Invitation Management

Invitation management is a feature in the Opportunities Interface that tracks RSVPs and attendance for development Events, such as Donor receptions, smaller fundraising events, or opening nights.

In this article, we’ll guide you through:

• What are Invitations?
• How to set up Invitations
• How to view Invitations
• How to Update Invitations and Manage RSVPs
• How to Sell Guest Tickets to Event Instances
• Reporting and Segmentation on Invitees and Attendees

What are Invitations?

Invitations are one of the tools you can use to manage your relationships with high-level Donors, Prospects, and VIPs.

Invitations let you:

• Track who you have invited to an Event as Invitees and link their Customer Record. You can only invite Individuals to Events. However, you can invite them on behalf of an Organization that they have a Relationship with.
• Manage the Invitees’ responses.
• Record Attendees of the Event. These include the Invitee themselves and any guests, such as a plus one.

  TIP: If a guest Attendee has a Customer Record, you can also link the Customer Record to the Invitation. A guest Attendee doesn't need to have a Relationship with the Invitee. For guest Attendees without a Customer Record, you can include their names.

• Track whether Attendees have attended the Event.
• You can also choose to sell or allocate Tickets to the Event Instance through the Opportunities Interface. You can then link the Tickets to each Attendee on the Invitation.

Invitations are a tracking feature in Spektrix, rather than an automated invitation mailing feature or an automated RSVP tracker. When you create an Invitation for a Customer using this feature, you’re registering in Spektrix that you intend to invite them to an Event Instance.

You’ll still need to complete the following outside of your Spektrix system:

• Send an invite to the Event using your preferred method. You can choose to use your Dotdigital integration to send an Invitation.
• Await your Customer’s response. They’ll need to contact you outside of the tools available in Spektrix. You may consider using Dotdigital Forms to collect responses.
• Mark their Invitation as Accepted or Declined. You’ll need to update the response of each Invitation manually.
• Sell or allocate Tickets for the Event Instance. You can set up your Instance so that Tickets can be sold from the Opportunities Interface, Sales Interface and/or online.
• Mark whether the Customer attended the Instance or not.

What types of Events can I use Invitations for?

The Invitation feature is best suited for Events where you’d like to track each Invitee’s response. We’d recommend using Invitations for smaller, more targeted events or groups. Examples include:

• Donor Receptions
• Galas
• Opening Nights

WARNING: We recommend using the Invitation feature for Events with a small number of Invitees. If you’d like to use this function for a large Event, we recommend tracking invites with the Mailing feature and using the Invitation function only for those who accept the invite. For additional guidance on using the Invitation functionality, you can reach out for a consultation with our Support Team.

In order to use the Invitation feature in Spektrix, the Event must be set up as an Event with at least one Instance. Examples include:

• A performance that is open to the general public with a few seats allocated to your Invitees and their guests
• A dress rehearsal that is only open to your Invitees and their guests
• A pre-show dinner

TIP: You can create Events and Event Instances that are Supplementary Events, for example, a pre-show dinner.

The Instance must be visible on the Opportunities Interface.

You can choose the details of this Event Instance, including:

• A Reserved or Unreserved Seating Plan
• Selling or allocating Tickets to your Attendees, which can be processed through the Opportunities Interface
• Selecting a Price List if you sell or allocate Tickets
• Making the Instance visible in the Sales Interface and/or online
• Selling Tickets in the Sales Interface and/or online

Who can I invite to Events using Invitations?

The guests you invite should have a Customer Record. In addition, you may let this Customer bring additional guests, such as a plus one or a table of guests. While it's not required to link these additional guests' Customer Records to the Invitation, you can do so.

Spektrix designates these guests as the following:

• Invitee: The Customer that is added to the Invitation and represents all the guests in the party who are invited to the Event Instance.
• Attendee: The Customers that are recorded as attending the Event Instance. If the Invitee is attending the Event Instance, they are also considered an Attendee. You don't need a Customer Record to list an Attendee and the Attendees don't need to have a Relationship with the Invitee.

• For example, Corey has been invited to attend a gala. Their partner has been invited as a plus one. Corey will be the main Customer Record on the Invitation. Corey has accepted their invitation and will be attending with their partner.

