Today’s guest post is from Holly Barber at FireText, an SMS platform in the UK.

Putting on an event can be a worry, especially if it’s free. You spend months planning every detail and just when you think the stress is almost over you start to wonder if all the people who have registered will actually show up.

We rely on our phones to tell us where we need to be, at what time and how to get there. A friendly reminder in the lead-up to an event can go a long way to ensure guests show up and ultimately that your event is the success it should be. With an open rate of 98%, SMS is the perfect way to update your guests on special announcements, confirm details or engage in conversation helping you to boost attendance.

In particular, if the schedule changes at the last minute SMS is definitely the way to go, because you can be confident that virtually everyone will read it straight away.  How many texts do you receive that you don’t read?

Here are our top tips for making the most of SMS for your event:

Personalise: When you’re sending a message to thousands of people, it’s easy to forget that each one will be read individually. Using the person’s name will grab their attention and make them feel instantly important.

Excite: Don’t simply state that the event is happening. If they are still not sure whether or not they’ll go, your text could win them over. Recap the event and why it’s not to be missed!

Remind: Include any important details that could have been forgotten, like the date, start time, address.

Inform: Now that you can include short links in your SMS, it’s easy to include a link to a map or further information on your webpage to enrich your SMS with useful content.

Engage: Why not open up communication after the event? By sending a follow-up message, you’re allowing attendees to engage with you further. This is a great way of getting feedback and demonstrating your excellent customer service to make sure they come back.

In the UK? Try it out now for yourself – create a free trial and see how easy it is.