This data mainly covers attendee information, registration numbers, ticket sales, event attendance, social media engagement, etc. Tracking each of them might feel overwhelming for event planners, but it can be easily done using the right tools.

In this article, you will learn about the concept of data-driven event planning, its importance, and how you can adopt the new trend with the help of the right technology.

What is data driven event planning?

Data driven event planning is the method of using insightful data and analytics to make every event decision from strategy to execution. It is the modern way of event planning that depends on real data instead of guesswork or assumption.

To run a data-driven event, you need to track the following data:

• Number of event registrations and ticket sales.
• Level of engagement.
• Attendee behavior.
• Session views.
• Attendee feedback

These data helps event organizers find out the areas that work in favor of the event and the areas that need improvement. it also gives them an idea about consumer preferences which they can utilize for improving the content of their upcoming events, strengthening marketing strategies, and improving attendee experience.

Why data matters in event planning

As mentioned above, an event, whether virtual, in-person, or hybrid, deals with various data that needs to be carefully tracked to create data driven events. Each registration made, ticket purchased, comment or feedback shared, interaction made during sessions, etc. creates a digital food print that tells a lot of things about your event.

The data helps event planners understand the following:

• Attendee behavior and preferences.
• Identify the most engaging event session.
• Engagement level in social media posts.
• Drop off points in virtual events.
• Offer personalized event content to attendees.
• Make major marketing decision and strengthen marketing strategies.
• Run personalized email marketing campaigns.

All the above mentioned things are crucial to run successful events with content that attendees are interested in.

The shift from assumptions to analytics

There was a time when events were run based on assumptions, attendee feedback, and past experiences. Sometimes they worked, and sometimes they did not. Though attendee feedback are valuable for events but still it was not sufficient to provide an event ROI to event planners.  

Data driven event planning has turned the table. In data driven event planning, instead of asking attendees directly if they liked a specific session or not, get the answer from the data that shows how many people have attended that particular session. Similarly, you can also get a clear idea of how many people participated in the poll or Q& A session. These measurable reports allow you to track your event accurately and understand its level of success.

The modern data driven event approach enables event organizers to improve future events and their marketing strategies.

Key metrics of data driven event planning

Understanding the key event metrics is the first thing that you need to do to create a data driven event. You need to closely monitor and analyze these metrics to improve your future events.

These metrics include the following:  

1. Event attendance

Knowing how many people have registered or checked-in to your event gives you an accurate information about your event attendance, which is crucial to measure its success.

Consider the following areas to find out your event attendance:

• Detailed registration and ticket sales data.
• Number of event check-ins.
• Check-in and registration ratio.
• The number of people who did not attend even after registering

2. Engagement level

Measuring the engagement level tells a lot about your event performance because if attendees do not feel engaged with your event content, they will mostly not attend your future events.

Consider the following areas to measure your event engagement level:

• Chat conversations and queries.
• Participation in Q&A sessions.
• Number of people who attended event sessions virtually.
• Social media interactions through comments, shares or mentions.
• Active participation in games included in your events.

They also tell you how relevant your event content is to your attendees.

3. Attendee behavior

This metric is all about understanding how your attendees respond to your event content and its promotional materials.

Here are the things to consider:

• The part of a session where most people dropped off.
• The event sessions which managed to gather most event attendees.
• Number of content downloads.
• Event networking.

4. Marketing and promotion

Your marketing and promotion data shows people’s level of engagement with your marketing materials.

Here are the things to consider:

• Find out the sources of registrations.
• Examine the conversion rate of your event landing pages.
• Website’s click through rate.
• Email’s open rate.
• Participation in social media contests.

5. Attendee experience

Attendee experience is the heart of every event, which often determines its success. Offering a satisfactory attendee experience also increases the chances of attendee retention.

Here are the things to consider:

• Post event feedback.
• Overall event ratings and reviews.
• Speaker and session reviews and more.

There are various tools available in the market for WordPress users to smoothly run data driven events. We recommend WP Event Manager as it offers a comprehensive solution for all types of events.

Embrace data driven event planning with WP Event Manager

WP Event Manager offers a set of premium addons that cover various event management requirements. Starting from calendar, registration and ticket sales to promotion and networking, it offers detailed data and analytics into each segment of an event.

