Event marketing allows you to interact with your buyers and create a lasting, positive impression of your business.
We all know that event marketing is never easy, though: you have to plan everything in advance and put together an effective communication strategy to coordinate your attendees.
Part of this strategy includes creating an event invitation email your invitees just can’t resist. Now, you may wonder – what does an irresistible event email even look like? And what goes into it?
To help you answer these questions, I’ve gathered and reviewed the 15+ best invitation email templates and examples from around the web. These will help you create better invitation emails of your own and will make your events a hit.
Did you know? With GetResponse Email Marketing, you can create and send beautiful invitation emails in a matter of moments. Get more people to register for your events with our free email marketing templates and an AI email generator built for marketers just like you!
What should you include in your event invitation email?
Before we dive right into the event email templates and examples, let’s take a look at the magic formula to make your email marketing campaign successful. You should include the following to create an attractive and purposeful event invitation email template:
Specific information
Your email must include all the specific information about your event, of course. At a minimum, you will want to include the following pieces of information:
- Time
- Date
- Location
- Duration
You should also think of any other important information about your event. If there’s an entry fee or a dress code, for instance, you should include that information in the email. It’d also be helpful to provide specific directions for reaching your venue and a way to contact the organizers.
Personalized data
Personalization is very important when it comes to marketing and can offer you a quick win. In fact, only around 50% of marketers personalize their emails. Yet, emails that contained personalized content got, on average, 0.6% higher click-through rates, according to the Email Marketing Benchmarks report. So, there is a lot of unused potential here, and you can stand out from the crowd very easily. You should personalize your email where it adds value to your audience – like the subject line, preheader, your greeting, CTA, or anywhere else in the email body. You can include the name and business name of your recipient, for example.
Attractive copy and design
Your email should look beautiful on every device, and the copy should strike a balance between fun and informative – you want your invitees to be informed and pumped for your event!
Work with your designers and copywriters to create an email that resonates with your invitees. It’s crucial that you put your best foot forward, so make sure to proofread the copy before hitting “send.”
And if you’re building your invitation email template yourself, be sure to check out this email design guide to stay up to date with the latest email design best practices.
A great call to action
Every marketer can do better than “click here” – you should do your best to create an engaging and attractive call to action that compels your invitees to register for your event.
Pull out all the tricks to make sure that your invitees click – think about the color, location, and tone of your CTA for the best results.
Remember that the CTA should (in most cases) link to a landing page for the event.
Additional information
In your copy, think of other things you can include to make your invitations more appealing, depending on who is going to receive the email. For example, showcase the speakers at your conference, adding a quick bio or info, including the subject they specialize in. Mention previous events if they were a success – e.g., throw in how many people have visited you in the past.
If you need some help in differentiating segments for whom you should send different invitations, check out our article on email segmentation.
💡 Pro tip: Don’t ever forget about your recipients’ convenience. Consider how they’re going to interact with your email and ensure they can easily consume your content. Avoid directing them to pages that aren’t mobile-optimized or forcing them to download an app to do something simple.
Let’s now look at some of the most compelling event invitation emails we’ve seen so far.
Event invitation email templates & examples
Event invitation email 1. Google Cloud
Subject line: Registration is now open for Next ’19.
No wonder that Google – one of the world’s most successful companies – knows how to put together a stunning event invitation email.
I love that fact all of the key information is given to the reader right away. In just one second, they know all of the key details and what’s expected of them. This shows that Google respects their invitees’ time.
Another thing worth highlighting is the prominent call to action that’s repeated both at the top and the bottom of the email. It quickly captures the users’ attention due to its contrasting color and placement. Plus, it has a reasonable size so that even mobile users would be able to click on it with ease.
Key takeaways:
Don’t waste your invitees’ time – give them the key information that they need right away. Even if that means repeating the call to action twice within the email body.
Event invitation email 2. Facebook Business
Subject line: You’re invited to Facebook Community Boost | Greenville!
Facebook is another digital behemoth and this short event invitation email keeps things very simple.
The email leads with a nice graphic that adds a human touch, then proceeds to outline the benefits of attending the event, and then follows (in a slightly smaller font) with further details such as the date and time of the event. It’s a compelling outline of what to expect and it takes just one moment to read.
Key takeaway: Be sure to articulate the intent and value of your event to make life simpler for your invitee.
Event invitation email 3. Havaianas
Subject line: Havaianas invites you to its Samba in Paris event
Havaianas is a quirky clothing brand that’s all about color and fun.
