Pre- and Post-Event Emails are Integrated Email Campaigns which are automatically sent to your Customers before or after they attend one of your Event Instances. They are scheduled in Spektrix and sent through Dotdigital.
Using Liquid Script, your emails can automatically include information from Spektrix about your Events and Customers.
TIP: The process for Liquid Script Pre- and Post-Event emails replaces the Legacy Pre- and Post-Event emails process.
What are Pre- and Post-Event Emails?
Pre- and Post-Event emails are automatically sent to a Customer at a set amount of time before or after an Event Instance they have tickets for.
Using Pre- and Post-Event 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.
The benefit of the Pre- and Post-Event email feature in Spektrix is that you can set up one Email Campaign which is automatically sent to Customers who have tickets for any of your Events.
Using Liquid Script, 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-Event Email every time you create a new Event, and the content of the email will always be automatically up to date.
Pre-Event emails
Pre-Event Emails generally contain useful information such as:
- The name, date and time of the Event Instance
- Event image and description
- 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-Event emails
Post-Event Emails generally contain information such as:
- A thank you for visiting message
- 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-Event 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 do Pre- and Post-Event emails work?
Pre- and Post-Event Emails are a type of Integrated Email Campaign. They are created in Dotdigital and sent through Spektrix.
A Customer List is not required for Pre- and Post-Event emails as this is automatically generated based on each Event Instance.
- In Dotdigital:
You’ll need to create a draft Email Campaign using the Liquid Script email template. This campaign must remain unsent; they will be replicated and delivered every time your Pre- and Post-Event emails are sent out.
- In Spektrix:
You’ll need to set up the Global Customer Criteria and a Send Rule.
Pre- and Post-Event emails are queued in Dotdigital the night before they're scheduled to be sent. This means that any Customers who purchase tickets after 11pm local time the night before an Event won't receive a Pre-Event Email.
Send Rules
Your Send Rule informs:
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When: The time that the Pre- or Post-Event Email is sent.
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Instances: In the Event Criteria section of your Send Rule you can choose which Instances will receive your email.
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Customers: In the Customer Criteria of your Send Rule, you can choose which Customers will receive your email.
- Email: For each Send Rule, you will need to assign a draft Email Campaign.
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.
Only one Pre- and Post-Event Email can be sent out per Instance. This means that you can’t send two different email campaigns for a single Instance.
TIP: You can use Dynamic Content and Personalisation to include information that is only specifically relevant to certain customers. For example, you could use a Dynamic Content block to include a personalised message for Members that other customers won’t see.
When working with multiple Send Rules, if an Instance is included in the Event Criteria of more than one rule, the Send Rule with the highest priority will apply.
How to set up Pre- and Post-Event Emails
There are four steps involved in setting up Pre- and Post-Event Emails:
- Set up your Pre- and Post-Event email Campaigns in Dotdigital
- Apply Pre- and Post-Event email Settings
- Set up your Send Rules
- Preview and test your email
1. How to set up Pre- and Post-Event Email Campaigns
Using Liquid Script objects, Pre-Event emails can dynamically populate with information from your Spektrix system. For example, you can automatically include the Event name, image, description and other information that you have already uploaded into Spektrix.
There are two ways you can create your Pre- and Post-Event Email Campaigns:
You should prepare your Pre- or Post-Event email campaigns before completing the rest of the steps in this article.
2. Pre- and Post-Event email settings
Pre and Post-Event email settings can be applied in the Insights & Mailings Interface > Mailings > Pre- and Post-Event emails. To make changes, click the Edit button.
There are two global settings you can apply related to Pre- and Post-Event emails:
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Email Addresses for confirmation
Enter one or multiple email addresses to receive sent notifications. This should be the email address of someone in your organisation who can monitor your Pre- and Post-Event emails. You can add multiple addresses separated by commas. - Global Customer Criteria
Set Global Customer Criteria to decide which customers will receive your Pre- and Post-Event emails. Customers you choose to exclude will not receive your Pre- and Post-Event Emails.
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You might want to use the Global Customer Criteria to exclude customers based on certain Tags, Attributes or Contact Preferences.
