This is a guest post from George Taylor, Founder of Creative Industry United and Chief Organiser for Strictly Go Networking. He is currently the Marketing Manager for Corecom Consulting and is launching an exciting new event brand in 2015.  You can follow him on twitter @CIULondon or connect with him on LinkedIn.

Have you ever run a free event and been a little disappointed by how many people didn’t show up?

Perhaps you spent too much on food and drinks, or booked a larger venue, only for half your RSVPs to not turn up, leaving you out of pocket or the venue feeling empty.

You probably started off thinking: ‘free tickets are easier to shift than paid events.’

Although this is somewhat true, years of wisdom and experience have shown me that free events often have a higher dropout rate on the day of up to 50-60%, whilst paid events only tend to have a 10-30% drop. What this shows is that people seem to feel more ‘obligated’ when it comes to turning up to an event they have paid for.

The reason for this is that people don’t pay for things they are not interested in. If they have paid, it’s because they have an invested interest. In other words, the event is relevant to their tastes or needs, and offers some sort of value to them. However, free events come with a different kind of dilemma where although people are more likely to RSVP, they won’t necessarily turn up on the night. The reason for this is the complete opposite of paid events.

Anybody can RSVP to a free event, even if they don’t feel fully invested, but this can have implications on the night, such as spending too much money on catering of hiring a venue that is too big.

They key point to take from this article is to make people feel invested. This article will reveal some hints and tips on how you can do this and improve turnout for your free events, but most importantly, prepare you for the worst possible outcome in order to always create a successful event.

Invite Double the Amount of People

This is the most important rule of free events. If you want 100 people to turn up, base your marketing strategy around shifting 200 tickets, and don’t stop until you have reached this target.

Although it may seem like more work, it’s far easier than you think, mainly because some people get tickets just for the sake of it (because they are free), as mentioned earlier. To minimise the risk of this happening, focus your energy on your specific target audience and this way you’ll attract more ‘invested’ customers, or people that’ll find your event valuable and relevant to them.

Scarcity: Create a One off Experience

In business and in events, scarcity sells, and is one of the 6 principles of persuasion. If people knew they only had one chance to experience something that offered great value or entertainment purposes, they would take it more seriously, which is why ‘final tours’ always sell out and come at a premium price!

Learn more about how to use the 6 principle of persuasion to sell more event tickets

However, the only way to capitalise on this is to offer great value to attendees. Make sure your event clearly displays that:

1. It will only ever happen once (or at least sell the illusion that this is a ‘once in a lifetime opportunity’), and
2. Offers something of great value or entertainment to people that they can’t get elsewhere.

Offers Great Benefits and Value

As mentioned above, create an event that offers great value and display it clearly on the event page. Let’s give an example:

Imagine you are organising a product launch for a new range of makeup, and you want 100 beauty bloggers to attend. They probably get these kind of invites every week, so how are you going to ensure they turn up?

Firstly, aim to shift 200 tickets or even 250 if you want to be extra safe.

Secondly, find out what beauty bloggers want. You can do this by getting in contact with bloggers first and asking for their opinion, or try running a small survey. Survey Monkey offer a great online survey service which you can use for free (it also handily integrates with Eventbrite). This way you’ll gather the information you need from your target audience.

Let’s assume these bloggers want freebies, a good story to write about, more subscribers on their blog and to hear some advice on how to get an even bigger readership. Take all these points into consideration and throw it in the mix! Give them want they want.

Mention that you’ll be offering freebies and goodie bags, invite the biggest influencer/thought leader in that industry or area to speak (even if you have to pay for it – factor it in as part of the budget) and offer advice on how he/she became the most popular blogger in that area, and encourage/arrange for local or industry press to be there on the day.

You could run a competition where the influencer/thought leader will announce their top 5 bloggers on the day, and the number one winner wins a ‘Best Makeup Blog’ award with the chance to have their blog featured on the influencer’s Twitter or blog for a week, which will help them to gain more subscribers.

This will also generate press coverage too, potentially pushing your product into mainstream or industry press, and the winning makeup blog may get a mention also, so all parties get something out of it, including you and your business/event, as well as the attendees. The influencer and thought leader will give your event status and increase the likelihood of people attending on the day.

Communicate With Your Attendees

Another useful tip is to add extra fields to Eventbrite in order to collect more data. It might be a good idea to request phone numbers and Twitter handles. Not only can you Tweet your attendees and create a greater connection with them, increasing the chances of them turning up, but you can also phone them to thank them for getting a ticket and re-highlight the benefits of them attending.

This will also help you to keep track of who’s not attending, so you can build a stronger attendee list. Command their emotional investment and commitment. Change their perception of it being ‘just another free event,’ to, ‘OK, I really want to go to this now!’ Not enough people do this and wonder why nobody turns up!

Another tip is to email all attendees on the day of the event, reminding them that space is limited. In the email, mention the benefits of attending and express how much you are looking forward to seeing them there. This reminder on the day will typically help increase your attendance rate, as it’s so fresh in their minds, and reinforces the principle of scarcity.

Partner With another Company

If you can, team up with another company that has your target audience in abundance. This will give your event status and more people will take it seriously. If it’s a brand they are aware of, they’ll think ‘wow. That looks important…’ You should also ask for newsletter mentions (even if you have to pay for it) in return for a sponsorship-type deal where the company gets press coverage and their logo all over the marketing material and at the event on the day.

See how to run successful event marketing partnerships

If you do this, make sure this company doesn’t conflict with your product. If you’re doing a product launch, you’ll want your product and brand to be at the forefront of everything the event and marketing portrays, so you’ll have to think strategically on how you can make this happen. Don’t allow yourself to be ‘muscled out.’ Make the event be all about you and your brand. After all, that’s why you’re doing this right?

To Conclude

The best way to get more people turning up to your event is to invite double the amount of RSVP’s, create a one off experience, run a survey and build an event that offers great benefits and value to your attendees, invite the biggest influencer/thought leader in that industry or area to speak, and consider teaming up with a large membership body or reputable organisation/community within your industry or area.

Most importantly, make your message clear on the event page, invite the press and communicate with your attendees by email, phone and Twitter after collecting extra data on Eventbrite.

Good luck!

What are your tips to improve turnout for your free events?

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