An event reminder email template needs five things before any design: the event name and date
in the subject line, the start time with its time zone, the place or the join link, the one
thing the person has to do before arriving, and a way to cancel or pass the place to a
colleague. An event invitation email template does a different job. It goes to people who have
not registered and is judged by registrations, while a reminder goes to people who have
registered and is judged by who came.

This page gives you copy for six sends, a timing rule tied to your catering guarantee date, and
a test of whether a reminder changed attendance. Copy the text from the page and replace the
brackets.

## What is the difference between an invitation and a reminder?

The audience and the measure. An invitation goes to people who have not registered. A reminder
goes to people who have.

**Invitation.** Sent to people on a target list who have not registered. Its measure is
registrations from that list.

**Deadline follow-up.** Often called a reminder to register. It is still an invitation: it
goes only to invited people who have not registered.

**Reminder.** Sent to registrants. Its measures are check-ins and releases.

**Release.** A registrant who cancels before the event. If the cancellation arrives before the
guarantee date, the place comes out of the count you guarantee to the caterer. A transfer to a
colleague keeps the place and changes the name on it.

**No-show.** A registration with no check-in and no cancellation.

Give every send one audience and one measure, and write both beside its date in the delivery
calendar of your [event marketing plan](https://eventiq.io/md/templates/event-marketing-plan).

## When should each email go out?
| Send | Goes to | When | Job | Measure |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1. Invitation | Target list, not registered | When registration opens | Who it is for, what they get, date, price, link | Registrations from the list |
| 2. Deadline follow-up | Invited, still not registered | 3 to 5 days before a price or capacity deadline, and inside the final 4 weeks | Give one real reason to act now | Registrations in the days after the send |
| 3. Confirmation | Each new registrant | At registration | Receipt, calendar file, cancellation and transfer rule | Delivered, with bounces corrected |
| 4. Reminder with reconfirmation | Registrants in the segments your rule selects | At least 2 business days before the final guarantee date | A request to confirm or release the place | Releases received before the guarantee date |
| 5. Day-before reminder | Every registrant who has not canceled | 24 hours before doors open | When, where, what to bring, who to call | Check-ins |
| 6. No-show follow-up | Registered, no check-in, no cancellation | 1 to 3 business days after the event | Share the materials and ask one question | Replies, and registrations for the next edition |
For a webinar, replace send 4 with a plain reminder and add a send one hour before the start
with the join link and the time zone.

Invitations do not stop a month out. The Maritz Registration Insights Report analyzed more than
360,000 registration records across 30 trade shows and found that in 2023, 45% of registrants
signed up in the final 4 weeks before the event, 29% in the final 2 weeks, and 9% on site
([PCMA Convene](https://www.pcma.org/rethinking-early-bird-pricing-other-event-registration-strategies/)).
Those are registration records from trade shows, not a survey and not association conferences,
so check the shape against your own curve. If your room also arrives late, keep the deadline
follow-up running through the final four weeks.

The reconfirmation request is tied to a contract date. Your caterer needs a final count by a
set day, and a release that arrives after it saves nothing. The
[event budget template](https://eventiq.io/md/blog/event-budget-template) shows where that date sits among the other
commitments.

**Latest reconfirmation send date = Final guarantee date − Reply window of at least 2 business days**

Then decide who gets it. Write this rule down before registration opens:

- Every registrant gets the day-before reminder.
- A segment gets the reconfirmation request if it paid nothing, or if its attendance rate at
  your last comparable event was below the rate you plan the guarantee on.
- With no history, send it to every free registration this cycle and record the result.

