Pre and Post Show Emails

Pre and Post Show Emails are Integrated Email Campaigns which are automatically sent to your Customers before and after they attend one of your Event Instances. 

In this article, we’ll guide you through the steps involved in setting up Pre and Post Show Emails in Spektrix and Dotdigital.

What are Pre and Post Show Emails?

Pre and Post Show Emails are automatically sent to a Customer at a set amount of time before or after an Event Instance they have Tickets for.

Pre Show Emails

Pre Show Emails generally contain useful information such as:

• The name, date and time of the Event Instance
• Directions to the venue or instructions on how to access if the event is online
• Content warnings
• Access Information 
• Merchandise information
• Running times
• Available facilities at the Venue (such as food and drink)

Post Show Emails

A Post Show Email is an Email which is automatically sent to a Customer at a set amount of time after an Event Instance which they had Tickets for.

Post Show Emails generally contain information such as:

• A thank you for visiting
• The name of the Event
• A link to a feedback survey or form
• An Offer for, or information about, upcoming Events or an invitation to return to the same Event again
• Links to related content on your website
• Donation or Membership ask

WARNING: If you choose to include marketing content in your Pre or Post Show Emails, you may need to consider including or excluding people with certain Contact Preferences. Always act in line with the regulations in your country and your organisation’s privacy policy.

How does it work?

Pre and Post Show Emails are Integrated Email Campaigns, which means they are created in Dotdigital and sent through Spektrix. Unlike Integrated Email Campaigns, the Customer List for Pre and Post Show emails is automatically generated based on each Event Instance. The emails are sent at a designated time before each Event Instance.

You can use these Event Data Fields to Personalise the email (these Event Data Fields are not available in any other type of email).

Pre and Post Show Email Campaigns remain as unsent Email Campaigns in Dotdigital. Do not delete these Email Campaigns.

Here are some considerations when setting up a Pre or Post Show Email:

• Only one Pre Show Email and one Post Show Email is sent per Instance.
• You can select one Email Campaign per Send Rule. If you need to share different information for different Instances, we recommend setting up separate Email Campaigns and separate Send Rules. If an Instance falls into multiple rules, the first Send Rule will apply.
• Pre Show Emails are queued in Dotdigital at 11pm local time, the night before they're scheduled to be sent. Any Customers who make a purchase after that time won't receive a Pre Show Email. All Pre Show emails for a particular Instance are sent as a batch all at once.

Because only one email is sent per Instance, you generally would only have one Pre and one Post Show Email Campaign and use Dynamic Content and Personalisation to include information that is specific to each Customer or Event. 

Why send Pre and Post Show Emails?

The benefit of using Pre and Post Show Emails is that you can set up one Email Campaign which is automatically sent to Customers who have tickets for each Instance you decide to include. 

Using Event Data Fields you can dynamically include different information based on the Customer, and the Event they have tickets for. This means you don’t have to create a new Pre and Post Show Email every time you create a new Event, and the content of the email will always be automatically up to date. 

Using Pre and Post Show Emails is a way to remind your Customers about the Event they have Tickets for, provide information about your venue and can be an opportunity to upsell any Merchandise or secondary spend items.

How to set up Pre and Post Show Emails

There are three steps involved in setting up Pre and Post Show Emails.

1. Sync Event Data Fields
2. Set up your Pre and Post Show Email Campaigns in Dotdigital
3. Set up your Send Rules in Spektrix

1. Sync Event Data Fields

Event Data Fields are similar to other Data Fields in Dotdigital but they can only be used in Pre and Post Show Emails.

To set up Event Data Fields, follow the steps in How to Sync Pre-Built Custom Data Fields and set up the following Metrics.

For organisations in the UK and Ireland:

For organisations in the US and Canada:

Once set up, you can use these fields as Personalisation in your Pre and Post Show Email Campaigns.