  • The Invitee is Corey
  • The Attendees are Corey and their partner

What can you do with Invitations?

You can use other Spektrix tools with Invitations, such as Segmentation and Reporting. For example, you can:

• Build a Customer List and send an email campaign invitation to your Invitees through Dotdigital
• Report on your Invitees’ responses
• Schedule a Customer List to follow up on unconfirmed Invitations
• Send Invitees a reminder of an upcoming Event they’ve accepted an invite to
• Export an up-to-date RSVP list for seating and planning
• Create a registration list for your Attendees

VIDEO: Jump ahead to our Spektrix Training: On-Demand video - Invitation Management for a guided walkthrough of this process.

How to set up Invitations

In order to set up the Invitations tracking feature, you’ll first need to set up an Event and Instance.

Create an Event and Instance

TIP: Events and Instances are created in the Admin Interface. User Accounts will need the General Administrator role. If you don’t have this user role, contact a Settings Administrator in your organization to edit your User Account and add the General Administrator role.

Invitations are linked to an Event and Instance. Begin creating your Event and Instance by following the instructions in How to Set Up an Event and How to Set Up an Instance.

When you get to the visibility and on sale options in the Basic Details for the Instance, you’ll need to set the following:

• Visible in Opportunities: To create Invitations and record responses in the Opportunities Interface, you must check this box.
• On Sale in Opportunities: If you’d like to sell Tickets through the Opportunities Interface, you must check this box.

REMINDER: You can only sell Tickets in the Opportunities Interface using the Invitation feature. The Instance should be set to both Visible and On Sale in Opportunities to sell Tickets in the Opportunities Interface.

You can also set the following:

• Visible and On Sale in the Sales Interface: Checking this box lets Sales Users process Ticket Sales in the Sales Interface 
• Visible and On Sale on the Web: Checking this box lets Invitees purchase their Tickets online

TIP: If the Instance you’ve created will also be on sale to the general public, we’d recommend holding back an allocation of Tickets for your invited guests using a specific Lock Type. You can then set Customer Eligibility to a Tag for Invitees or Attendees.

Creating a Guest List

After you set up an Event and Instance, you can then create a guest list by setting up individual Invitations or bulk Invitations.

REMINDER: The following instructions are for setting up the Invitation tracker. You’ll still need to manually send invites to your Invitees.

Individual Invitations

Individual Invitations are created in the Opportunities Interface.

TIP: User Accounts will need the Opportunities User role. If you don’t have this user role, contact a Settings Administrator in your organization to edit your User Account and add the Opportunities User role.

To start tracking Invitation responses on an Individual, start in the Invitations tab in the Pinboard.

At the top of the tab, you’ll see a dropdown of all active and Live Instances made Visible in the Opportunities Interface:

TIP: Checking the Show All Instances box will include Archived Instances. These Instances also must have Visible in the Opportunities Interface checked.

Once you’ve selected the Instance, add a Customer into the Invitation tab:

1. Navigate to the People Dashboard and search for a Customer.
2. From the People Dashboard or their Customer Record, click and drag their blue person icon into the Invitations tab.

Alternatively you can also select a Customer from the Opportunities Dashboard by clicking their Name or the three dots next to their Name. This will change into a blue person icon you can then drag into the Invitations tab.

Once they’ve been added, you can click the Edit button and amend the following details:

• On behalf of: If the Individual is being invited on behalf of an Organization, select the Organization they have a Relationship with from the dropdown.
• Guest invited (Required): Enter the number of guests on the invitation including the Invitee and any plus one or other guests. We recommend entering at least 1 for the Invitee.
• Invitation sent on (Required): Set the date you’re planning on sending the invite.

  REMINDER: Your organization will need to manually send out invitations.

• Response expected on (Required): Set the date when you expect a response.
• Response (Required): The status of the response:
  • Not replied (Default)
  • Accepted
  • Declined
  • Accepted - Cancelled
  • Accepted - No Show

  TIP: The Invitation response applies to all Attendees. In Recording Individual Attendee’s Attendance, we’ll show you how to record the attendance of each Attendee.