• The registration add-on offers a detailed dashboard for organizers to help them track the number of registrations confirmed, waiting, cancelled and left.
• Similarly the Sell tickets add on shows the number of tickets sold, not purchased or left.
• The CRM integrations of WP Event Manager allows you to track attendee data and sync them in real time automatically.
• The Ai matchmaking add-on also tell you about the level of networking in each of your events.

To know more about WP Event Manager and its addons, discover the plugin now!

The post Data-Driven Event Planning for Successful Events in 2026 appeared first on WP Event Manager.

This is where the need for automation through the right tools comes in. The integration between WP Event Manager and Zoho CRM does exactly the same for you. It not only automates the attendee data collection system but also creates a centralized platform for attendee data management efficiently.

In this article, you will learn how WP Event Manager and its add-on Zoho CRM helps automate attendee data management with their outstanding features. Let us begin with attendee management automation.

What is attendee management automation?

The term attendee management automation signifies the process of automating the tasks related to handling event attendee data.  Such tasks include the following:

• Attendee registration and ticketing details.
• Categorizing attendees on the basis of event types, preferences, roles etc.
• Sennding marketing emails, follow ups, feedbacks, reminders and more.
• Syncing attendee data with a CRM.
• Measuring event performance and level of engagement.

All the above tasks can be automated with WP Event Manager and Zoho CRM which ultimately saves your time, effort, and ensures accuracy and consistency at every step.

Why automating attendee management is essential?

Automation in various event activities is not only an event industry trend but also a necessity that every event organizer should adopt to get rid of tedious and repetitive tasks and save time to focus on the creative side of an event.

Here are the advantages of automating attendee management that make it essential for every event:

• Boost efficiency: Automation in attendee management including registration, ticketing, sending reminders, confirmation, payment notification etc eliminate the need for manual efforts and removes human errors ensuring efficiency and accuracy in data entry.

• Improves attendee experience: Automation enables attendees to smoothly complete the registration, ticket purchasing and, event check-in process. Besides this, the attendee data that organizers collect helps offer personalized event content to them that also improves attendee experience at your event.

• Encourages data driven marketing: Attendee data plays a crucial role in letting organizers understand their attendees, their preferences and most importantly what they are looking for in their events. Based on this and event performance they can create their marketing campaigns and make data driven decisions. 

• Reduced errors: As automation is driven by machines, it completely removes the chances of human errors which is commonly seen while handling attendee data manually. Similarly it ensures accuracy in maintaining attendee lists and their details.

• Better revenue earning potential: A simplified registration and ticketing system encourages more and more attendees to take part in your event which ultimately increases your events revenue earning potential.

Automating attendee management is beneficial for both attendees and organizers it makes the management process easy by saving time and effort and offers a great attendee experience at the same time.

Role of WP Event Manager in capturing attendee data

WP Event Manager is an eminent event management plugin for WordPress that covers almost all event related requirements for event organizers through its premium addons and that include automated attendee data collection as well.

• The event Registration addon allows organizers to create a customizable registration form through which they can collect the specific data that they want from their attendees.
• This is the main attendee data that is stored in your event platform and can be utilized to create engaging marketing campaigns.
• Besides the Registration and ticketing addons, it offers multiple CRM based addons that helps organizers automate event marketing campaigns and sync attendee data to various platforms. One of these addons is the Zoho CRM which is built with the powerful features of WP Event Manager and Zoho CRM.

Let us discover how the Zoho CRM addon helps automate attendee data management.

Automating attendee management Zoho CRM 

1. Automated attendee data syncing

The Zoho CRM add-on automatically syncs your attendee data that they provide you during the registration process. This reduces your efforts on entering attendee data repeatedly to various platforms. Once an attendee completes the registration process, the is stored and synced automatically.

2. Automated marketing campaigns

Zoho CRM also automates email marketing for organizers by sending automatic email updates to registered attendees, including confirmation emails, event tickets along with seating details, reminders, feedback, and more. The best part is that you can send customized email messages to each attendee.

3. Centralized attendee records

Attendee data is stored in one place which makes it easily accessible to event organizers. This means an event organizer does not need to juggle between pages to find specific attendee details such as name, contact information, ticket details, seating preferences, registration type, specific events they have registered for and more.

4. Improves communication

Automated email campaigns ensure that not a single update is missed. When handled manually, event updates or confirmation emails might be missed due to rush which can be easily avoided through automated email communication. it helps maintain transparency with attendees as well.