This event email does a great job of capturing that vitality. It’s focused around a key graphic and you can get a good idea about the topic of the event at just a glance! It’s a great example of how to use graphics in your emails.
Key takeaway: If you need to use visuals, go for it! Make sure you create beautiful images that are going to impress your recipient. Just make sure they’re not too heavy so that they won’t affect your email deliverability.
Event invitation email 4. Asana
Subject line: What if you could launch products 12x faster?
Asana is a project management tool that gives teams around the world the power to organize their projects effectively. This event email is straight-to-the-point and I love that it combines the best parts of the Google and Facebook email: all of the practical information is served up right away alongside a clear value proposition.
And since it’s a webinar rather than a big event that goes over several days, it’s great that Asana chose to highlight their key speaker. This helps the attendees get a better feel for what they can expect from this event and who’ll be leading it.
Key takeaway: Cut to the point and your invitees will love you for it. And if you got a speaker your attendees respect or will immediately recognize – make sure to highlight them in your email invitation.
Event invitation email 5. Starbucks
Subject line: Your invitation to new Starbucks® Happy Hour
Each day, millions of people around the world love to grab a Starbucks to power through their day.
With this event invitation email example, Starbucks plays on its powerful brand and adds just a light touch of its branding. It makes the whole “happy hour” concept feel more authentic and less forced.
Bonus points for having a super light design that makes this event email super quick to skim and easy to click through with the prominent call to action button.
Key takeaway: Think about how to present your brand in your event email according to your event objectives.
Event invitation email 6. Inspiration Cruises & Tours
Subject line: Get up close with Amy Grant in Alaska
Inspiration Cruises & Tours sounds like a wonderful business and this inspiring event email definitely got us daydreaming.
The email uses a nice mixture of beautiful imagery, encouraging copy, and trendy design to put together an inspiring email. The email captures the essence of the brand and oozes quality – don’t you just want to click?
And speaking of clicking, notice how they repeated the CTA button at the bottom of the message to save their recipients time. That’s how you make event invitation emails convert!
Key takeaway: Don’t be afraid to incorporate lots of images if you feel like it’s appropriate and it will help you to meet your objectives.
Event invitation email 7. Sunrise
Subject line: Invitation: LIG Meeting – Fri, Jan 23 @ 9:00am (EST)
The sun has officially set on Sunrise, a discontinued calendar application. But we can still draw inspiration from its elegant event invitation email.
This reminder email keeps things very simple – it puts all of the key information at the forefront so that the recipient can make an informed decision.
Key takeaway: Don’t be afraid to dispatch very concise and accurate event invitation emails to save the time of your recipients.
Event invitation email 8. Zoo
Subject line: [Last Call] Zoom Webinar Basics
Zoom is gathering an impressive reputation as one of the world’s leading online conferencing tools.
This webinar invitation email uses a nice blend of everything we’ve learned above: the images are pleasant, the copy offers a concise outline, and the key information is clear and easy to identify.
What’s also interesting about this message is that it includes information about upcoming events. Thanks to this, their recipients will know in advance, that there’ll be more sessions and ways to learn how to use their tool.
Key takeaway: Try to strike a balance between your copy, imagery, and key information. This creates an effortless feel.
Event invitation email 9. Segment
Subject line: Countdown to Synapse: last week to save on tickets
Synapse is an annual user conference for Segment. This is one event email invitation in a series.
The email does a great job of creating a sense of urgency and offering a direct CTA while also offering supplementary information to get recipients excited about the event.
Key takeaway: If you use a few emails as part of your communication strategy, don’t be afraid to experiment with your CTAs.
Event invitation email 10. Themeforest
This email invitation template is loaded with practical information.
As you can see, the email places a big emphasis on sharing details about the agenda. If you’ve put together an incredible agenda that’s going to attract your attendees, be sure to lead with it!
Key takeaway: Understand what makes your event unique and be sure to lean on it to get your recipients equally as excited!
Event invitation email 11. Hyped Marketing
Subject line: GDPR: Are You Ready…? The Countdown Begins!
GDPR still causes headaches to this day, but this invitation email template from Hyped Marketing invited attendees to learn more about the regulation.
The email has a very modern design with flashy visuals – it’s undoubtedly impressive and appropriate given the subject at hand. I like the way that the key information is in its own column, making it easy to digest.
Key takeaway: Make sure to invest the appropriate amount of time and effort into creating an attractive design – it can spell the difference between success and failure for your email, and your event, too.
Event invitation email 12. BARK
Subject line: You’re invited to Open Bark Night! ???? ????
This invitation email template is great fun. The email is very easy to skim, as the design has been broken up into smaller sections. Those sections are used to good effect, and they help to feed the sense of humor.
