All your hard work is about to pay off. The website, the email designs, the internal discussions about the shade of blue your "RSVP" button should be, and why anyone using Internet Explorer should be directed to use a modern web browser... all that got you to today. It's time to notify your guests about your event!
The process for notifying guests will depend on whether your event is public or private. If you tested your email sends and registration/RSVP process, then you already know how you’ll notify your guests!
For a private event
- Download the Guest List upload template. We recommend copying guest information out of your spreadsheet, and into appropriate fields in our template, to minimize potential issues when uploading. It’s also helpful to remove any fields from the template you won’t be using. (Note: Event Farm doesn’t allow custom fields, so if you need to add additional information, use Check In Notes or Invitation Notes.)
- Once guest information is in the template, go to Guest List Management > Add Guests > Upload/Invite a New Group.
- Select your spreadsheet, then enter the number of invitations each guest will receive, the Access Type, and Send Invitations by Email. Then, Upload & Invite.
- Guests will be added to the Guest List, and invitations will start sending. On the Guest List, Last Action will begin to show Processed, Delivered, Opened, and other email statuses. (Curious what they mean? Learn more here.)
For a public event
- Download the Guest List upload template. We recommend copying guest information out of your spreadsheet, and into appropriate fields in our template, to minimize potential issues when uploading. It’s also helpful to remove any fields from the template you won’t be using. (Note: The Address Book only saves information related to the contact, such as name, email, company, position. Information about the event, such as Access Type, Quantity, Status, Check In Notes, Invitation Notes, and other fields will not be uploaded to the Address Book.)
- Create a group in Address Book, and upload the spreadsheet.
- In Email Communications, go to Guest Messaging, select your Send Group Message design, enter your Address Book group name, and send.
- Guests will not be added to the Guest List - for public events, guests will show on the Guest List after they register for the event. You can still make sure emails send by checking Event Reporting. Sent Messages will show the 20 most-recently sent messages (helpful when confirming emails are sending), Email Statistics will show high-level information about email statuses, and under Reports, the Event Sent Emails report will show all email sends, read status, and bounce status.
Your guests will probably have some questions, so be prepared! Some of the most common guest questions are in the following FAQs:
- Email client rendering
- Web browser rendering
- Cookies (must be enabled in guest browsers for registering and/or RSVPing to an event)
- Payment processing (for events with paid Access Types)
That’s it! Emails are sending. It’s time to grab a cup of coffee, or a celebratory muffin. Next, we’ll share information on reporting.