You cannot preview Event Data Fields in Dotdigital. To check that your Pre and Post Show Emails are displaying correctly we recommend setting up a test Event and purchasing a ticket with an email address where you can check the result.

REMINDER: Event Data fields can only be used in Pre and Post Show Emails. This means they cannot be used as Personalisation in any other type of email.

2. Setting up Pre and Post Show Email Campaigns

Next, we’ll go through the steps you need to follow to set up your Pre and Post Show Email Campaigns.

To create a new Email Campaign, you’ll first need to log into Dotdigital.

Click on the + button next to Email under the Campaigns heading to create a new Email Campaign:

• You’ll then be prompted to choose a template or copy a previously sent email campaign.
• Give your Email Campaign a memorable and descriptive name which follows your organisation’s naming or reporting conventions:

• Complete the Campaign Details:

TIP: You can use Event Data Fields to add Personalisation into your Subject line. For example: “Your upcoming visit to see @EVENTNAME@”. However, this will not work with Subject Lines which use Dynamic Content.

• Design your Email Campaign using the EasyEditor.
• Use the Event Data Fields to add Personalisation into the body of your email.
• Use Dynamic Content to include information targeted at specific Customers. For example, you may add a Dynamic Content block powered by an Access Tag to include information specific to Access Customers. Dynamic Content will not work with rules based on Event Data Fields.
• For users in the US and Canada, you will need to include the $SENDERADDRESS$ field in both your HTML and Plain Text versions of your email. 

This field adds your Sender Address to your emails to help with CAN-SPAM compliance:

• Save the Email Campaign by clicking SAVE in the top right hand corner.

WARNING: Pre and Post Show Email campaigns must remain unsent. This also means they can't be used in Customer List schedules.  You should never delete your Pre and Post Show Email Campaigns if they are still in use. If you do delete them, you can recover them from the Dotdigital recycle bin.

Using Personalisation in Pre and Post Show Emails

You can use Personalisation to automatically include information related to each Instance, including the Event Data Fields of: Event Name, Date and Time. 

For example, “Important information about your upcoming visit to see @EVENTNAME@ on @EVENTDATELONG@ at @EVENTTIME@.” 

REMINDER: Event Data Fields are only available to use in Pre and Post Show Emails. Event Data Fields cannot be used in any other type of Email Campaign.

You can add Personalisation to your Email Campaign as you would with any other Email Campaign by following the steps in the article on Personalisation.

WARNING: You must set up the Event Data Fields as outlined in Step One of this article before using them as Personalisation in your Email Campaign.  You won’t be able to use Event Data fields in your email without setting them up first. When a Pre or Post Show Email is generated, the information is pulled from these fields. If the Event Data Fields don’t exist, no data will be retrieved.

Using Dynamic Content in Pre and Post Show Emails

Dynamic Content can be used to add extra information for certain Customers.

For example, Customers who have Access needs, are Members, or are making their first visit to your Venue.

You can follow the steps in the Dynamic Content article to learn how to set up Dynamic Content. 

WARNING: You cannot use Event Data fields with Dynamic Content blocks. Event Data Fields cannot be used as rules for Dynamic Content (in subject lines or the main body of your emails). You also cannot use Event Data Fields as personalisation within any Dynamic Content blocks in the main body of your emails or subject lines.

Additionally, for Pre and Post Show Emails:

• You can’t use Event Data Fields to power Dynamic Content. For example, you can’t have an image change based on the name of the Event @EVENTNAME@. However, you can use Dynamic Content to change the email based on the Customer. For example, Customers who have access needs, are Members, or are making their first visit to your Venue.
• Dynamic Content blocks must not contain Personalisation using Event Data Fields.

3. Setting up your Send Rule

Setting your Send Rule in Spektrix will dictate when your Pre and Post Show Emails are sent.

In Spektrix, you set the Pre and Post Show Emails to send using Send Rules. Send Rules dictate the following

• Which Instances to send an Email for
• When to send the Email
• Whether you want to include all or exclude some Customers with Tickets to the selected Instances.