• Details: A free text box where you can add specific information relevant to the Invitation. For example, a guest’s allergy information could be listed here or a reminder to introduce this Invitee to another guest.
• Guests Attending: You can drag Customer Records here to add Attendees.

  TIP: We recommend adding Attendees when the Invitee and their Guests are confirmed. After adding Attendees, you can also purchase Tickets and assign Seats to each Attendee. Read Adding Attendees for more information.

• Upload Attachment: You can upload an attachment to the Invitation. For example, a scanned PDF copy of a paper invitation you’ve sent out.

Once you’ve filled out the Invitation, click Save or Save & Close. Click Cancel to discard any changes and keep the Invitation’s defaults. Click Delete to remove and permanently delete the Invitation.

Bulk Create Invitations

You can create bulk Invitations through a Customer List.

All Invitations made through a Customer List will have identical details, for example number of guests invited, date invitation sent, date reply and details will be identical across all Invitees. You also can't add Attendee information such as Customer Records or Names when making bulk Invitations.

While there is an option to bulk create Invitations, there are no options to bulk update or delete Invitations.

TIP: User Accounts will need the Insights & Mailings User role. If you don’t have this user role, contact a Settings Administrator in your organization to edit your User Account and add the role.

Navigate to the Insights & Mailings Interface > Customer Lists and create a list of Invitees.

From the Choose an action dropdown, select Bulk create Invitations.

The Bulk Create invitations pop-up will appear. Fill out the following information:

1. Event Instance: Select the Event Instance from the dropdown. Check Show All Instances to show any Archived Instances.
2. Number invited (Required): Enter the number of guests on the invitation including the Invitee and any plus one or other guests. We recommend entering at least 1 for the Invitee.
3. Date invitation sent (Required): Date defaults to the current day.
4. Date reply expected (Required): Date defaults to the current day.
5. Details: Add optional details. This will be the same for all Invitations added through the Customer List.

REMINDER: All Invitations made through a Customer List will have identical details. You’ll be able to update the Invitation to change any details including adding Guest Attendees.

Click OK to bulk create Invitations. Click Cancel to discard changes and cancel the creation of Invitations.

TIP: You can use this same Customer List to perform other actions such as Output as CSV to create a mail merge outside of Spektrix, Use in standard mailing to record the mailing of physical invitations, Apply or remove tag to add a normal tag or bulk create Opportunities.

How to view Invitations

You can view Invitations in the Pinboard and in Customer Record.

Viewing Invitations from the Pinboard

In the Pinboard, you’ll see a summary of all the Invitees of an Instance.

Each Instance will show a line for each invitation and a summary of its details:

1. Invitee: Customer Name and Salutation of main invitee in a party
2. Accepted: Acceptance status icon of:
   • Not Replied: Clock Icon
   • Accepted: Checkmark
   • Declined: Red x
   • Accepted - Canceled: Info icon with “Accepted - Canceled” when you hover
   • Accepted - No Show: Info icon with “Accepted - No Show” when you hover
3. Invited: Number entered under Guests invited
4. Coming: Number of Attendees added
5. Sent: Date invitation is sent
6. Expected: Date of expected reply

At the end of the Guest List will be a Total Invited and Total Coming for the Instance.

Viewing Invitations from the Customer Record

The Invitations tab shows all the Event Instances the Customer has been invited to.

TIP: This only appears on Individual Customer Records and not in Organization Customer Records.

Each Invitation includes:

1. Event Name: The name of the Event.
2. Instance Date: The date of the Event.
3. Countdown: A countdown by number of days until the Instance. Past Instances are included with a negative number for days past since the Instance.
4. Reply status: The Invitee’s response:
   • Awaiting Response
   • Accepted Invitation
   • Declined Invitation
   • Accepted - Canceled
   • Accepted - No Show
5. Number of Guests invited: Number entered under Guests invited
6. Number of Attendees: Total number of Attendees added

Clicking on the Invitation will open the Invitation in the pinboard.

TIP: Invitations will only show up in the Customer Record for Invitees and not in the Customer Record of Attendees added as Guests.

