The Event Email Sequence, From Announcement to Thank You

For most events, email outperforms every other channel — not because it is clever, but because it reaches people who already know you. The problem is rarely the channel; it is that events send three emails when they needed nine.

Before registration opens

1. Save the date (10–12 weeks before opening). Two lines: dates, city, "registration opens on…". It also cleans your list before the campaign that matters.
2. Registration is open (day one). The dates, the price, the deadline for early bird, and one button. Nothing else.

During the campaign

1. Programme announcement — the first speakers or the first sessions. Content is the reason to email again without repeating yourself.
2. Early bird ending, twice: one week out and on the final day. The final-day email typically produces a third of early bird sales. See early bird campaigns.
3. Agenda published — the single best-performing email most events send, because it is what people are waiting for.
4. Last chance — a week before registration closes, with what they will miss.

The ones organisers skip, which matter most

1. Know before you go (3 days out). Address, doors, what to bring, wifi, dress, the QR code, the timings. This email removes most of your inbox and most of your door problems.
2. The morning of. Two lines and the QR code again. It halves "I cannot find my ticket" at the desk — see fast check-in.
3. Thank you (within 48 hours). Slides, recordings, photos, the feedback form, and next year's date if you have it. Sent later, response rates halve.

Segment on three things only

Registered versus not, attended versus not, and ticket type. That is enough for every email above, and it is a segmentation you actually have without extra work. "Registered" people should stop receiving "register now" emails the day they register — nothing says "you are a number" more clearly.

Write subject lines that state the fact

"Agenda is live: 40 sessions across 2 days" beats "You won't want to miss this". Event audiences are professional audiences; the information is the hook.

Send from a person

A named sender and a reply address a human reads. Replies to event emails are usually questions from people about to register, and routing them to no-reply is throwing away registrations.

Gathervo sends event email from the attendee list itself, segmented by ticket type and attendance, so "everyone who registered but has not checked in" is a selection rather than an export. Try it free.