Think event email marketing is dead? Think again, said Jay Schwedelson, founder of GURU Media Hub and podcast host of Do This, Not That: For Marketers, during a recent Women in Exhibitions Network (WIEN) North America meeting in January.  

Back story: In the last 12 months, Schwedelson has participated in or hosted more than 2,000 webinars and 157 in-person events. His company produces the Guru Conference, which attracted more than 24,100 marketers, and the Delivered Conference that drew more than 7,400 marketers. In June, he’s launching Eventastic, which is touted as the largest event about events. 

Here are eight takeaways he shared at the recent WIEN meeting. The full presentation can be found here. 

1. Write in first person. Call to action buttons written in first person increase click-through rates by 28%, he said. Think “I’m in” vs. “Register now.” Other ideas: “Count me in”, “I’m so there”, “Save my seat”, “Don’t start without me”, “Make room for me”, and “Let’s do this—I'm ready.” 

2. Reach the regionals. Email open rates for contacts within 100 miles of an event are 49% higher than out of radius contacts, Schwedelson said. “Increase sending frequency to this audience,” he advised. 

3. Leverage bounces. Emails that bounce should be sent to account executives to find out who took their role. Most likely, the company is still interested even if the previous attendee or prospect has left.  

4. Use quantifiable testimonials in subject lines. Conversion rates increase over 15% on event offer destination pages when quantifiable testimonials are used vs. generic ones, he said. Forget subject lines that start with learn, discover, register, reminder, find out, or join. 

5. Send more emails. On average, 81% of B2B and 89% of B2C organizations send four emails per month. He recommends sending at least five emails per month. “When you send at least five emails per month, open rates increase 17% for consumers and 21% for businesses,” he said. “This will continue to rise because deliverability is based on engagement now.” 

6. Share content teasers from speakers. Ask speakers to record a 30-second video teaser that features one highlight or tip from their presentation. “When every third email focuses on real content vs. registration promotion, the following send has a 37% higher open rate,” he said. 

7. Use ChatGPT. Upload your email copy to refine it and to predict A/B email test winners. “We uploaded 200 campaigns where we already knew which version did better, and ChatGPT picked the real winner correctly 88% of the time,” he said. “You can upload up to 10 emails at once. 

8. Send emails on the weekends. Do you read email on the weekends? There has been a 23% surge in weekend web traffic from CEOs, CFOs, CIOs, CMOs and VPs of Sales, according to Design Rush B2B Weekend Study. “B2B weekend email click-through rates have gone up 62% from October 2023 to October 2024,” Schwedelson said.