How to Update Invitations and Manage RSVPs

You can update Invitations and manage RSVPs in the Invitations tab in the Pinboard.

Here you can:

• Edit Invitation Details
• Delete Invitations
• Record responses
• Add Attendees
• Adding Pop-Up Notes
• Deleting Attendees
• Record late cancellations and no-shows
• Record individual Attendee’s attendance

Editing Invitation Details

It's possible that you may need to edit Invitation Details to add details such as number of Guests invited, to confirm the Invitation has been sent or to add Expected reply dates.

If you need to edit the Invitation Details you can do so by clicking on the Invitee’s Name in the Invitation tab. You can also do this from the Pinboard or the Invitation in the Invitee’s Customer Record.

Click Edit to open up the Invitation Editor and make any changes.

Once you’ve edited the Invitation, click Save or Save & Close. Click Cancel to discard any changes and keep the Invitation.

If changes are made to an Invitation that are not saved or canceled, you’ll see an “Unsaved Changes” message in the upper right corner of the Invitation.

Deleting Invitations

From the Invitation Editor screen you can also permanently delete the Invitation.

WARNING: Deleting an Invitation is permanent and irreversible. You won’t be able to Report on deleted Invitations.

Find the Invitation you’d like to delete and click Edit in the upper right corner. Below the details, click Delete to permanently delete the Invitation.

Recording responses

You can record responses by editing the Invitation and selecting a response from the dropdown:

• Not replied
• Accepted
• Declined
• Accepted - Canceled
• Accepted - No Show

Adding Attendees

As Invitees accept their Invitations, it’s important to not only record their response but to record them and their guests as Attendees.

TIP: If an Invitee accepts their Invitation, they must be added to the Guests attending section of the Invitation to be confirmed as an Attendee.

In addition to recording an Attendee’s Name, you can add a Pop Up Note to the Attendee to add information such as dietary restrictions, seating preferences or any other information. These Pop Up Notes can be pulled into Reports.

Adding the Invitee as an Attendee

You can add the Invitee as an Attendee by clicking on their Name in the Invitation and dragging it into the Guests attending section of the Invitation.

The Guests attending section is below the Invitation details with a dashed box with the text Drag an Individual here or click "Add guest".

Adding Guests with Customer Records

You can add Guests as Attendees that already have Customer Records in your system.

1. Navigate to the People Dashboard and search for a Customer.
2. From the People Dashboard or their Customer Record, click and drag their blue person icon into the Guests Attending section of the Invitation.

REMINDER:  The Invitation won’t appear in the Customer Record for Attendees added in this section who aren’t Invitees.

Adding Guests without Customer Records

If you want to add Guests without Customer Records, or if you just want to add a Guest’s name, click the Add guest button.

In the Enter attendee name pop-up, enter the Guest’s information:

You can add the following details:

1. Title
2. Last name
3. First name

You’ll notice that guests added this way don't have a blue person icon next to them, whereas those added from a Customer Record do.

TIP: Their title and names can be pulled into Attendee Reports.

Click OK to add them as an Attendee. Click Cancel to cancel adding them as an Attendee.

Adding Pop-Up Notes

You can also add Pop Up Notes on an Attendee by clicking the blue sticky note icon in line with the Attendee's Name:

You can hover on the blue sticky note icon to view the note or click into the Pop Up Note to view or edit.

Deleting Attendees

You can delete Attendees by clicking the red x button in line with the Attendee's Name:

WARNING: Deleting an Attendee is permanent and irreversible. You won’t be able to Report on deleted Attendees.

Recording late cancellations and no-shows

There may be times when you’ll need to update any Attendee’s attendance to reflect any late cancellations or no-shows.

Edit the Invitation and select any of the following options under Response:

• Accepted - Cancelled
• Accepted - No Show

Recording Individual Attendee’s Attendance

You can record the attendance of individual Attendees after an Event Instance has passed. For example, you can record that one of an Invitee’s Guests didn’t attend.

Once the date has passed, the checkboxes to the left of the Attendees’ Names become editable. If anyone in the Invitee’s party did not attend, you can uncheck the checkbox beside their Name.