Wrapping up

The combined power of WP Event Manager and Zoho CRM magically transforms your attendee management system. Starting from automatically syncing attendee data to automating marketing campaigns, it covers everything to simplify the process of attendee management.

The post How to Automate Attendee Management with WP Event Manager & Zoho CRM appeared first on WP Event Manager.

Today’s event planners prefer AI adoption and automation of repetitive event management tasks like registration management, email marketing, attendee data handling, etc. This has brought WordPress to the forefront of modern event technology as it supports all these areas through plugins like WP Event Manager.

The recent shift in WordPress event management is driven by various factors, and the growing expenses of SAAS based event platforms is one of the significant ones among them.

Whether you are an event planner looking for a cost effective solution for event management without SAAS fees or you want to modernize your event management system keeping pace with the recent trends, this article is for you. In this WordPress event management guide, you will discover WordPress event management trends, how you can avoid SAAS fees with WP Event Manager, and more to streamline your event management process in 2026 without breaking the bank.

WordPress event management in 2026

A major part of WordPress event management in 2026 is covered by AI and Automation. As event planners are drifting away from the traditional SaaS based platforms and stepping towards fully owned event platforms, event management in 2026 will cost-effective and majorly tech driven.

Here’s what management looks like in 2026

• WordPress, to be used as one of the most preferred event platforms for event planners to maintain data ownership, branding and automated event workflow.
• The overall WordPress event management set up in 2026 consists of event plugins, automation tools and mobile friendly designs.
• Personalization, automation, data privacy and integrations will be the main focus areas of WordPress event management.

WordPress event management trends

Event planners will witness a major shift in 2026 with new technological advancements, changing consumer behavior, and a growing emphasis on data security.

Here are the event industry trends that will dominate the year 2026:

• Sustainable event management practices like using recyclable decor, reducing paper usage with digitization and more.
• Reducing reliance on third party platforms by creating in-house ticketing system. 
• Usage of AI in major event management activities.
• Influencer-driven events for better audience reach.
• Data driven decision making.
• Adoption of SMS marketing for mobile based event communication.
• Organizing hybrid events to boost the number of attendees and convenience.
• AI based fast matchmaking.

Considering all the WordPress new trends, we recommend WP Event Manager as it offers all the solutions that you need to manage your events in a modern way in the AI and automation era. Let us discuss this in detail.

WP Event Manager, the ultimate WordPress event management partner

WP Event Manager is not just a WordPress event management plugin; it is a complete package for event planners that consists of well structured WordPress event plugins, themes, a dedicated support team, and the trust of thousands of global customers. It can easily be added to your WordPres event tech stack 2026 without disrupting others.

WP Event Manager is the name of the core plugin that offers basic features to help you add your event lists to your WordPress site. It is absolutely free and comes with many useful features that are usually not available with its competitors in the free version.

Some of the key features of WP Event Manager include:

• Advanced search filters to help find events quickly.
• Elaborated event details page.
• Frontend event submission form.
• Easily customizable as per business requirements.
• Detailed dashboard for event organizers and admins containing event lists, status and more.
• SEO friendly.
• Easy past event management system.
• Compatible with various other WordPress tools.
• It comes with detailed user guide and documentation that is available in the Knowlegebase section on our website.

Whether you run huge corporate events or non-profit events, WP Event Manager is the ultimate partner for digital event management.

The best part about the plugin is that it is versatile and flexible that can be used for all types of events with required customization. The coding free solution is often appreciated for its ease of use.

WP Event Manager installation

To add your first event with WP Event Manager, you need to install it. The installation process is super easy. You can install it manually or automatically as per your preferences. Once you install and activate the plugin, you are redirected to the Setup Wizard, which allows you to select and create pages based on your need. 

Currently, we have 830,054+ active downloads with thousands of happy customers who are the heart and soul of the brand.

Note: The WP Event Manager Setup Wizard UI is changed for an improved user experience.

After selecting the pages, you are ready to add your events to your website.

WP Event Manager also offers a feature to add feedback for those who deactivate the plugin. This helps us improve the plugin and its user experience in the future.

