rsvp-service

When it comes to corporate events, many companies are under the impression that their RSVP services are an afterthought. They see them as a ‘nice to have’, not as an essential. Unfortunately, this thinking results in corporate events that are laborious to plan, disorganised, and rarely successful in meeting both the brand’s marketing objectives, as well as their guests’ expectations.

It’s time to change your mind-set about the cost of RSVP services vs the cost of the event.

The RSVP process is actually as or more important than the event itself. Without a solid foundation on which to plan and build your events, there’s little chance that they’ll succeed. It’s high time that corporate event planners started to take the RSVP process – and the tools they’re using to organise it – seriously.

The quality of your events is directly related to the quality of the tools you’re using to plan and execute them. If you’ve got the right kind of RSVP services at your disposal, you’re able to:

• Create online invitations that are a cut above the rest

Besides having access to talented graphic designers and professional copywriters, you’ll be assured that your invitations are delivered. We use an international white-listing company, SendGrid, to ensure that your invitations land in the right inboxes.

• Conduct a seamless RSVP process

From the initial ‘Save the Date’ to the post-event survey and report, our RSVP services enable you to streamline the entire process as all event data is collected and securely stored in one easy-to-use place.

• Collect crucial information about your guests

Having the right data on hand is the only way to create an event that resonates and engages your audience. If you’re attempting to profile your guest list manually, you’re not only in for a laborious undertaking, but will miss out on valuable information collected during the RSVP process too.

• Conduct a post event survey

Our RSVP services give you access to this crucial tool; gathering guest feedback and additional information for future events is vital to your wider marketing objectives.

• Collate all of this data into a comprehensive, accurate post-event report

Being able to provide your clients with a post-event report that’s based on hard data is crucial. In an age of ever shrinking budgets and growing marketing demands, accurate reporting instead of feedback based on a guesstimate is a non-negotiable.

Pouring a substantial amount of money into an event, while ignoring the importance of proper RSVP services is futile.

Investing a large amount of money in a corporate event, in the hopes that the flashiest venue, décor and catering will woo your guests is not only naïve; it’s risky too. Without the help of professional RSVP services, managing the RSVP process, the event itself, as well as the post-event communication, is incredibly difficult. Find out why leading international and local brands rely on our RSVP services, here.

The frenetic pace at which we conduct our lives means that we’re constantly on the go, and multi-tasking throughout the day. This has resulted in our need to be connected 24/7, regardless of where we are, and whatever we happen to be doing. The ever- increasing reliance on our mobile devices means that we can communicate no matter what we’re doing. It’s now become the norm to check our emails on our phones as we hurry between work and family commitments – something event managers need to keep in mind when sending out invitations.

In 2012, The Litmus Group found that 38% of email is checked from a mobile device, and this figure is bound to have increased when you consider that our lives are busier than ever before.

Deciding whether or not to attend an event hinges on these three factors:

 1.    Whether or not they have existing plans
The first thing a guest will consider is if he or she is available. This is often done via a mobile calendar. People often have shared, personal calendars with a spouse or significant other, that are kept either at home or offline, which means they’ll first need to first follow up with their other half before committing to an event.

2.    Establishing if their colleagues are planning on attending
Nobody wants to attend an event on their own. Arriving solo and then having to make small talk with a bunch of strangers isn’t anybody’s idea of a good time, so guests will first check if they know anyone else who’s going before they RSVP.

3.    Researching the brand and the event they’ve been invited to
Guests want to know whether your event is something they’d like to go to or not – and will usually do some online investigating to establish what the event can offer them, whether in terms of guest speakers, networking opportunities, or entertainment value.

It’s important that you take these factors into consideration when compiling a guest list.

As well as having to consider the three factors we’ve listed above, they may also forget to respond if they opened your invitation on a mobile device while on the go.

A recent study by the Radicati Group found that the average corporate user sends and receives 105 emails a day – which means that the chance of your event invitation getting lost amidst the other 104 emails they’ve received is high – especially if they received it on their mobile, and first want to run through the three considerations above

Using the services of an RSVP agency will ensure that even if your guest has in fact, forgotten about your invite, they’ll be reminded of your event.

A professional RSVP service offers the following RSVP services that up your response rates, save you money, and most importantly, time:

• Ensure you receive the maximum amount of RSVP’s using a variety of different techniques. As demonstrated above, the RSVP process can’t rely solely on email. An RSVP service will follow up with phone call, or any other alternative method on your behalf in order to establish why someone hasn’t responded, and if they are in fact planning on attending your event.
• Optimise your email invitations This is in order to ensure that your email lands in the inbox of your intended recipient (and doesn’t get marked as spam) and that it can be read using whatever type of email software or device used by your guest.
• Conduct response optimisation This will ensure that it’s as easy as possible for a person to respond to an invitation by making sure that your call to action is engaging enough in order to elicit a positive response.
• Consistently monitor your guest list An RSVP service will constantly review your guest list in the run up to the event. If they notice that there’s an impending shortage of attendees, they’ll cross off guests from “List A” who’ve declined, and replace them with a new guest taken from the “B” list. They’ll also resend invites every few days to make sure that they are in fact being seen.
• Offer real-time reporting so that the event can be better planned.  For example – the amount of catering needed, how much seating is required, how many hosts there will be and the seniority of said hosts – you don’t want your CEO to take time out to host an event, only to find that the audience consists solely of interns.
• Remind guests about the event the day and/or week before
• Thank guests for their attendance, and ask for their feedback and evaluation of the event.

If you want to streamline your RSVP process and ensure its success, it’s vital that you employ the services of an RSVP agency.

The management of guests lists is often neglected and then becomes the responsibility of the event manager – who already has enough on their plate as they’re busy organising the logistics of the event. The time-consuming task of the RSVP process, and the need to do it correctly has given rise to the outsourcing of RSVP services growing in popularity.

Image Credit: FMI Group