INTRODUCTION
According to Campaign Monitor, automated emails generate 320% more revenue than non-automated emails. That’s because automated email campaigns are designed to customize messages and next steps based on the contact’s actions, which produces a more personalized experience.
Event venues or organizers that use Mailchimp can leverage the platform’s automated customer journeys to boost ticket sales, sell add-ons or enhance attendee experiences.
Following are some tips for how to use Mailchimp to create a drip campaign for your event.
CREATE A CUSTOMER JOURNEY
Use Mailchimp’s “Customer Journey Builder” to create an automated workflow that is customized for your event and its target audience(s).
Of note, automated customer journeys are not included with Mailchimp’s free plan, and an Essential plan only has limited automation features. It is also important to note that older Mailchimp accounts used something called “classic automations” instead of customer journeys. Classic automations may only be used by legacy accounts that previously created them, and they also can be converted to the new customer journey format.
To create a customer journey, log into your Mailchimp account and select “Automations” from the menu on the left side of the screen. From here, you can select a pre-built journey based on your objectives or create your own by clicking “Build from scratch.”
There are several pre-built journeys that could be useful for your event venue. For instance, several options integrate with event management platforms like Eventbrite, including “Welcome contacts and confirm their registration” and “Promote future events to Eventbrite signups.”
As the names suggest, the first option automatically sends an email to attendees after they register for an event on Eventbrite. The latter sends information for future events to anyone who signed up for an event on your Eventbrite account. The timing and future actions of pre-built automations can be customized, so you can use them as guides to help create your workflow.
SET UP YOUR CUSTOMER JOURNEY MAP
If you opt to create a journey from scratch, start by adding a descriptive name for your journey. Include details, such as the name of the event, objective and date(s) (e.g., Event name – ticket sales – March 2025) so you can easily identify your automated campaign later. Each journey may have up to three starting points, which is the activity or event that adds a contact to the journey.
There are several options for starting points, including “Marketing Activity” points such as when a contact opens a specific email campaign or clicks on a specific link in an email. You also could add an “API and integrations” starting point, including when a customer purchases a ticket on Eventbrite.
As briefly touched on above, journey points are the rules and actions that make up the customer journey in your drip campaign. Add them in different combinations to create a workflow that will adapt to a contact’s specific actions.
There are four primary categories of rules from which to choose.
- If/Else: Use this to split contacts down two different paths, based on an action they take. For instance, you can set up your workflow to send one message to a contact who opened a specific email about your event (e.g., “yes” condition) and another to one who didn’t (e.g., “no” condition).
- Split Path: Select this rule to A/B test content to see what contacts respond to. For instance, you can test subject lines for your event or offer two different incentives for purchasing tickets by a specific date.
- Wait for trigger: Use this to pause the journey until a contact takes a certain action. For example, you can set the trigger to fire when someone clicks a specific link in your event email or purchases a ticket for a specific event, among others. Set a time limit to move contacts to the next touchpoint if they don’t take action in the designated time frame.
- Time delay: Insert the time delay rule into your flow to pause your workflow for a contact for a specific amount of time, which can range from hours to weeks. This is ideal for sending reminders about your event or nudges to purchase tickets or add-ons, like parking.
Add actions, such as “send email” or “send SMS” to complete your workflow, and identify when a contact should exit.
If you would like to stop the automation after someone, say, purchases a ticket, your starting point could be opening an email about your event. From there, set up a “wait for trigger” for purchasing a ticket and add a time limit. Add the “send email” action as the next journey step with a thank you message or “know-before-you-go” information. Then add the “If/Else” rule associated with receiving that message. The “yes” branch should allow the contact to exit, and the “no” branch should have them continue in the flow.
COMPOSE EMAILS AND ACTIVATE YOUR JOURNEY
Before you can launch your automation, you must compose your emails (or SMS messages). Click on the action within the workflow to select a pre-designed or saved template or create a new email using drag-and-drop features. Add images, text boxes and call-to-action buttons where appropriate.
Like a traditional campaign, you will need to add a subject line and preview text along with your content. You also can choose which days and what time you would like to send your email. The defaults will be “every day” and “as soon as possible,” respectively. Update these fields as needed.
For instance, you could have your email go out every day except Saturdays and Sundays or limit the send time frame from 10 a.m. – 9 p.m. Click “Save” to add the finished email to the workflow.
Send test emails before you launch the campaign to ensure the automation looks and functions the way you would like. Click “Turn On” when you are ready to activate your journey and set a marketing objective to help Mailchimp provide more customized reporting.
MONITOR AND UPDATE YOUR JOURNEY MAP
After you launch your automation, monitor performance on a regular basis to see how contacts are responding and adjust as needed. To make changes, go to “Automations,” select “All journeys,” find the automation you would like to change and click “Pause & Edit.”
Once you make any necessary changes, click “Turn Back On” to resume the automation.
In some cases, you may want to edit a specific journey point without disrupting the automation. For instance, you may need to remove split path A/B testing, change a starting point or revise the language in an email.
Go to “Automations” and select “All journeys.” Find the desired automation and this time choose “View journey.” Click the three-dot symbol next to the journey point you would like to edit and click pause to edit that element. Click the three-dot symbol again and click “unpause” to reactivate the journey point.
Make sure to pause the automation completely when the event passes or at “hard stop” milestones like when tickets are no longer available.