Awards and recognitions 

WP Event Manager started its journey as a WordPress event plugin in the year 2017 with a small and dedicated team of developers and designers under the leadership of Mr.Ashok Dudhat. Since then, the company has never looked back. WIth amazing ratings on popular reviews, it has also received several awards and recognition for its outstanding contribution to WordPress event management industry.

The awards it received include the following:  

• WP Event Manager secured the 2nd Position in Monster Awards 2022 for being one of the best booking and appointment WordPress plugins.

• It was Recognized as one of the Most Trusted Indian Companies (2023) by World Brand Affairs

• The brand has also received the Fastest-Growing WordPress Product Company (2023) award at the World MSME Business Summit (WASME) Awards.

• Won Bronze at the WP Awards 2023.

• Became the First Runner-Up in the Startup of the Year 2023 (Hackernoon).

• Best Event Management Plugin for WordPress (2024) at the International Business Conclave.
• In the SME Business Awards 2024, it was recognized as one of the top SME businesses in IT Services – CMS Extensions/Plugins.

There awards reflect the love and trust that we have received from our users throughout the world.

The core plugin offers almost 40 premium addons, and each is designed to fulfill specific event management needs. Let us discover more on that.

WP Event Manager add-ons for different event management needs

As we mentioned, WP Event Manager is an all-in-one WordPress event management solution that covers all event management requirements right from calendar, registration, and ticket sales, to networking, and marketing.

A set of new plugins has also been launched recently to modernize and simplify event management. Let us introduce you to all of them in brief.

Here, we have divided our plugins based on WordPress event management requirements:

1. Feature Addons of WP Event Manager

The feature add-ons of WP Event Manager empower users  with various event management functionalities like showcasing events in a calendar, using Google Maps to show event location, and more.

• Calendar: Lets you add a clean calendar on your website to display event dates and details.
• Recurring Events: Eliminates the repetitive task of creating recurring events by automating the entire process.
• Google Maps: Allows users to showcase event location on Google Maps and highlight them for better view.
• Google Analytics: Helps you measure the success of your events and track user behavior on your website.  
• OpenstreetMap: Displays event location in a map with an indicator to allow attendees to find nearby event location quickly.  
• Sliders: Lets you flaunt your upcoming events in attractive slides with necessary details.
• Embeddable event widget: Allows you to add an impressive event listing widget where ever you want on your website.
• Export Events: Easily transfers your event data through a CSV file.
• Guest List: Helps you manage your attendees smartly by categorizing them into various groups.
• Google reCAPTCHA: Tightens the security of your event website by filtering spam entries.
• Bookmarks: Enables you to bookmark specific events so that you do not have to find important events again and again.  
• Organizer App: It brings the entire event management system into the organizer’s mobile with detailed access to event listing, attendee information, registration, ticket sales and more for free.
• Colors: Allows you to add different colors to event types and categories to make it easy for viewers to differentiate them.  

2. Ticket Selling Addons

The set of ticket selling addons is not just an addition to your event tech stack; it is a complete money making machine that not only allows you to sell event tickets but also helps you create an event ticket selling platform on your website. These addons are useful for especially those who are looking for an Eventbrite alternative.

• Sell Tickets: It enables you to sell event tickets through WooCommerce on your website.
• Registration: Helps you create a customizable event registration form and add AI matchmaking feature to your events for better networking.
• Stripe Split Payment: Divides event ticket revenue between event organizer and admin based on the commission percentage fixed by the admin.
• WooCommerce Paid Listing: Allows you to create subscription packages for event organizers who want to sell event tickets on your webite.  
• Attendee Information: Offers detailed attendee information that they provide you during the registration process for better data management.
• WP Seats: Helps you sell your event seats by creating a custom seating chart for each event and adding different price levels for the same.
• Name Badges: Lets users create on demand event badges quickly using their brand logo, color and preferred layout.
• Event Countdown: Creates a sense of urgency among attendees by adding a countdown timer to your event’s registration or ticket section.

3. Marketing Addons

Marketing addons of WP Event Manager are exclusively designed to elevate the marketing journey of every event organizer. The recent technical shift in the event industry has clearly defined the need for data driven marketing in 2026. Considering the latest event marketing trends, WP Event Manager offers marketing addons that automate email marketing and give full control over attendee data in the event organizers’ hands.

• SMS Notification: Allows event organizers to send real-time event notifications to attendees through SMSes.
• Zapier Integration: Automates major event operations to eliminate manual efforts and save time.
• Salesforce CRM: Syncs attendee data and automates emails marketing with customizable event messages.

