email template to invitees
Sending invitation emails
Registration process for invitees

Creating invitation emails

Eventsforce provides a default ‘invitation’ email and ‘invitation reminder’ email. The same email can be sent to all invitees, or event managers can create different invitation emails for different invitees or attendee categories.

To create a new invitation email, take the following steps:

Go to Email > Templates
Click the Plus Icon to create a new email
Enter a subject line for the email (ex: “Invitation to {{EventName}}”). The subject is visible to email recipients
Enter a name for the email (ex: “Invitation email (Attendees)”) to help event managers identify the email on the backend. The name is not visible to the recipients
Add email content by typing, pasting text or source code, inserting email tags, etc.
Add an “Accept Invite” button by clicking the “Accept Invite” email tag. The ‘Accept Invite’ text can be changed like normal text in the editor
Click “Save”
To test, Click the Edit Icon next to the email and click “Test”

Note: When multiple attendee categories are used, event managers may want to create a separate email for each attendee type. Adding the category name to the ‘email name’ will help event managers identify the email when sending.

Adding invitees

The invitation list is used to send out invitation emails. Invitees can be added in the following ways:

Adding invitees as a one-off manually
Import invitees from a file
Import invitees from another event

Adding invitees as a one-off

To create new invitees manually, take the following steps:

Go to People > Invitation List
Click the Plus Icon and select “Create invitee…”
In the pop-up window, enter the ‘Email’ (mandatory), ‘First name’ (optional), ‘Last name’ (optional), and ‘Company’ (optional)
Choose an attendee category (optional at this stage) and email template (optional at this stage)
Click “Create”

Note: Email address is the only mandatory field when adding invitees.

Importing invitees from a file

To download the import template, go to People > Invitation List, select the Plus Icon and choose “Download import template…” from the dropdown. The only information required to add an invitee is an email address.

Once the import template is complete, select the Plus Icon and choose “Import from file…”. Select the file and import.

Note: If errors exist, the system will import the valid rows and exclude the invalid rows. Event managers will have the option to download a report of failed records for troubleshooting. The invalid data will be highlighted with *asterisks*.

Importing invitees from another event

Event managers can import invitees and/or attendees from another event in Eventsforce. Event managers can import attendees (both invited and uninvited) and invitees (both no response and declined).

To import from another event, take the following steps:

Go to People > Invitation List
Click the Plus Icon
Select “Import from another event…”
Choose an event from the dropdown list
Select the checkbox(es) for the people to import
Click “Import”

Importing invitees from the Simpleview CRM

If your organization has the Simpleview CRM Integration, event managers can import invitees from the Simpleview CRM using the following steps:

Go to People > Invitation List
Click the Plus Icon
Select ‘Import from CRM…’
In the confirmation pop-up, select ‘Import’ to continue importing the invitee list
Review the invitee imports and updates
Click ‘Ok’

Notes:

Any attendees already added to your event in Eventsforce will be updated, if applicable, and not duplicated. After importing the list from the Simpleview CRM, a pop-up details the total number of invitees successfully imported and the total number of attendee records updated. If you have updated attendee information in the CRM after an initial import, re-import the list to reflect the changes in Eventsforce.
The attendee’s assigned ‘Attendee Type’ in the CRM will be imported into Eventsforce as their ‘Attendee Category’. If the category does not already exist for the event in Eventsforce, it will be created. This process does not create tickets or associate the new category with a ticket. You must assign the new category a ticket. If the attendee has already registered, their category will not be changed.
If the attendee’s ‘Send Email’ checkbox is unchecked in the CRM, the attendee will be imported with a status of ‘Unsubscribed’. Their email address will be added to the unsubscribe list for Eventsforce. If you check the ‘Send Email’ box after an initial attendee import and re-import the list, the attendee will not be removed from the unsubscribe list.

Removing duplicates

Duplicates will be created if the same file is imported multiple times to your invitation list. Event managers can easily remove duplicates by clicking the Spanner Icon and selecting “Remove duplicates…”.

The system will remove all duplicate unregistered invitees with the same email address. The most recent invitee added will be removed.

Assigning attendee category and email template

After the event manager has created the invitation emails (email templates) and assigned the optional categories to invitees, the invitation emails are now ready to be sent!

Invitees can be assigned an attendee category to restrict which tickets are available for booking. Bookers will only see tickets for the attendee category they are associated with. Assign an attendee category by doing the following:

Go to People > Invitation List
Select one or multiple invitees (selecting multiple by holding ‘CRTL/Command’ or clicking the Spanner Icon and choosing “Select all…”)
Click the Spanner Icon and select “Change attendee category…”
Select the category from the dropdown list
Click “Change”

The email template assigned will determine which email the invitee receives. Invitees may receive the same invitation email (email template) for events that do not use attendee categories. To assign an email template:

Go to People > Invitation List
Select one or multiple invitees (selecting multiple by holding ‘CRTL/Command’ or clicking the Spanner Icon and choosing “Select all…”)
Click the Spanner Icon and select “Change email template…”
Select the email template from the dropdown list
Click “Change”

Note: If sending different invitation emails to invitees, assigning the email template should be done in batches. Use the page filters to show just one attendee category, then select all and assign the email template. Repeat until all invitees have an email template assigned.

Sending invitation emails

After invitation emails (email templates) have been created and tested and categories assigned to invitees (optional), the invitation emails are now ready to be sent!

Before sending your invitations, we strongly recommend ensuring your event has been tested thoroughly. Additionally, the event must be “Live” to send invitations.

When ready, invitations can be sent by taking the following steps:

Go to People > Invitations List
Select all invitees by clicking the Spanner Icon and ‘Select all…”
Click the Spanner Icon and select “Send emails now…”
If needed, edit the sender email address (populated from Emails > Settings), and/or add a ‘Display name’ (max 50 characters)
Click “Send” to send the invite immediately

Event managers can use the “Invitation status” filter when sending additional invitation emails to exclude anyone already invited.

Note: Invitation emails cannot be sent if the event has a status of “Not live”, or there are invitees with no email template assigned.

Registration process for invitees

When attendees are invited to an event, their “Accept Invite” button forces them to proceed with a single booking, even if group booking is allowed.

If a booker wants to register on behalf of a group, they should be provided with the standard ‘event URL’.