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 prefers to send out personalised communications.
To set your Global Customer Criteria, drag and drop Metrics into the Drop criteria here box.
Customers who meet the conditions of the Criteria will be included in your Pre- and Post-Event emails. This means that if you want to exclude a certain Tag group you will need to check the Not box.
For example, if you add Customers who have the Tag: Staff and check the Not box, customers with this Tag will be excluded from Pre- and Post-Event Emails.
TIP: If you do not set any Global Customer Criteria, your Pre- and Post-Event emails will be sent to all Customers attending the Instances selected. You can also set Customer Criteria for each Send Rule.
For more detailed information on how to set Customer Criteria, read our article on Customer Eligibility.
3. How to set up your Send Rule
To send out a Pre- or Post-Event email, you‘ll need to create a Send Rule.
Send Rules dictate when and which email will be sent to which customers for your selected Instances.
Click through the steps below to learn how to set up a Send Rule for a Pre- or Post-Event email.
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Go to the Pre-Event or Post-Event tab.
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Click the Edit button and then click Add Rule:
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Complete the information required in the Basic details tab:
- Name: Enter a descriptive name for your rule. For example, Pre-Event Email 2026.
- Days before the Instance to send the email: Enter the number of days before the Instance you want to send your Pre-Event Email. For example, 1 day before the date of the Instance.
REMINDER: Pre- and Post-Event 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-Event Email, as they are sent 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.
- Next, set the Event criteria.
The Event Criteria dictates which Instances Pre- or Post-Event Emails are sent for. You must have Event Criteria set to send Pre- and Post-Event 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.
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You can add multiple Metrics using the AND or OR rules.
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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-Event Emails.
- Once you have completed your criteria, click Next.
TIP: Consider using an Event Attribute to capture whether you’d like to include or exclude certain Events in the Pre- or Post-Event Email Send Rules. This means that you can automatically include or exclude Events from these emails when you are setting up a new Event without needing to edit the Send Rule.
- Next, set the Customer Criteria.
The Customer Criteria specifies which Customers will receive the email. This works in the same way as other Customer Eligibility in Spektrix.
You can use Customer Criteria to include or exclude certain Customers from receiving the email. If you leave this section blank, then Pre- and Post-Event Emails will be sent to all Customers with Tickets to the eligible Instances.
REMINDER: For UK Organisations, you will need to exclude Customers from your Post-Event Emails that you don’t have permission to email.
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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.
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-Event Emails to different sets of Customers for the same Instance. Instead, you can use Dynamic Content to achieve this.
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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 have already received the email:
Hover your mouse over the blue information icon to read the message:
In this example, the message reads “This event instance matches, however it is too late to send the desired email.”
Managing multiple Send Rules
If an Instance falls into multiple Rules, the Send Rule with the highest priority will apply. For example, you may have separate Pre-Event Email Campaigns for live streamed Events, Events that are part of a family festival and a standard Pre-Event Email for everything else.
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-Event Email as this Rule has priority.
When managing multiple Send Rules to send out different Pre- and Post-Event 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.
TIP: For inspiration on creating Pre- and Post-Event Emails, read Creating great pre- and post-event emails: Our best ideas and examples.
4. How to preview Pre- and Post-Event Emails
To preview your Pre or Post-Event email campaign, follow the steps in the How to preview your Pre-Event email heading of the Pre-Event Email Template article.
Alternatively, If you want to receive a test of your Pre- or Post-Event email, follow these steps:
- Set up a hidden test Event or Instance at least one day in the future.
- Make sure your Send Rule is set up to include your test Instance.
- Purchase a ticket for yourself.
- When the time dictated in your Send Rule arrives, you should receive the Pre- or Post-Event email.
Sent notifications
Each time a Pre or Post-Event Email is sent, you will receive a sent notification to the email address you have 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 on failed emails, take a look at our article on Troubleshooting errors when sending Dotdigital emails.
Reporting on Pre- and Post-Event Emails
You can report on Pre- and Post-Event Emails in the same way you can report on other Integrated Emails. However, because you cannot set Target Events for Pre- and Post-Event 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.