How to Prevent No-Shows: Event Organizers

You've worked hard to get your event to this stage, and now you feel like a kid before their birthday party … will anybody show up? Most of the time, people that have booked a spot for an event turn up. Yet there is always a percentage of no-shows, and every empty seat is lost cash. Today we are looking at how event organizers can help prevent no-shows, with a minimum of fuss and cost.

Scheduling SMS reminders

When doctors, dentists and real estate agents choose to schedule SMS messages to remind their clients about appointments, they are usually sent several hours beforehand. If someone has truly forgotten about an event, though, they usually require more notice than this to organize their attendance. Schedule SMS messages both three and seven days in advance, as well as on the event day.

Allow replies to your scheduled SMS messages

In many SMS software programs, it is incredibly simple to allow replies. This is an easy way to discover if someone isn’t planning to come -- let them reply to the message and be taken off the list. If you’re going to use this tactic, make sure you let your customers know! Many people aren’t used to being able to reply to scheduled SMS messages. Simply advise them in the message body of how to reply with a cancellation.

Consider taking small deposits

If you are setting up a free event that requires registration, you'll inevitably find more no-shows on the day than for paid events … even more than paid events where no deposit is taken. This is because people see the seat or booking as less valuable to you, so aren’t as concerned about letting you know it won’t be fulfilled.

To solve this dilemma, charge a nominal fee upon booking. If you want, you can use the fees towards food and drinks for the event, or donate it to a charity of your choice. Make sure you let people know what you are doing with the fee.

Using Text Speak in Your SME Marketing Messages

In general, you'll find that most people advise you NOT to use text speak in your marketing messages. "You'll alienate the older generation," they warn you. "People won’t understand you, your money will be wasted!" While this is true in some cases, it certainly isn't unequivocally true. If you’re speaking to a younger audience, full words will look very stilted to them on a screen … and ironically, it is the younger audience that are more likely to engage with SME marketing promotions via text. So today we are looking at some common text abbreviations, and how far to go with your text speak in scheduled SMS messages.

Common abbreviations in SMS speak

Some abbreviations are more common than others in text speak. You'll find that young adults, teens and middle-aged people alike are comfortable with using terms like:

L8 Late

l8r Later

bcos because

no Know

lol Lots of laughs/Laughing out loud

omg Oh my God

brb Be right back

Especially since most text messages are limited to 160 characters, some of these common abbreviations can be useful for getting plenty of detail into your SMS marketing, without adding a second message. While one set of beeps might be interesting, a second set unfailingly annoys!

Emoticons

Emoticons are common among the younger generation -- if you are sending scheduled SMS messages to teens or tweens, it is entirely appropriate. You might use pictograms like

Less common abbreviations

Most of these are conversational and not used in text message scheduling for marketing. Some of these abbreviations include:

n and

atm at the moment

or+ awesome

btw by the way

def definitely

g2g got to go

hru how are you

imo in my opinion

jtlyk just to let you know

obv obviously

prbly probably