This will also update the Guests attended number above the Attendees section.

When Reporting on Attendees, the Invitation Response metric will record for the overall Invitation and will appear for every Attendee on that Invitation, for example, the Invitation response may output “Accepted.”

The Attended metric will display “TRUE” for checked boxes and “FALSE” for unchecked boxes. 

In the example above, an Attendee report will output the following:

Consider this when you decide how to use the Responses Accepted, Accepted - Cancelled and Accepted - No Show together with the Attendees’ checked boxes feature. For example, you may decide to update a response to Accepted - No Show if only half the Attendees on an Invitation actually attend. You may decide to use Accepted - Cancelled and Accepted - No Show only when the full party is unable to attend. 

TIP: Unchecking an Attendee won’t affect the number of guests Coming in the Instance summary on the Pinboard. The number counts the names added in the Attendees section. In the example above, even with one name unchecked, the number under Coming will appear as "4."

How to sell Guest Tickets to Event Instances

You can sell or allocate Tickets through the Invitation feature in the Opportunities Interface. With this feature, you can also assign Seats to each Attendee.

TIP: Processing a transaction will not automatically update the Invitation response; you’ll still need to edit the responses.

When selling Tickets through the Opportunities Interface, the Order will be facilitated by the Invitee.

If an Organization is included under On behalf of, the Organization will be the Order Owner.

While you can assign Seats to Attendees, the Attendees can’t own the Tickets and the Tickets won't appear in their Customer Record. However, you can can include the Attendee’s Name using a Ticket Design. For more information, read Ticket Designs with Attendee’s Name.

TIP: Data on Tickets sold from the Opportunities Interface can be output into Invitee Reports and Attendee Reports.

From the Invitation, you’ll see a Basket/Cart icon in the bottom right.

Click on the button to begin a transaction. Choose a Sales Channel and then the Seat Selection pop-up will appear.

The screen will differ depending if the Instance has an Unreserved or Reserved Seating Plan.

Unreserved Seating Plan

If the Instance has an Unreserved Seating Plan, you’ll see a Choose Seats pop-up that looks similar to the one you see in the Sales Interface. For example:

Select the number of Seats you’d like to sell.

Click Add Seats and you’ll be able to complete the transaction in the Basket/Cart on the right-hand side of the screen. Click Cancel to cancel the transaction.

Reserved Seating Plan

If the Instance has an Reserved Seating Plan, you’ll see a Choose Seats pop-up that looks similar to the one you see in the Sales Interface.

The pop-up will show the Seating Plan assigned to the Instance. For example:

Select the Seats you’d like to sell.

Click Add Seats and you’ll be able to complete the transaction in the Basket/Cart on the right-hand side of the screen. Click Cancel to cancel the transaction.

Once you’ve confirmed the transaction, you can return to the Invitation and see that each Seat has been automatically assigned to an Attendee. A green Ticket icon and the Seat Number is displayed next to each Attendee’s Name.

You can reassign the Seats by dragging the green Ticket icon to the desired Attendee:

TIP: Assigning Seats is only available when the Tickets are purchased in the Opportunities Interface. If Tickets are purchased in the Sales Interface or online, the green Ticket icons and Seat Numbers won’t appear in the Guests attending section of the Invitation.

Ticket Designs with Attendee’s Name

You can add the Names of Attendees to a Ticket Design. You could use this for handling arrivals at an organized fundraising Event.

TIP: Ticket Designs are created in the Admin Interface. User Accounts will need the General Administrator role. If you don’t have this user role, contact a Settings Administrator in your organization to edit your User Account and add the General Administrator role.

Navigate to Admin > Document designs, create a new Ticket design or copy an existing design.

Under Text Fields > Customer, select and add Attendee Name to the Ticket Design. For more information read The Ticket Design Tool.

Reporting and Segmentation on Invitees and Attendees

You can also Segment and Report on Invitees and Attendees.

REMINDER: An Invitee is the Customer Record that is added to the Invitation and represents those who are invited to the Event Instance.

