The most important event email marketing campaign that you should use for every event you sell tickets to is a cart abandonment campaign. This type of email marketing campaign is referred to as remarketing because it gives you an opportunity to promote your event to people who have already expressed interest in it.
For shopping cart abandonment campaigns, you’re promoting your event via email to people who already put tickets to your event in their online shopping carts from your ticket sales page but didn’t complete the purchase. It’s an extremely effective way of increasing ticket sales for your events!
How Cart Abandonment Email Marketing Campaigns Work
Cart abandonment email marketing is very easy to do if your digital shopping cart (which is the application you use to sell tickets online to your event) integrates with your email marketing software (or you use one application for both ticket sales and email marketing). For example, if you use AttendStar to sell tickets to your event, you can send abandoned cart email messages directly from within the AttendStar application or you can integrate MailChimp or ActiveCampaign with AttendStar to send messages through either of those email marketing platforms.
Once you confirm that you have the technology in place to send abandoned cart email messages, you need to set up a tracking process, so your email marketing tool knows when to send abandoned cart campaigns and to whom. Again, make sure your ticketing provider and email marketing platform play nicely together! If you use AttendStar to sell tickets to your events, the support team can help you set this up.
Next, you need to write your messages and get them set up in your email marketing tool, so the right messages are automatically sent at the right time after someone abandons their shopping cart before completing their ticket purchase.
Creating Cart Abandonment Email Marketing Messages
A cart abandonment email marketing campaign can include one or more messages. I typically recommend including at least three messages for an event because you only have one chance to convert each prospective ticket buyer. Unlike retailers who can continue to market to potential customers all year, you have a limited window to do so. Multiple email messages sent as part of your cart abandonment email campaign can do wonders to motivate people who are thinking of buying tickets to click the purchase button and complete the transaction.
Following is a sequence of three messages you could send after someone abandons their shopping cart from your ticket sales page. Keep in mind, the timing of when each of these messages is sent can be set up in your email marketing application. Just make sure you adjust the time between messages as your event date gets closer. Sending out an abandoned cart email campaign with three messages that are sent over the course of seven days won’t help you much if your event is just two days away.
Message #1: Did You Forget?
When someone abandons the shopping cart on your ticket sales page after putting tickets in it, a message should be sent out immediately asking them if they forgot to complete their purchase and providing a link to complete the transaction. This is a gentle reminder message, so don’t use hard sales messages in your copy. Instead, make it as easy as possible for the recipient to complete their transaction.
Message #2: Reminder
One or two days after the first message is sent, you should send another reminder message, but this reminder message should be more promotional than the first. In this message, you should remind recipients of everything they’ll miss if they don’t attend your event. Tap into their fear of missing out and hype the benefits of attending.
Message #3: Time’s Running Out
Three days after the second message goes out, you should follow up with a fourth message that again hypes the benefits of the event and evokes the fear of missing out. You could include a discount in this message or you can add a fourth message with the discount offer in your campaign sequence. The fourth message can go out three days after the third message.
Also, consider offering related items in your third message. If the recipient really doesn’t want to buy tickets, can you convince them to buy merchandise related to this event or tickets to another event you’re holding? Retailers often include messages in online shopping carts and follow-up email messages after a customer makes an online purchase with messages saying, “We saw you liked this item and thought you might like this other item, too.” You can do the same thing. If you’ve ever purchased anything from Amazon, then you’ve seen these related items messages, and they work very well.
Your Next Steps to Sell More Tickets with an Abandoned Cart Email Marketing Campaign
Abandoned cart email marketing campaigns are just one of many email marketing campaigns you can send to boost ticket sales. Check with your ticketing provider and email marketing application provider to learn how you can get started with this form of remarketing.
If your budget allows, I highly recommend that you hire a professional copywriter with expertise in email marketing to write your messages for you. A well-crafted message will drive better results than a poorly-written and designed message.
If you need help with your event ticketing or event marketing, call AttendStar at 615-223-1973 or use the contact form to get started.
