Invitation emails are a terrific way to invite people to register for your event! Eventsforce gives event managers the ability 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
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 “+” button to create a new email
Enter a subject line for the email (ex: “Invitation to {{EventName}}”), 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. Name is not visible to 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, edit the email and select “Test” in the top left
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 for the purpose of sending 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 “+” icon and select “Create invitee…”
In the popup 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 “+” icon and choose “Download import template…” from the dropdown. The only information required for adding an invitee is ‘email address’.
Once the import template is complete, select the “+” and choose “Import from file…”. Select the file and import.
Note: If any errors exist, the system will import the valid rows and exclude the invalid rows. Event managers will have an 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 choose to import invitees and/or attendees from another event in Eventsforce. Event managers can import attendees (both invited and not invited), as well as invitees (both no response and declined).
To import from another event, take the following steps:
Go to People > Invitation List
Select the “+” in the top left corner
Select “Import from another event…”
Choose an event from the dropdown list
Select the checkbox(es) for the people to import
Click “Import”
Removing duplicates
If the same file is imported multiple times to your invitation list, duplicates will be created. Event managers can easily remove duplicates by clicking the ‘Tools’ dropdown 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 using the ‘Tools’ dropdown and choosing “Select all…”)
Click the “Tools” dropdown and select “Switch attendee category…”
Select the category from the dropdown list
Click “Switch”
The email template assigned will determine which email the invitee receives. For events that are not using attendee categories, invitees may all receive the same invitation email (email template). To assign an email template:
Go to People > Invitation List
Select one or multiple invitees (selecting multiple by holding ‘CRTL/Command’ or using the ‘Tools’ dropdown and choosing “Select all…”)
Click the “Tools” dropdown and select “Switch email template…”
Select the email template from the dropdown list
Click “Switch”
Note: If sending different invitation emails to invitees, the assigning of 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” in order to send invitations.
When ready, invitations can be sent by taking the following steps:
Go to People > Invitations List
Select all invitees using the ‘Tools’ dropdown and choosing ‘Select all…”
Use the ‘Tools’ dropdown 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 who has already been 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 in the event.
If a booker wants to register on behalf of a group, they should be provided with the standard ‘event URL’.