Note: WP Event Manager offer 5 more CRM plugins including Sendinblue, Mailchimp, Zoho CRM, Hubspot, and Constant Contact that offers the same functionality and gives users to choose the platform that they prefer.

• Emails: Lets the admin send event notifications to the organizer through emails.

4. Virtual Event Addon

WP Event Manager is a versatile plugin that goes well with all types of events, including virtual and hybrid events. Hybrid events is one of the hottest new event industry trends and the features that the virtual add-ons of WP Event Manager provide perfectly fulfill the modern requirements. Starting from setting up a perfect virtual exhibition or networking event to promoting and selling tickets for the same, the plugins empower users with every feature.

• Expo Networking: Helps you create various types of virtual events like exhibitions with booths, networking sessions, speaker interactions and more.
• Speaker and Schedule: Allows you to display the details of your event speakers along with their session schedule.
• Zoom: Enables you to manage your virtual meetings, conferences, webinars and more directly from your WordPress dashboard.

These addons are exclusively designed to make hosting virtual events on WordPress simple and smooth.

5. WP Event Manager themes 

WordPress event themes are one of the most essential elements of an event website that determines your website’s branding style, mobile friendliness, and visibility online.

Besides a wide range of event management add-ons, WP Event Manager provides a set of premium WordPress event plugins to help you design your events website or improve the existing one.

Most event organizers or website owners struggle to find a suitable event theme for their events website that will be compatible with the event plugins and other tools that they use on their website. Considering this issue, WP Event Manager has come up with its own event themes that are:

• Compatible with all its premium addons.
• Responsive.
• WooCommerce friendly.
• SEO friendly.
• Easily customizable.

Event planners often get confused about how to choose the best WordPress event theme for their website but let us tell you that each theme offered by WP Event Manager carries all the qualities that a good theme must have. The best part is that it can be easily installed into your system.

WP Event Manager as an Eventbrite alternative

Let’s face it, third-party reliance for selling event tickets is not costly but also takes away the sense of ownership because everything starting from attendee data collection to ticket transactions is managed through that platform. On the other hand, having an in-house ticketing platform gives you attendee data ownership, seamless order management, and the scope to connect with your attendees directly.  

Consider the following chart to see the differences between the in-house ticketing system and third-party ticketing platform.

Event Cost Comparison: WP Event Manager vs Eventbrite

Example Scenario — 500 Attendees Using Paid Tickets

1. Eventbrite Costs (Typical)

• Ticket price: $50 (Per Event Ticket Fee)
• Eventbrite fee: 3%
• Payment processing (Third Part): 2.9% (Fix Charges)

2. WP Event Manager + WordPress Costs

• Hosting: $200 / year
• Premium addons: $300 (optional)
• Payment gateway (Stripe): 2.9% (Fix Charges)

WP Event Manager has two types of costs

 1. Fixed / Annual Costs (Paid Once)  

• Hosting: $200 / year
• Premium addons: $300 / year (optional)  Fixed yearly cost = $500

2. Variable / Per-Event Costs

• Stripe payment fee: 2.9% per transaction
• For 500 attendees @ $50
• Stripe fee per event = $725

Correct WP Event Manager Breakdown

1. Per Event

• Stripe fee: $725
• Hosting & add-ons: NOT per event (annual)

2. Yearly Totals

5 Events / Year

• Stripe fees: $725 × 5 = $3,625
• Fixed annual cost: $500
• Total yearly cost: $4,125

10 Events / Year

• Stripe fees: $725 × 10 = $7,250
• Fixed annual cost: $500
• Total yearly cost: $7,750

Note: When the number of events increases, using WP Event Manager becomes more affordable due to the elimination of third-party ticket fees.

WP Event Manager add-on pricing guide

WP Event Manager’s premium bundles are available individually and in bundles. It currently offers four bundles, and each bundle is created for different event management requirements.

Each plugin and bundle comes with a year of subscription along with premium support. The price usually varies based on the number of sites you are purchasing it for. Here, the prices of addons and bundles for one site are displayed.

Individual plugin price starts from $49, whereas bundles are available from $99. It is worth mentioning that bundles are a more affordable option than individual plugins as you get multiple ones in a package at a much lesser price.

