Running an event? Steal this email sequence

If you come together with a mission, and it's grounded with love and a sense of community, you can make the impossible possible.

― John Lewis (American civil rights leader, not the department store owner)

So, you’ve decided to run an event…

Most marketers nail the promotional blast. But they wing everything else, and then wonder why registrations stall and half their sign-ups never show.

It’s not easy getting people to show up to events, but the goal of this week’s email is to help you avoid some of the mistakes we’ve learned the hard way over the years.

The fix isn't to send more emails necessarily. It's all about sending the right emails, at the right moment, each doing one clear and focused job.

This issue is a too the point, so here's the full sequence. Steal it and let me know how you get on.

The 7 email sequence

The timings here are just suggestions — you might find that for your specific event it makes sense to stretch these out or compress them depending on many factors like the size of the event, whether’s in person or remote, and whether it’s paid or free to attend.

1. Save-the-date

Send this 4–6 weeks out from your event.
Lock in the calendar spot. Keep it short: date, one-line why, and a single "Add to calendar."

2. Registration open

Send this 3–4 weeks out.
The full pitch. What it is, why it matters, who it's for, one clear CTA to register.

3. Agenda / speaker reveal

Send this 2–3 weeks out.
Sell the value. Real sessions, real speakers — this is what people are actually signing up for.

4. Social proof nudge

Send this 1–2 weeks out.
Who's coming, a past-attendee quote, "spots filling up." Momentum for the undecided.

5. Last chance

Send this 2–3 days out.
Urgency, aimed only at those who haven't registered. Short and direct.

6. Know-before-you-go

Send this the day before, or the morning of the event.
Time, link, logistics, what to bring. This is your single biggest email lever against no-shows. You might also want to make it easy for recipients to tell you they can’t make it, so you get a heads up.

7. Follow-up

Send this 1–2 days after the event.
Thank you, recording and resources, a feedback ask, and one soft next step.

Less but better

Don't send all seven emails to everyone.

Segment by behaviour: contacts who have already registered should skip the "register now" chain. No-shows should get a different follow-up than attendees (even if it’s just a different subject line).

For a little more work, it performs better, and every recipient gets a reason to open.

The EcoSend angle: more thoughtful, sharper, and better-targeted emails can make all the difference to your event attendance. Blasting the whole list on every step is often a really ineffective and short-term approach. Get this sequence right and you’ll have a winning playbook you can roll out confidently every time.

Until next time,

James

P.S. Are you running an event soon? We’re working on a bunch of ways to make EcoSend better for marketing events, so let us know and we’ll get you early access to what we’re building.