Key takeaway: Make sure to think about how your recipient is going to read your email. Use your design abilities to make sure that the copy of your email is broken up appropriately.
Event invitation email 13. Venngage
Everybody loves an ugly Christmas sweater, and this invitation shows that invitations don’t have to be super fancy depending on the context.
This example event is thrown at a person’s house – they don’t need to get too crazy! If you’re throwing a small internal event within your business, for instance, you could take to Canva to create a simple yet attractive event invitation graphic.
Key takeaway: Consider your audience to make sure that you create an event invitation email that is appropriate.
Event invitation email 14. Litmus
Subject line: Mark your calendar
This event invitation email from Litmus uses great design to divide the information up into a logical way and help the recipient understand the email.
It advertises a range of events in one email and uses a card-based design approach to remove the hierarchy – all of the events are equally important and full of life.
Key takeaway: Think about how you can use design to make your email invitation and the information within it as clear as possible.
Event invitation email 15. GitHub
Subject line: Git Merge 2018 call for proposals and tickets
Git Merge is a big event within the development community and this email does a great job of sharing key information for the busy invitees.
The design is very clean and it shares the goals of the event well. I do have one criticism, though, given that the CTA buttons seem to be reversed – it looks like the sender was trying to attract more speaking proposals rather than sell tickets!
Key takeaway: Be careful when it comes to the design choices that you make. A professional designer should offer you recommendations and insight to give you the best chance of success.
Event invitation email 16. Salesforce
Subject line: All the Dreamforce excitement is coming right to you.
Salesforce is one of the world’s largest companies and it does a great job of building hype for its Salesforce Live event.
The copy is really great – I love the way that the introductory text blends together a direct CTA with a clear and concise value proposition. It helps to get the reader excited and enthusiastic right away.
Key takeaway: Make sure to pay attention to your copy and create inspiring messaging that will get your attendees to click.
💡 Pro tip: If in-person events are out of the question, consider organizing online events instead. More than 80% of organizers say they’ve managed to reach a wider audience thanks to virtual events.
Key takeaways from these 16 event invitation emails
As you can see, there are lots of best practices that you can choose to follow when it comes to creating your event invitation email.
Here are all of them for you to take home:
The key ones we’ve highlighted above include:
- Don’t waste your invitees’ time – given them the key information that they need right away.
- Be sure to articulate the intent and value of your event to make life simpler for your invitee.
- If you need to use visuals, go for it! Make sure you create beautiful images that are going to impress your recipient.
- Cut to the point and your invitees will love you for it.
- Think about how to present your brand in your event email according to your event objectives.
- Don’t be afraid to incorporate lots of images if you feel like it’s appropriate and it will help you to meet your objectives.
- Don’t be afraid to dispatch very concise and accurate event invitation emails to save the time of your recipients.
- Try to strike a balance between your copy, imagery, and key information. This creates an effortless feel.
- If you use a few emails as part of your communication strategy, don’t be afraid to experiment with your CTAs.
- Understand what makes your event unique and be sure to lean on it to get your recipients equally as excited!
- Make sure to invest the appropriate amount of time and effort into creating an attractive design – it can spell the difference between success and failure for your email, and your event, too.
- Make sure to think about how your recipient is going to read your email. Use your design abilities to make sure that the copy of your email is broken up appropriately.
- Consider your audience to make sure that you create an event invitation email that is appropriate.
- Think about how you can use design to make your email invitation and the information within it as clear as possible.
- Be careful when it comes to the design choices that you make. A professional designer should offer you recommendations and insight to give you the best chance of success.
- Make sure to pay attention to your copy and create inspiring messaging that will get your attendees to click.
So, what’ll go into your invitation email template?
Hopefully, you’ve found the above event invitation email examples inspiring and the takeaways compelling.
It’s time for you to take these learnings and apply them when creating your own invitation emails.
If you don’t yet have an invitation email template that you’d like to build out or you’re looking for a tool that’ll take away the heavy lifting so that you can focus on making your event a success, then be sure to check out GetResponse with its Email Creator.
It comes with tons of ready-made templates you can customize to your match your event’s branding. It also makes your emails mobile-responsive automatically so that they look good on any device. Last but not least, it offers additional tools – like spam check, inbox preview, or dark mode preview – that’ll give you the confidence to hit send without worrying about what your invitation emails will look like in your recipients’ inboxes.
To learn more about the tool, check out this video below or just sign up for free today. It requires no credit card, so you won’t get charged until you decide to upgrade yourself.