How to Write Emails Announcing Early Bird Ticket Sale

Early bird ticket sales offer a great opportunity to create a preliminary cash flow prior to your fundraiser. It also simplifies planning and budgeting. Writing emails the right way when announcing early bird ticket sales can have a huge impact on your nonprofit’s bottom line and help you launch successful events every time. 

The fact is, most users consider email to be one of the most personal channels to receive communication on; 74% of Baby Boomers, 72% of Gen X-ers, 64% of Millennials, and 60% of Gen Z-ers echo this sentiment. While social media has also assumed significant importance, email still remains a key driver of engagement and funds. In fact, email generates a 4200% ROI or $42 for every $1 spent, making it an incredibly effective choice.

A good email campaign can help you – 

• Raise more for your online fundraiser—especially, if your mailing lists are segmented and personalized.
• Boost engagement by reaching a larger audience in a short time span.
• Iterate and improvise your future campaigns based on data tracked. 

But with organizations pushing out emails multiple times a day or week, your audience’s inbox is most likely overflowing with promotional content. The question is, how can you make your email stand out, especially when it comes to announcing early bird ticket sales about an event your audience cares about? To be successful, we must continue to learn how to use email better and smarter. 

Types of email campaigns for nonprofits 

There are several email campaigns that nonprofits and charities use regularly to engage their supporters in various campaigns. The following are some of the most common ones:

• Welcome email campaigns: Meant for new subscribers who opt-in to hear more from your organization. You can also extend this to be a drip campaign— it could be anywhere from a single email to a sequence of three to five messages that build on top of each other. The goal of such a campaign is to introduce new people to your nonprofit or charity’s work and build a relationship with them. Most subscribers will either become donors, volunteer with your charity, or spread the word.
• Event campaigns: This campaign type informs your audience of an upcoming event such as an online raffle. These campaigns usually have a number of emails ranging from three to five. The first one usually announces the event, another is sent out on the day of or a couple of days prior to the event as a reminder/update, and then one or two more after the event completion to inform your database of how successful it was and to thank donors and volunteers for their support and participation. 
• Educational campaigns: This campaign allows your nonprofit or charity to educate your supporters on key issues related to your cause. It helps people to understand the kind of problems their support would help eradicate and also enables potential supporters to develop an affinity with the charity’s work. 
• Advocacy campaigns: This campaign type can help your nonprofit create real change by effectively drawing attention to your mission and showcasing the impact of your activities. It can enable your organization to increase the number of supporters by weaving in real stories of people you’ve helped. 
• Gratitude campaigns: A gratitude campaign is another type of email campaign that your charity or nonprofit can use regularly to thank donors for their support. It is best to have an automated email campaign in place to be sent out to supporters within a week of receiving a gift. With donor segmentation, you can be sure to send thank you or gratitude emails that are memorable and help build a relationship.
• Donation campaigns: This campaign constitutes emails sent with the sole purpose of asking for a donation. It is one of the most common forms of nonprofit email campaigns and is utilized by almost all nonprofits and charities. Once again, donor segmentation on the basis of giving frequency, gift size, income levels, etc. can help your nonprofit fine-tune your ‘ask’ to match the supporters’ capacity to give, thereby increasing the chances of receiving a donation.

What is an early bird ticket sale and how it can help

Early bird ticket sales are also known as pre-sales. It’s a winning marketing strategy and becomes even more effective when combined with the right email template to make your fundraising event a success. It usually includes an attractive discount on the standard ticket price (and sometimes other benefits) to encourage more people to purchase the tickets. Some of its advantages include:

• Being one of the easiest ways to engage your most loyal supporters. 
• Generating a preliminary cash flow. 
• Presenting your audience with attractive pricing that enables a much wider reach while capturing interest. 
• Reducing stress and wait times on the event day.

4 tips to effectively announce the launch of early bird ticket sale

When it comes to implementing an early bird ticket sale strategy, it is good to start as early as possible. Here are some pro tips to help you announce the launch of early bird tickets the right way for maximum sales and impact:

1. Reward your most loyal attendees

Whenever you have a donation drive, a fundraiser, or an event, the first thing you should do is announce it to people who have attended it before. Offering them a special discount and other benefits is the best way to reward their loyalty. 

2. Limit the deal with a soft deadline

To make the most of the early bird ticket sales, make sure to limit the deal by setting a soft deadline. Having an open-ended discount or extending the deadline means you are rewarding people for waiting till the last moment, which is not the desired behavior.  

3. Swap early rewards with ‘late’ fines

When it comes to human psychology, people avoid loss more fervently than they seek pleasure. With a slight change in words, you can get more engagement for your ticket sales. All it takes is adding a ‘late fee’ or penalty for those who register late. More often than not, people don’t seem to mind missing out on a great deal, but they definitely don’t want to pay a perceived fine. For instance, you could consider writing something along the lines of “Make the most of early bird pricing by buying more tickets at discounted rates. Prices go back up one week from now. Get your tickets now!”

4. Use the power of word-of-mouth marketing

We can all agree that word-of-mouth marketing still remains one of the most potent tools in a marketer’s arsenal. But it is also a frequently missed opportunity, especially when planners are solely focused on bringing in new attendees. People who have already registered early for the event can promote the event and its early-bird perks to others. Charities and nonprofits can encourage this by offering a referral fee for new signups, or giving them great discounts on workshops, merchandise, etc.  

Email template to announce an early bird ticket sale

Having an early bird ticketing strategy and announcing it the right way via email can really help charities and nonprofits make the most of their donation drives and online fundraising events. Make sure you’re getting yours right.