TIP: Send Rules are set up in the Insights and Mailings Interface. User Accounts will need the Insights and Mailings User role. If you don’t have this User Role, contact a Settings Administrator in your organisation to add the Insights and Mailings User role.

• Navigate to the Insights & Mailings Interface.
• Go to Mailings > Pre and post show emails:

• On the Settings tab, click Edit

• In Email Addresses for confirmation, enter an email address to receive sent notifications. This should be an email address in your organisation, which will receive a confirmation email every time a Pre and Post Show Email is sent. You can add multiple addresses separated by commas.

• In Global Customer Criteria you can choose to exclude or include certain Customers from both your Pre and Post Show Emails. Choosing to exclude certain Customers in the Global Customer Criteria section means that these customers will never receive a Pre or Post Show Email.

TIP: Leaving this section blank means that no filter will be applied Emails will be sent to all Customers attending the Instances selected. You can set different criteria for each Send Rule in the next section.

For example, if you include marketing content in your emails, you may wish to exclude Customers you don’t have permission to email. Similarly, you may want to exclude any Customers with the Tag ‘Major Donor’ if your fundraising team wants to send out personalised communications.

• Drag and drop the Metrics into the Drop criteria here box to select criteria. Customers who meet the Criteria will be included. If you wish to exclude a certain Tag group you will need to check the Not box.
  
  For example, if you add into the criteria Customers who have the Tag: Staff and check the Not box, customers with this Tag will be excluded from Pre and Post Show Emails.
  
  
  
  

 Read Customer Eligibility for detailed information on how to set Customer Criteria.

• Click Save to apply the Settings.

TIP: Email Addresses for Confirmation and Global Customer Criteria apply globally across all Pre and Post Show Emails.

Pre Show

Next, go to the Pre-show tab.

• Click Add Rule.

Basic details

• Name: Enter a descriptive name for your rule. For example, Pre-Show Email 2025.
• Days before the Instance to send the email: Enter the number of days before the Instance you want to send your Pre Show Email. For example, 1 day before the date of the Instance.

REMINDER: Pre and Post Show Emails are queued in Dotdigital at 11pm the night before they're scheduled to send. Any Customers who purchase Tickets after that time won't receive a Pre Show Email, as they send as a batch all at once.

• Time of day to send: Enter the time of day you’d like the email to send in a 24 hour format. For example, 14:00.
• Email campaign: Select the Email Campaign from the list of draft Email Campaigns.
• Click Next.

Event criteria

Next, set the Event criteria. 

The Event Criteria will dictate which Instances Pre Show Emails are sent for. You must have Event Criteria set in order to send Pre and Post Show Emails.

• Drag and drop the Metrics into the Drop criteria here box to add criteria and set parameters. 

TIP: Uncheck the Only show commonly used criteria box to see the full range of Metrics available. For more information on all available metrics and how to specify them, read Metrics Description in the article Event Criteria.

• In this example, we’ll look at how to add all Events into the Event Criteria.

  Firstly, drag and drop the Events Metric into the Drop criteria here box. 

  TIP: Uncheck the Only show live events box to see draft Events.

  Then, select all of the Events you want to include so they are highlighted in blue. You can do this by clicking the first Event, holding down shift on your keyboard and then clicking the last Event.

  Then click the right arrow to move them over into the Selected Events column:

  

  The included Events will now appear on the right:

  

  Click Ok to confirm your selection.

• You can add multiple Metrics using the AND or OR rules.

• Using the AND logic, add the Cancelled metric and leave the box unchecked so that you'll always exclude cancelled Events from both your Pre and Post Show Emails.
  
  
• Once you have completed your criteria, click Next.

TIP: Consider using an Event Attribute to capture whether or not you’d like to include certain Events in the Pre or Post Show Email Send Rules. This means that you can automatically include or exclude Events from these emails at the point when you are setting up an Event.