## What does an event invitation email say?

**Send 1: invitation.**

> **Subject:** [Event name], [date], [city]: registration is open
>
> Hi [first name],
>
> [Event name] takes place on [day, date] at [venue, city]. It is built for [role or segment],
> and this year's program covers [topic 1] and [topic 2].
>
> What you get: [number] sessions, [named speaker], and [one specific outcome, such as
> continuing education credits].
>
> The rate is [price] until [deadline date], then [next price].
>
> Register here: [link]
>
> [Sender name, title, reply address]

**Send 2: deadline follow-up.**

> **Subject:** [Event name]: the [price] rate ends [day, date]
>
> Hi [first name],
>
> You were invited to [Event name] on [date] and have not registered yet. The [rate name] rate
> of [price] ends on [day, date] at [time, time zone]. After that it is [next price].
>
> New since the first invitation: [one fact, such as a confirmed speaker or an added session].
>
> Register here: [link]

Send it only for a deadline that exists. If your price does not change, use a capacity limit
such as workshop seats, as the [early bird registration](https://eventiq.io/md/blog/early-bird-pricing) page
describes.

**Send 3: confirmation.**

> **Subject:** You are registered: [Event name], [day, date]
>
> Hi [first name],
>
> You are registered for [Event name] on [day, date], [start time, time zone], at [venue, city].
>
> Registration type: [type]. Amount paid: [amount]. Receipt: [link]  
> Add it to your calendar: [calendar file link]
>
> You can cancel or transfer your place until [date]: [link]. [Refund rule in one sentence.]

## What does an event reminder email say?

**Send 4: reminder with reconfirmation.**

> **Subject:** [Event name] is on [day, date]: please confirm your place
>
> Hi [first name],
>
> You are registered for [Event name] on [day, date], [start time, time zone], at [venue,
> address].
>
> Please tell us by [day, date] whether you are coming:
>
> Yes, I will be there: [link]  
> I can't make it, release my place: [link]  
> Send a colleague in my place: [link]
>
> We order catering and print badges from this count, so a "no" helps us as much as a "yes".
>
> [Sender name, reply address that a person reads]

**Send 5: day-before reminder.**

> **Subject:** Tomorrow: [Event name], [start time, time zone], [venue]
>
> Hi [first name],
>
> [Event name] starts tomorrow, [day, date], at [start time, time zone].
>
> Where: [venue, address, entrance, map link]  
> Check-in: opens at [time] at [location]. Have your [ticket code or ID] ready.
>
> Plans changed? Release or transfer your place: [link]  
> Questions on the day: [phone number or address that is staffed]

**Send 6: no-show follow-up.**

> **Subject:** We missed you at [Event name]
>
> Hi [first name],
>
> You were registered for [Event name] on [date] and we have no check-in for you. If that is
> wrong, reply and we will correct the record.
>
> The [slides, recordings, or summary] are here: [link]
>
> One question, so we can plan the next one better. What kept you from coming? [Schedule
> conflict] [Travel or cost] [The program changed] [Other]

Send 6 needs a list that exists only after you join registrations to check-ins. Build it from
the door record, as [event attendance tracking](https://eventiq.io/md/blog/event-attendance-tracking) describes, and
remove anyone who canceled.

## How do you know whether a reminder worked?

Read it by check-ins and releases. Opens and clicks tell you the email was seen. They do not
tell you whether the person came.

**Valid registrations = Registrations − Cancellations and releases before the event**

**No-shows = Valid registrations − Check-ins**

**Release rate = Releases before the guarantee date ÷ Registrations in the group**

**Empty places avoided = No-shows in the comparison group − No-shows in the test group**

**Cost avoided = Extra releases received before the guarantee date × Committed cost per head**

The attendance rate itself is check-ins divided by valid registrations. The
[event attendance rate](https://eventiq.io/md/blog/event-attendance-rate) page has the formula by segment.

To isolate the effect of one email, run a split. Divide one segment at random into two equal
groups and record who is in which before the send. Both groups get the day-before reminder,
because nobody should miss the logistics for the sake of a test. One group also gets the
reconfirmation request. After the event, match each group's list to the check-in record by
email and compare.

## Example: a reconfirmation test on 300 free registrations

Take a one-day regional summit with 300 free registrations and a committed catering cost of
$140 per head. All figures are hypothetical. The free segment is split at random into two
groups of 150, and every release arrives before the guarantee date.
| Group | Registrations | Releases before guarantee date | Valid registrations | Check-ins | No-shows | Attendance rate |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Day-before reminder only | 150 | 6 | 144 | 81 | 63 | 56% |
| Reconfirmation plus day-before reminder | 150 | 24 | 126 | 90 | 36 | 71% |
The release rate is 24 ÷ 150 = 16% with the request and 6 ÷ 150 = 4% without it. Empty places
avoided are 63 − 36 = 27. Of those, 18 are extra releases (24 − 6) and 9 are extra check-ins
(90 − 81).

