What’s the best notification you’ve received?
Do you remember what it said?
Mine was at Coachella.
It was Day One of the festival and the sun was just starting to set in the orange and purple sky. The whole Cadence family was there, grooving to silky music in the dry desert.
Adam, our Head of Design‚ even flew all the way from Barcelona to surprise the rest of the team. It couldn’t get much better than this.
But it did.
I grabbed my phone out of my drawstring bag to check the time and saw a new notification.
“They just announced the secret guests for tonight!!”
The news spread like wildfire in our group, and the energy ran to the edge of my fingertips as I dove into the schedule of the app.
*chills*
Bonobo, an artist I had been listening to for years, was playing two entire hours that night!
Creating a simple push notification strategy for your event will support you in blowing past all your event goals.
However, coming up with creative and effective push notification ideas isn’t always intuitive when you’re just starting out.
To support you in creating your most memorable event experience yet, we’ve decided to let you in on the trade secrets we’ve uncovered from sending thousands of notifications over the last four years.
Let’s get started.
Notifications are strategic messages that you can send before, during, and after your event to delight attendees and support you in reaching any event goals.
Attendees can receive the push notification on their event app or by email. Notifications can be sent on the fly or scheduled in advance from app or desktop.
Preparing notifications ahead of time will bring you peace of mind that everything is running smoothly. If something changes at the last minute, you can always edit them quickly from your phone.
Yes, a timely notification will get you more survey responses, but it’s not only about what you need. Think about how you want attendees to feel at every point before, during, and after your event.
Think about the timeline of your event and how you want attendees to experience the flow. For example, if attendees are transitioning from a large group to smaller breakouts, don’t leave them hanging. Send out, “Time for breakouts! Check your personal schedule for your next room location.”
The header and body of your notification do not have to be full sentences. If you want to send a longer message, create a post on the Live Feed and link the notification to your post.
When you link a push notification to a section, your attendees can immediately see the relevant content, instead of searching it themselves. These seemingly insignificant moments of delight accumulate over time and make your entire event experience stand out.
We see notifications differently when we write them and when we receive them. Always send yourself a test push notification to review the text, and double check that you linked the appropriate content to the app.
Set the tone before your event and get people excited for what’s to come.
Help attendees connect and get to know each other before your event has even started. This is a great way to win over the hearts of introverts.
Send reminders and critical updates that can save the day.
Get everyone to start a scavenger hunt at the same time no matter where they are.
Encourage attendees to share what’s on their minds and capture the best moments on your Live Feed.
People will come back next time (maybe even with friends) if you can help them achieve. Think about what your attendees want more than anything at your event and serve it up on a platter.
Bring visibility to specific Materials like PDFs, websites, audio files, and surveys.
Increase survey response rates by being timely and letting people know their input is invaluable.
Reach specific groups of attendees that you’ve created such as breakout session attendees, VIPs, vendors, or even your event staff.
Give exposure (and love) to your sponsors and event partners. Keep your attendees in mind and make it about them.
Want to highlight an area or redirect people? Let them know what they could be missing out on.
Adding an element of mystery will make your notification irresistible.
Send fun custom messages to create moments that people will always remember. This is an opportunity to create life-long fans of your event and your brand.
Emergency communications may include weather alerts, warnings, and directives about evacuation. Be proactive and create a game plan that everyone will thank you for in case of an emergency.
Get people involved by collecting questions that matter to your audience. These can be used for a single speaker, a roundtable, or a panel discussion.
Sending timely, personalized, and actionable notifications is an easy way to take your event from good to great. And who wouldn’t want that? So think through your objectives, and start scheduling Notifications with Cadence!