An Attendee is the Customer Record that is added in the Guests attending section of the Invitation and represents those who are attending the Event Instance.
There may be Attendees without Customer Records; they won’t be included in Segmentation but can output in Reports.

Customer Lists and Segmentation

You can segment on Invitees and Attendees to:

• Create Auto Tags and Customer Lists
• Power Customer Groups
• Run crossover analysis 
• Power Offers and other benefits
• Create dynamic content and send integrated mailings

Invitee Segment

The following metrics are available within the Invitees wrapper in an Invitee Segment:

• Metric	Description
  Date Sent	Date sent within the selected range.
  Event Instance	Various metrics on Event Instance available.
  Response	Include one or more Response boxes by checking the box and selecting does from the dropdown. You can also exclude Response options by checking the box and selecting " does not from the dropdown.

Attendee Segment

The following metrics are available within the Attendees wrapper in an Attendee Segment:

• Metric	Description
  Attended	Check the box for Attendees who have the box checked next to their Names in the Guests Attended section.
  Event Instance	Various metrics on Event Instance available.
  Response	Include one or more Response boxes by checking the box and selecting does from the dropdown. You can also exclude Response options by checking the box and selecting " does not from the dropdown.
  Seat Booked	Check the box for Attendees with Seats assigned to them.

Custom Reports

You can also build Custom Reports using the Invitees or Attendees Report Type.

TIP: Reports with an Invitees or Attendees Report Type will also appear in the Reporting Dashboard of the Opportunities Interface.

• Invitees: Invitees Reports show a row for each Invitation.
• Attendee: Attendee Reports show a row for each Attendee.

Invitee Reports

Invitees Reports are filtered by Invitations using the following metrics in the Invitees wrapper, which you can use to create Criteria Sets:

• Metric	Description
  Date Sent	Date sent within the selected range.
  Event Instance	Various metrics on Event Instance available.
  Response	Include one or more Response boxes by checking the box and selecting does from the dropdown. You can also exclude Response options by checking the box and selecting " does not from the dropdown.

You can use the Invitee Reports to output information including details from the following wrappers:

• Invitees
• Customers
• Events
• Event Instances

The following metrics from the Invitees wrapper are available for Output Columns:

• Date Reply Expected
• Date Sent
• Details
• First Name
• Last Name
• Name
• Number Attending
• Number Invited
• On Behalf Of
• Response
• Tickets Booked
• Title

Attendee Reports

Attendee Reports can filter by Attendee using the following metrics in the Attendees wrapper, which you can use to create Criteria Sets:

• Metric	Description
  Attended	Check the box for Attendees who have the box checked next to their Names in the Guests Attended section.
  Event Instance	Various metrics on Event Instance available.
  Response	Include one or more Response boxes by checking the box and selecting does from the dropdown. You can also exclude Response options by checking the box and selecting " does not from the dropdown.
  Seat Booked	Check the box for Attendees with Seats assigned to them.

You can use the Attendees Reports to output information including details from the following wrappers:

• Attendees
• Customers
• Invitations
• Events
• Event Instances
• Seats
• Tickets / Reservations

The following metrics from the Attendees wrapper are available for Output Columns:

• Attended
• Attendee Name
• Attendee Notes
• First Name
• Last Name
• Title

The following metrics from the Invitations wrapper are available for Output Columns:

TIP: Invitation data outputs for every Attendee, even if they aren’t the Invitee.

• Invitation Details
• Invitation ID
• Invitation Response
• Invitee Name
• On Behalf Of

On-Demand Training Video - Invitation Management

In this section of our Spektrix Training: On-Demand video on Fundraising and Opportunities, we cover Invitation Management.

This chapter is a guided walkthrough of:

• What is an Invitation
• How to create an Invitation and connect it to a Customer and Guests
• Managing RSVPs of Invitations

VIDEO TIP: With our Spektrix Training: On Demand videos- you can stop, restart or move to specific chapters. Click the CC option to turn on captions. Click in the Settings menu cog icon to control speed, captions and quality.

Further Reading

You now have the information to create and manage Invitations. For more information on features in the Opportunities Interface, check the section on Donor Pipeline and Stewardship in the Support Centre.