Stop inviting people who already said yes

Have you ever received a couple of emails inviting you to an event, finally decided to go on the third one, registered and paid, and then a few weeks later received another email inviting you to the same event?

If you are like me, that frustrates you no end. Now you have to check whether you did register, or whether your payment went missing. It also looks unprofessional, and it quietly tells your audience that the organisation sending the email isn't really listening.

The problem with one-size follow-ups

Most event promotion follows the same rhythm: an invitation, a reminder, a "last chance" email, then details for the day. When every contact receives every message, the schedule works well for the people who haven't decided yet and badly for everyone else.

• People who said yes keep being asked to say yes. What they actually need is the agenda, the speakers, and where to park.
• People who said no keep being chased, which is a fast way to earn an unsubscribe.
• People who haven't responded are the only ones the reminders were written for.

The usual workaround is to export registrations, cross-check them against your list, and build a fresh segment before every send. It's slow, it's easy to get wrong, and it has to be repeated each time someone new registers.

What the Action Responder does

The eNudge Action Responder lets you automate a different set of messages for each contact, based on the action they take. Every email in the series carries two tracked links, a "yes" and a "no", and eNudge records which one each person clicks. From then on, each message in the series is only sent to the people it was written for.

For an event, that might look like this:

• A person who chose to come receives an email closer to the day with details about the speakers, and an SMS two days ahead with parking at the venue.
• A person who can't attend is redirected to a web page asking for alternative dates they could make, and encouraging referrals.
• A person who hasn't responded yet receives a friendly reminder, and nothing more than that.

Nobody gets a message that contradicts what they've already told you.

Built on the Message Series

The Action Responder is a special type of eNudge Message Series, so it helps to understand how a series works.

A Message Series is a set of emails and/or SMS messages, each sent a set number of days before or after a trigger date. Every contact in the series has their own trigger date, so two people added a week apart each receive the same sequence on their own timeline. For an event, the trigger date is usually the event date itself, and each message is scheduled relative to it: 28 days before, 7 days before, the day after, and so on.

Each message also has its own start and end dates, so time-sensitive information is only sent within the right window, and you can add new contacts to a draft or active series at any time. They simply pick up the sequence from where their trigger date puts them.

The Action Responder adds one more rule on top: who each message goes to, based on their response.

Setting one up, step by step

1. Create a new Message Series and tick "Action Responder". In Campaign Management, click New Message Series. The Action Responder option must be ticked when you create the series.
2. Write your yes and no options. You'll see extra fields for the 'Yes' link text and 'No' link text, the words that appear in your emails, such as "Yes, I'll be there" and "Sorry, I can't make it".
3. Choose where each answer lands. Optionally add a 'Yes' URL and 'No' URL. A yes might go to a thank-you page with venue details; a no might go to a page listing other upcoming dates.
4. Add your messages and choose who receives each one. Every message has a "Send to Contacts Who:" section with three options: said yes, said no, or haven't responded. Select at least one, or the message won't be sent to anyone. For your first invitation, tick all three so everyone receives it.
5. Insert the action links. Inside each email, add the Yes Answer and No Answer personalisation fields wherever you want the choices to appear. eNudge also includes them in the email footer.
6. Add your contacts with a trigger date. Add people one at a time, add a whole category with the same trigger date, or import a CSV with an email address column and a trigger date column.
7. Set the series, and each message, to active. Nothing is sent until both the series and the individual message are active. Once a message is active it can no longer be edited, so check it carefully first.

Styling your yes and no links

Because every contact gets their own unique tracked link, eNudge adds the URL at send time. That affects how you design the choices in your email.

Planning an event series

Here's how a typical event series might be laid out, with the event date as each contact's trigger date. Each line shows when the message is sent and who it's sent to.

1. 28 days before · everyone. The invitation, with your yes and no options.
2. 14 days before · no response. A short reminder with the key details and the same two options.
3. 7 days before · yes. Speaker profiles, the agenda and an add-to-calendar link.
4. 7 days before · no response. A final call for anyone still deciding.
5. 2 days before · yes (SMS). Venue address, parking and arrival time.
6. 1 day after · yes. A thank-you, slides or recordings, and perhaps a short survey.
7. 1 day after · no. A summary of what they missed and the next date to put in their diary.

Someone who says yes to the first email never sees messages 2 or 4. Someone who says yes after the reminder moves straight onto the attendee track from that point on.

Tracking and changing responses

An Action Responder series includes an extra Action Report, accessed from the Series Details page. It lists every contact attached to the series and whether they've clicked yes, no, or haven't yet responded. It doubles as a live attendee list you can download and share with your venue or catering team.

People don't always click. Some will call or email to say they're coming. When that happens, update their response so they receive the right messages from then on:

1. Inside your Message Series, click Contacts.
2. Find the contact, and click the ID in the Edit column.
3. Scroll to the bottom, choose Yes, No or No response from the Response drop-down, and click Save Changes.

Beyond events

Any time you're asking a clear yes-or-no question and want the follow-up to depend on the answer, the Action Responder is a good fit. A few examples:

• Webinar or training registrations, with joining details for those who accept.
• Membership or subscription renewals, with a different path for "yes, renew" and "not this year".
• Volunteer call-outs, where yes leads to rostering information and no leads to other ways to help.
• Program or pilot invitations, where only the people who opt in receive the onboarding messages.

If you'd like a hand planning your first Action Responder series, call us on (03) 8525 2082 or send us a message. Our Australian team is happy to help you map it out.