Communications Panel - Confirmation Merge Docs

A Confirmation Merge Doc allows you to personalize emails to attendees by including details from their record (such as which sessions or functions they've registered for). Creating Confirmation Merge Docs in EventsAir is a very straightforward process, and uses the drag-and-drop EventsAir Builder, so it's just like building an Interactive Site. Creating your Merge Doc ahead of time makes it easy to re-use it in multiple situations, such as:

• Automatically sending a confirmation whenever an attendee completes their registration.
• Individually sending a confirmation after you manually register an attendee.
• Scheduling communications to be sent out at a particular time, or on a recurring basis.

Create a Confirmation Merge Doc

Select the Communications Panel, and in the Merge Docs section, select New.

Enter a Title (name) for your email.

For Type, select Confirmation.

Choose a Brand to apply.

You can also clone a Confirmation Merge Doc from one you've already created (either in your current event, or another one of your events).

Select Create, and the blank Merge Doc Builder will open.

A typical Confirmation Merge Doc includes the below: :

• Contact Details – use this section to show the attendee name, address, email, and salutation. 
• Text – use this element to create an introductory paragraph, such as welcoming an attendee.
• Registration Details – this section will add in the actual registration items that specific attendee has selected.
• Function - will show the actual function items the attendee has selected.
• Accommodation – details of the attendee's hotel booking.
• Text – you can use this section to close the communication, and perhaps give details on how to get more information.

A Merge Doc with these elements will look something like this in the builder:

Components in the Confirmation Merge Doc Builder - complete list

Edit a Confirmation Merge Doc

You can expand each component to edit it. For example, in the Text component, if you click on the Setup Cog:

You can enter your preferred text in the Text tab, in the Details field. For example:

Thank you for registering for our 2024 Conference. Please check the following details to ensure everything is correct with your registration.

Another example of how you can edit is to click the Setup Cog for the Registration component. 

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Then, in the Fields Tab, let's say you wanted to cut down on the number of details - you could de-select everything except for the Show Registration Name and Show Name Badge options:

(This is similar for other components: for example, in Functions you may choose to only include, say, the Function name, date and start time, in Accommodation, you can select what to show, etc.)

Using a Filter

There are two ways to use a filter for a Confirmation Merge Doc:

• If you filter directly on a Module (Registration, Functions, Accommodation, Travel, etc.), ONLY the items you select for that module will be shown.
• If you filter on an HTML component that's under a Module, the information is ONLY shown when the filter conditions are met.

Example of the first use:

E.g. If you have an event that includes a number of functions, but you only want the Awards Dinner to appear under Registrations in the Merge Doc you're creating. In the Confirmation Merge Doc builder, open up the Function component, and select the Filter tab, then specify Awards Dinner as the function to include. You'd also exclude anyone who's canceled.

Example of the second use:

E.g. To add extra information about a cocktail party, but only show it to people who'll be attending the party, add an HTML section to the Functions component of the Merge Doc (by dragging it in under Functions). 

Put the text into the Details tab of the HTML section. Then use the Filter tab for the HTML section to filter for a specific Target Group. (You'd include people who are going to that function, and exclude anyone who's canceled.) Select Apply, and this HTML section will now only appear in the Merge Doc if the filter conditions are met (the person is going to the cocktail party).

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Read more about using Searching and Filtering features in EventsAir.

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Finishing touches

Add any closing text if required. Use the second Text Component you added, click on the Setup Cog and enter your text, such as:

We look forward to seeing you in Las Vegas!

Sincerely,

Your Conference Registration Team

Select Preview. You can continue to fine-tune the formatting, content and structure until you're happy with your Merge Doc email. 

Help prevent your emails being flagged as spam

Although EventsAir does allow you to send emails directly (usually via SendGrid), we don’t control what happens at the recipients’ end – that’s in the control of their email provider.

Major email providers are tightening up their guidelines and definitions of ‘spam’. 

There are also other organizations that may choose to flag certain email domains as ‘spam’ and again, this is outside of EventsAir’s control.

All of this requires regular and proactive review and updating of your email sending practices. At a minimum, we recommend: 

Meet Authentication Requirements: 

Ensure your email sending domain is authenticated using SPF protocols. This helps email providers verify the legitimacy of your emails and reduces the likelihood of them being marked as spam. If we’ve contacted you to suggest making these changes, please do so quickly, and contact us if you’re unsure about what to do.

Review email content and subject lines:  

When you send engaging and relevant content that gives helpful information, rather anything that sounds like a ‘hard sales pitch’, your emails are less likely to be flagged by a recipient as spam. You should ensure you’re familiar with rules on ‘account related’ emails (i.e. sending essential information about an existing business account or transaction, such as confirming registration details) versus marketing emails (where you’re selling or promoting a service to customers or potential customers).

Certain phrases and words may automatically trigger a spam filter. Avoid excessive punctuation (exclamation marks, all capitals) or words such as “FREE” in either the content or subject lines. For example: “FREE TICKETS!!!!!!” may be true, but also may be flagged as spam. If you need more information, we encourage you to research further and use the resources we’ve included below.

Include Unsubscribe links:

For any marketing and promotional emails, bulk senders MUST give the option of unsubscribing with just one click directly within their email campaigns.  An unsubscribe link is automatically added to your email footer when you create a Marketing Merge Doc. Be cautious using Confirmation Merge Docs for marketing, and always check the “This is Marketing” box as this will create an unsubscribe link if there isn’t already one there.

Keep your mailing lists updated:

High bounce rates and low engagement can negatively impact your sender reputation and affect deliverability. Ideally, you should only email people who’ve opted in to receive your emails. Regularly clean up your email lists to remove inactive or invalid email addresses. NEVER purchase email lists or scrape email addresses from other sites. If your audience hasn’t heard from you recently, and aren’t expecting to hear from you, there’s a greater chance they’ll mark your email as spam.

Don’t send marketing emails to people who’ve opted out:

When sending a marketing email, checking the ‘This is Marketing’ box ensures that the email won’t be sent to people who’ve unsubscribed from marketing emails from this event*. 

*Email unsubscribe lists in EventsAir are event-based, so if you want an individual to be able to unsubscribe across ALL events, you should either use a contact store OR manually unsubscribe them from each event where they may be listed. 

HELPFUL RESOURCES:

→  8+ Best Practices to Improve Your Email Deliverability:
https://sendgrid.com/en-us/blog/8-best-practices-to-improve-your-email-deliverability

→   9 Reasons Why Your Emails Go to Spam: 
https://kinsta.com/blog/why-are-my-emails-going-to-spam/

→   A Complete Guide to 2024 Email Deliverability Updates: 
https://www.braze.com/resources/articles/guide-to-2024-email-deliverability-updates-what-to-expect-from-gmail-and-yahoo-mail