Customer criteria

Under Customer Criteria you can specify which Customers you want to send the email to. This works in the same way as other Customer Eligibility in Spektrix.

You can use Customer Criteria to exclude certain Customers from receiving the email. If you leave this section blank, then Pre and Post Show Emails will be sent to all Customers with Tickets to the eligible Instances.

• Drag and drop the Metrics into the Drop criteria here box to add criteria:

• Click OK when you have completed your Customer Criteria.
• Click Save to save your Rule, or follow the steps below to preview which Instances will be included.

REMINDER: Only one email is ever sent per Instance. This means that you can’t use Customer Criteria to segment Customers to send two different Pre Show Emails to different sets of Customers for the same Instance. Instead, you can use Dynamic Content to achieve this.

Preview

Once your Rule is created, you can preview which Instances are included by clicking the Preview button.

Included Instances will appear in this list. You will see a blue information icon next to any Instances which won’t receive or already have received the email:

Hover your mouse over the blue information icon to read the message:

• Click Ok to return.
• Click Save to set the Rule. Or, if you’d like to make changes, click the blue pencil icon to edit.

Post Show

Repeat the same process to set up your Post Show Email.

REMINDER: For UK Organisations, you will need to exclude Customers from your Post Show Emails that you don’t have permission to email.

Setting up more than one Pre or Post Show Email Campaign

Although we recommend only using one Pre and Post Show Email Campaign across multiple Events, it is possible to set up a number of different Pre and post Show Email Campaigns.

For example, you may want to use two different Pre and Post Show Email Campaigns if your organisation has two different Venues or hosts different types of Events such as festivals or film screenings.

Setting this up will require you to create a new Email Campaign and an additional Send Rule for each version of the Pre and Post Show Email Campaign you want to send.

WARNING: Pre and Post Show Emails will only ever send one email per Instance. If you want to send different emails to different Customers, use Dynamic Content and Personalisation to tailor the email to each Customer.

Managing multiple Send Rules

When managing multiple Send Rules to send out different Pre and Post Show Emails, you should consider using Event Attributes to power the Event Criteria.

This is more efficient than manually including or excluding certain Instances from a Send Rule. Without using Event Attributes to power Event Criteria, this would require you to update the Send Rule every time you add a new Event or Instance. 

If an Instance falls into multiple Rules, the first Send Rule will apply. For example, you may have a Pre Show Email Campaign for live streamed Events, a family festival and standard Pre Show Email. 

You can re-order the priority of your Rules using the yellow up and down arrows:

In this example, if an Event Instance fell into both Send Rules for the Family Festival and the Live Stream - the customers attending the Instance would receive the Live Stream Pre Show Email as this Rule has priority.

TIP: For inspiration on creating Pre and Post Show Emails, readCreating great pre- and post-event emails: Our best ideas and examples.

Sent notifications

Each time a Pre or Post Show Email is sent you will receive a sent notification to the email address you specified during setup. 

If the email isn’t sent for any reason, you’ll receive an email failure notification. 

Some reasons that an email may fail to send include:

• A deleted Attribute that is being used in the Event or Customer Criteria.
• A deleted Tag or Auto Tag that is being used in the Customer Criteria. 

For more information, take a look at Troubleshooting errors when sending Dotdigital emails.

Reporting on Pre and Post Show Emails

You can report on Pre and Post Show Emails in the same way you can report on other Integrated Emails. However, because you cannot set Target Events for Pre and Post Show Emails, it’s not possible to report on ROI.

To learn more about reporting and Dotdigital, take a look at our article Reporting on Email Campaigns.

Further Reading

For more information about Dotdigital, take a look at the Communicate with your Customers section of the Support Centre.

We’d also recommend: 

• Designing a Dotdigital Email Campaign
• Dynamic Content
• Reporting on Email Campaigns
• Split Tests