The pricing structure of WP Event Manager is made considering the purchasing capability of all types of event organizers.

WP Event Manager Demo

WP Event Manager prioritizes client satisfaction at every stage, ensuring that no client regrets after purchasing the premium plugins. That is why it offers a complete free demo of all its add-ons through which clients get a detailed idea about how the plugins work and what they can expect from them.

Though it does not offer any refund policies but the plugin demo helps users understand the plugin and its usage. All you need to do is to go to the demo option present at the home page of our website, share your email id and follow the steps as instructed over there.

Case study highlights

WP Event Manager has served thousands of customers globally, and their words of appreciation clearly show their satisfaction with our plugin. One of the most prominent clients of WP Event Manager who has been associated with us for more than 7 years now is Vintage land. 

We are blessed to have clients like them in our professional journey. Thankfully, we have the support of many such clients like Urban Trendsetters, Cornerstone and more who have always encouraged us to move forward with our ideas.

Wrapping up

When it comes to WordPress event management, WP Event Manager can be the best pick for you. It is versatile, affordable, comprehensive, and a coding-free solution that anybody can use for all types of events. Starting from managing a calendar to registration, ticketing, networking, and promotion, it covers everything you need to manage your events online.

It also offers sophisticated WordPress event themes that are compatible with all its add-ons and other WordPress tools. We hope that this article will help you understand how WP Event Manager works to simplify the online event management process. 

The post The Ultimate Guide to WordPress Event Management with WP Event Manager appeared first on WP Event Manager.

This is where automation tools like Zapier helps. If you are still struggling to manage events efficiently read this article to know how Zapier automates major event management tasks to simplify the process.

You can connect your WordPress event management platform like WP Event Manager with thousands of apps as per your preference to automate event management and its recurring tasks without coding using Zapier. It is a game-changing tool for event planners that helps automate major event operations, saving time and effort.

Before diving into the main topic let us give you brief introduction to Zapier and event automation.

Introduction to Zapier and event automation

Zapier is a coding free automation tool that links your event management platform to various apps to automate event operations eliminating manual effort. Such event operations may include attendee communication, registration management, marketing, managing reminders, and more by triggering actions in specific events.

This helps event organizers remove the scope of error and focus on creating an engaging events. Now let us find our how Zapier automate event management tasks.  

Automate event management with Zapier

1. Simplify event coordination across platforms

The process of event management covers a lot of tools for calendar integration, ticketing & registration management, attendee handling, marketing, and switching between multiple platforms. Syncing these systems manually can be overwhelming for the event organizers, especially when a bushiness grows. That’s when automation comes as a savior. With Zapier, you can automate the flow of information among all your event management tools and significantly reduce manual effort.

2. Back up event details

Tracking crucial event details can be stressful for event organizers, especially when a huge number of attendees are involved. Similarly, when you run multiple events simultaneously, the challenge becomes even tougher.

The best way to deal with this situation is to store the event data, including registrations, attendee actions, and more, in a spreadsheet as backup. This makes the data easily accessible through a single platform.  

Zapier automatically transfers these details from your event platform to a spreadsheet and update it in real time streamlining the entire system without any manual intervention. This way, you can ensure a smooth entry and maintenance of your event data in a centralized platform.

3. Add attendees to your mailing list

Including all your attendees to your mailing is an amazing way to stay connected with them, share updates, and keep them engaged even after your event ends. Doing it manually is laborious and time consuming, but when you are with Zapier the process becomes automated that helps you save time and ensure no one is missed.

Zapier allows you to automate the entire process right from adding new attendees to updating the existing ones.  It sends all the attendee details to your email marketing tool to help you create a personalized event experience. Starting from sending event invitations and reminders to post event feedback or thank you email having an updated mailing list strengthens your marketing strategy and improves campaigns.

4. Automate calendar updates and scheduling

Zapier also helps manage your event schedules systematically through a calendar. Automating the schedule management system through a calendar ensures that you never miss important dates related to your event, including registration deadlines, meetings, etc.

Zapper takes event information from your event platform that includes new events, registration details, and more to create new events in Google calendar based on that. This helps you manage your event-related tasks on time, making the process smooth for you and your team.

