Ask any couple’s therapist and they’ll tell you the key to a successful relationship is communication. Of course, this extends beyond our personal lives and into the world of venue-guest relationships.

Arts and entertainment organizations can send out over a dozen communications each week to their audiences. While open rates for most promotional communications (those that encourage you to buy something) sit around 33%, transactional communications (those that provide information about something you’ve already purchased) can see open rates of 70-80%, based on Activity Stream’s analytics for Q4 2024.

If these transactional messages are being opened at over 2x the rate of promotional communications, we should probably make sure they’re providing information in the best way, no?

The Message Flow

Before we get into the content of these messages, let’s get some definitions straight and talk about what you’re trying to accomplish with each message.

Event communications (the aforementioned “transactional messages” can be easily broken down into two categories: pre-show (sent before the event starts and post-show (sent after the event ends). Each message category has two missions: to provide and/or acquire relevant information, and to make sure that your organization’s brand is clearly present (since, again, these messages get a TON of engagement).

Pre-show emails: “Know Before You Go”

“Planning your visit”, “{{ event.name }} is coming up!”, “We can’t wait to see you!” – you know the email. Pre-show emails are practically as old as live events themselves. They provide necessary information to your guests, remind them of how to get in touch with you, and are probably saturated with feedback and content from every single department at your organization (and several other organizations, perhaps?).

So, what are we actually trying to accomplish with a pre-show email? Let’s look back at the mission statement behind all event communications:

  1. Provide and/or acquire relevant information, and 
  2. Present your organization’s brand and voice

Perfect! So, in the world of pre-show messages, what type of information could we be looking to provide?

  • Show information (name/performer, date/time, program, content warnings)
  • Venue information (address, policies, accessibility options)
  • Visitor information (directions, parking, FAQs, other offerings)

Please note: mileage may vary. Your organization might want to specifically include information about weather, safety, or access procedures, or other things that may be more unique to your situation. Maybe including parking information is irrelevant because you’re in a city and you know that 90+% of people arrive via public transportation. Maybe you want to include a mention of your restaurant, cafe, or lack thereof. But you get the idea – include information that people need to know in order to make the most of their experience.

Presenting your brand and voice via email can be a bit of a trickier task. Whether or not you’ve begun to delve into the world of brand-archetype exploration, you should at least have an idea of the type of voice your organization usually speaks with. Is it warm, welcoming, and caring? Or excited, frenetic, and passionate? Maybe you’re sly, mysterious, and sarcastic, or adventurous and triumphant. Any of those traits can fit perfectly into providing necessary information to visitors, and you certainly shouldn’t shy away from it on behalf of your archetype (unless you’re that restaurant where the waiters are rude to you, in which case your brand attributes might be “unhelpful, rude, and kinda-funny-but-not-really”). Some quick collaboration between your marketing, ticketing, and front-of-house teams will help you find the right way to convey the information you need to.

So, what could these emails look like? We’re so glad you asked, check out our guide to crafting pre-show emails here. 


Pre-show SMS

This might be a new one for some, but let’s talk about the utility of an email vs. an SMS:

 

I’m sure there are more pros & cons to each, but you can start to see how SMS communications can have an advantage over email in certain situations. Want to provide all the info that someone could need and allow them to act on it? Email’s great at that. Need to communicate one or two absolutely essential bits of information? I’d worry about that getting lost in an email, but I’m pretty confident in a text message.

Don’t have SMS capabilities integrated with your ticketing system? Check out crowdEngage!

But wait, that sample email was pretty comprehensive – what information should be sent via SMS instead of via email? 

Well, nothing really! There’s no reason that information only has to exist in one place and, in fact, your most critical information should be shared via both. What information are people going to need at their fingertips as they arrive at your show? It all depends on your organization, but things like digital tickets, directions, and FAQs are a good place to start. Again, remember, we’re trying to 

  1. Provide and/or acquire relevant information, and
  2. Present your organization’s brand and voice

So, how do you provide all of that information in one text message without exceeding character limits or sending a wall of text for someone to read through?

Enter: crowdEngage’s digital ticket

Instead of trying to communicate everything in one text message, let’s take the same approach we did in that email and link out to essential information. But, you don’t want to include 3 or 4 different links in a text – which is why crowdEngage consolidates all of the necessary event information into one progressive web app:

That’s all you need to say! “Here’s a link to your tickets, you can also pre-order from the bar and get other information right at that link.” It’s a one-stop-shop for your visitor’s event needs, and makes SMS communications a practical way to communicate with your audience.

 


Optimize Your Event Communications with crowdEngage

Effective event communication is all about providing the right information at the right time while reinforcing your brand’s voice. Whether it’s through email or SMS, ensuring a seamless flow of information helps you build stronger relationships with your audience. Want to enhance your pre-show and post-show messaging? Learn more about how crowdEngage can streamline your event communications here.