How to Generate More Revenue From Events Using Facebook Messenger
December 2019 Update: Since this article was first published, Facebook have introduced new rules to the Messenger platform. As such, I have updated this strategy with the new rules taken into consideration. View the updated version here.
A free or low cost, informational live event can generate thousands of dollars in revenue for your business in just 2–3 hours.
These events are perfect for businesses that offer coaching or training and have a high-end offer (such as a training program or mastermind group) worth at least $1000.
An example would be a financial education business that offers investment training courses. Their flagship investing course is worth $5000.
They run a free seminar to teach people the basics of their training. After a two hour presentation, they pitch their flagship course to the attendees.
40 people attend the event and 15% of the room decides to purchase the course at the event, leading to $30,000 in sales.
But many businesses are still leaving money on the table when they run these events.
If you have ever run an event like this before or if you would like to host an event, reading this article could help you generate at least an extra $1000 — $10,000 in sales from your next event.
In this article, I’m going to explain how you can use Facebook Messenger to increase event registrations, boost your attendance rate and get more post-event sales.
How To Increase Event Registrations With Messenger
For your event to be a success, you need people to register. Ideally, you want to get a lot of registrations from people qualified to buy your offer.
Live events are typically promoted with Facebook ads and on event websites like Eventbrite. If a business has an email list, they can also promote their event to this list.
When promoting your event through Facebook ads or Eventbrite, it will be seen by a fairly cold audience — meaning those who see the ad or listing on Eventbrite are probably not very familiar (if at all) with you and your business. As a result, the percentage of viewers who register is typically going to be fairly low.
Email lists are good for promoting your event because if someone is on your email list then they are most likely already familiar with you and more likely to register for an event you host.
But just because someone is on your email list, it doesn’t mean they are going to open the emails you send them. In fact, for most businesses, their email open rates are around 20% or less.
So let’s say you have an email list of 1000 people in your event location. You send out an email about your upcoming event and 20% open it (200 people). If 10% of the people who open the email register for your event, that’s 20 registrations.
Facebook Messenger is an appealing alternative to email. As with email, you can build a list of subscribers on Messenger.
But instead of 20% open rates on email, Messenger gets open rates around 80%.
That means if you have a Messenger list of 1000 people, you could potentially get 80 registrations for your event instead of 20. An 80% open rate = 800 opens and then 10% registration rate = 80.
I suggest building your Messenger list months before you want to start promoting your event.
Getting Messenger subscribers is simple. You just need to get someone to interact with your business on Messenger once (by clicking a button or sending a message). I have a guide to growing your Messenger subscriber list here.
For example, if you plan on running an event in your local city four months from now then start building your Messenger subscriber list right now. You might offer a free download relating to your area of expertise and promote it through Facebook ads. When people click the ad, they are taken to Messenger and sent the downloadable file.
Now they have interacted with you on Messenger, you will be able to send them messages again in the future. In three months, you can send them a message to let them know about your upcoming event.
I suggest using a tool like ManyChat or Mobile Monkey to set up your Messenger campaigns.
Increasing Attendance Rate With Messenger
Eventbrite reports that the no show rate for free events can be as high as 50%.
A 50% no-show rate could be a killer for your event profitability. The no show rate for paid events is as low as 10% but charging for your event will obviously reduce your number of registrations.
There are a few reasons someone may not attend your event…
- They forget about it
- They have something else on
- They don’t believe it’s worth their time
Reminding people who have registered that your event is coming up and why they should attend is crucial for increasing your attendance rate. If you don’t do this, people will forget about your event or choose to do something else with their time.
Messenger can be used to keep your event at the top of the registrant’s minds.
By following the strategy outlined above to generate registrations for your event via Messenger, many of your attendees will already be on your Messenger list. Now you can send out event reminders to these registrants via Messenger leading up to the event.
If you’re using Facebook ads to drive people to a landing page for your event, you can add a ‘Send to Messenger’ button on the landing page. When someone clicks the Send to Messenger button, they will receive a message on Messenger with their event ticket. Now they are a subscriber and you will be able to send them event reminders.
If you’re using Eventbrite to promote your event, it won’t be as simple. You can send email reminders to those who have registered, but as I mentioned before email open rates are low and won’t be as effective as sending reminders through Messenger.
You could create an email to be sent to Eventbrite users as soon as they register for your event. In the email, include a Messenger URL so you can get them into Messenger, where they become a subscriber. Give them a good reason to click the Messenger link. You might tell people they can claim a special bonus for the event if they click the link.
Using a tool like Many Chat or Chat Fuel, you can segment your subscriber list so you know exactly who on your list has registered for your event. In the days and weeks leading up to your event, you will want to send out messages to those who have registered, reminding them when the event is on and why they should attend.
You can set up these messages using Many Chat, ChatFuel or other similar tools. They will also allow you to include videos in your messages. A short video, explaining why it will be a great event might be enough to turn some people from a no show to an engaged attendee and potentially a paying client.
This is also an opportunity to start getting to know some of your attendees. Messenger is a more personal platform than email and users are more likely to respond to your messages. You may receive messages back asking questions about your event or people expressing their excitement to attend your event (if you’ve done a good job of promoting it!).
When you receive these messages, you can start engaging with these users and begin to build trust with them, which will make them more likely to purchase the offer you present at your event.
By using Messenger to send event reminders and build excitement in your event, you may be able to increase your attendance rate by as much as 10%. For some events, this might translate to an extra 1–2 sales or more, worth over $5000 to your business.
Increase Your Post-Event Sales With Messenger
You’ll be hoping to get sales on the big day of your event. But no matter how good your presentation is, some people won’t be ready to buy on the day.
That doesn’t mean they aren’t interested. Many will be interested but just want more time to think about it. They might just need a little more of a push.
Messenger makes it easy to follow up with attendees who didn’t purchase your offer at your event.
Firstly, you will want to keep track of all the attendees who do purchase your offer so you can tag them inside of ManyChat or ChatFuel so they don’t receive your follow up messages.
Next, set up an automated Messenger message to be sent to attendees who didn’t purchase, within 24 hours of your event. Make the message personal, thanking them for attending your event and invite them to either purchase your offer now or to get on a phone call with you (or your team) to answer any questions they have.
You can even set up a sequence of messages to go out to these attendees over a period of several days or weeks following the event. Obviously, you won’t want to overdo this, but a few gentle pushes and reminders of your product might be enough to get some attendees to commit to your offering.
Don’t just rely on automated messaged. Be prepared to jump in the conversation (via your Facebook business page inbox) and personally respond to your attendees.
Conclusion
Thanks to its high open rates, Messenger is a powerful platform to boost the effectiveness of your events. Using the strategies in this article could lead to a 3–4x increase in event registrations, a 10% or higher increase in attendance rate and hopefully some extra sales following the event.
Depending on the value of your offer you promote at the event, this could be worth thousands in additional sales revenue from your event.
If you have a high ticket offer and would like to run your own event to promote it, we can help you develop a strategy that will maximize your event ROI!
We’re currently offering free consultations for businesses that want to run their own events. If you have a high ticket offer to promote worth $1000 or more, this call could be worth thousands to your business. You can schedule your call here.