Cost avoided is 18 × $140 = $2,520 on half the segment. Had all 300 received the request at the
same rates, the guarantee would have been 36 places lower than with the day-before reminder
alone, which is $5,040.

Two cautions belong in the write-up. The first is the denominator. The attendance rate rose from
56% to 71%, and most of that rise comes from fewer valid registrations. Against the original
150, check-ins went from 81 ÷ 150 = 54% to 90 ÷ 150 = 60%. Report both figures.

The second caution is chance. A gap of 9 check-ins between two groups of 150 is small enough to
be noise. The gap in releases, 24 against 6, is much harder to explain that way. The finding to
carry forward is that the request lowers the count you guarantee. Whether it also brings more
people into the room stays open until you repeat the test.

## Which mistakes make a reminder useless?

**A stale list.** The deadline follow-up goes to people who already registered because the
exclusion list was pulled last week. Pull the registrant list on the day of every send.

**No way out.** A reminder without a release link turns someone who knows they are not coming
into a no-show you pay for.

**A time without a time zone, or a link to the event home page.** The link should open the
person's own registration or the join page.

**One blended rate.** Paid and free registrants behave differently, and a single attendance
rate across both hides the segment the reminder was for.

## What to do this quarter

- List every send for your next event with its audience, date, and measure.
- Find the final guarantee date in the catering contract and set the reconfirmation send at
  least 2 business days before it.
- Add release and transfer links to every reminder, and name who processes them.
- Pick one segment, split it at random, and write down the split before the send.
- After the event, join registrations to check-ins, send the no-show follow-up, and record the
  attendance rate and release rate by segment.

## Common questions

### How many reminder emails should you send before an event?

Two cover an in-person event: the reconfirmation request ahead of the guarantee date and the
logistics reminder the day before. A webinar adds one an hour before the start. Any further
send needs new information, such as a room change.

### What is a good subject line for an event reminder email?

The event name, the day, and the start time. A registrant should know when to be there without
opening the email. Put "Tomorrow" or the weekday first when the event is close.

### Should paid registrants get a reconfirmation request?

They get the day-before reminder. Someone who paid has a cost for not coming, so check your own
paid attendance rate first. If it is already at or above the rate you plan the guarantee on,
the extra email buys little.

## Where EventIQ fits

EventIQ replaces nothing. It connects on top of the platforms you already run: event platforms
(Cvent, Zoom, Swapcard), CRM (Salesforce, HubSpot, GoHighLevel), and marketing (Google Ads, Meta
Ads, LinkedIn Ads, Mailchimp, Google Analytics). Platforms with an API outside that list are
connected on request.

EventIQ does not send email. Invitations, reminders, and the no-show follow-up go out from your
registration platform or your email tool, and the copy on this page is yours to paste there.

EventIQ holds the outcome. Registrations from Cvent arrive with their date, ticket type, and
price where the platform provides them, along with a check-in mark. Registrations and check-ins
are kept as separate records, so who registered and did not check in is a comparison you can run
on them. Attendees are matched to CRM contacts by exact email, and each record keeps
the result: matched, unmatched, or no email.

Three limits. Cvent is the only registration source: Zoom brings attendance and time in
session, without registrants per webinar, so registered against attended for a webinar is a
comparison you run on your own Zoom report. Mailchimp brings the type and status of a send,
with no opens, clicks, or audience, so EventIQ cannot tell which registrant received which
reminder, and the release rate, the attendance rate, and the split comparison are calculations
you run yourself. And EventIQ makes no recommendations, so the rule for who gets a
reconfirmation request is yours.

[Book a demo](https://eventiq.io/#early-access) to see who registered and who checked in on a sample event, in a
20-minute demo.

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HTML version: https://eventiq.io/templates/event-reminder-emails