5. Automate lead management

Events create an amazing platform for businesses to generate leads, but it can be tricky if attendee data is managed manually. Automating the attendee tracking system allows you to keep an eye on every attendee data and update it accordingly in your CRM tool. It bridges the gap between you and your attendees, giving you the scope to know them better without maintaining multiple spreadsheets.

Zapier automatically sends the details of your new attendees to your CRM tool to help you systematically manage the data and ensure that every attendee is informed and updated about your event without fail.

6. Automate notifications for real-time updates

Keeping your attendees updated about any last minute changes of your event is your responsibility as an event organizer, and it is crucial for your event success. When you have an automated notification system, the task becomes easier for you. This saves time and removes the risk of missing important updates.

You can connect Zapier with various communication platforms like Slack or email through which it sends your team real time notification such as new event or registration notification. Similarly, you can also automate sending notifications to your attendees and registrants regarding event updates.

Zapier is one of the best tools to automate event management and that is why WP Event Manager has joined hands with the platform to offer a smoother event management experience to its clients.

Automate event operations with Zapier and WP Event Manager

Considering the need for automation in the event industry, WP Event Manager has newly launched a premium add on named Zapier Integration. It offers the combined strength of WP Event Manager and Zapier to automate major event management tasks.

Its key features include:

• Real time task automation.
• Allows admins to choose workflows to automate as per requirements.
• Offers full control to admins to choose event specific triggers.
• Detailed Zapier dashboard for event organizers.
• Zap activity log for event organizers to access past event triggers and their status..
• Advanced customization.
• Multi app work flow and more

To get all the features, discover the plugin now!

If you want to automate event management then go for the Zapier integration of WP Event Manager for a smoother workflow.

The post 6 Ways to Automate Event Management with Zapier appeared first on WP Event Manager.

In the ever-evolving event industry, depending solely on email and social media marketing is not enough to get your audiences attention. With overflowing email inboxes and content-dense social media feeds, it takes a fraction of a second for people to skip ads.

That is why more and more event organizers are getting inclined towards SMS marketing for events. Starting from inviting attendees to sending registration confirmation and follow-ups, SMS marketing helps you grab your audience’s attention instantly and ensure that they don’t miss an update from you.

If you have not adopted the event marketing channel yet, it’s high time you take steps to utilize it. This article will be helpful for you in this journey as we have shared a detailed guide on SMS marketing for events and how you can use it for your business business. So let’s get started.

What is SMS marketing for events?

SMS marketing for events is a marketing channel that allows an event organizer to bring the entire event communication process into mobile phones through SMS. All types of event promotional messages like event invitation, registration, or ticket confirmation, reminders, follow ups, venue details, last minute changes, feedback form etc can be sent through messages.

Why use SMS marketing for events?

SMS marketing for events is more than just an event marketing method. In fact, research says more than 50% of consumers also consider it an effective way of marketing. Whether it is about registration confirmation or event reminders, it helps deliver messages instantly.

• Unbeatable open rates: SMS have an incredibly high opening rate that beats any other marketing channels. You might be surprised to know that the event email open rate is only 21% whereas the open rate of SMS is around 98%. Email box remains flooded most of the time, and that is why skipping important updates is common, but SMS are delivered directly and opened almost instantly. That is why SMS marketing for events is more useful than emails or social media posts.

• Mobile first behavior: People keep their mobile phones close to themselves almost 24*7 which means whenever a message is delivered, they get instant attention from the receiver. That is why it is the easiest way to grab the attention of your audiences towards your events. This is a device that they constantly stay in touch with, which means your messages are most likely to be seen quickly.  

• Instant delivery and access: The best part about SMS marketing for events is that you can instantly communicate any last minute changes, event day ticket sales, or schedule update to your audiences.  It is a both-way beneficial process because audiences also get instant access to all information that organizers provide.

• Budget friendly: Conventional marketing channels such as emails and paid ads are more expensive than SMS marketing. In fact, it is remarkably cheaper than cost per click marketing that may cost you around $6 per click. SMS marketing requires a minimum set up cost and no additional payment for ad space.

• Better visibility: As users don’t need to visit a website or login to check SMS, they get better visibility. Promotional messages in inboxes often go unnoticed, but the phone message box always catches people’s attention, offering a better visibility to the event marketing texts.

• Automation and personalization: Automation and personalization is the heart of event marketing. Most consumers prefer to receive personalized messages that make them feel valued. Event marketers can personalize SMS by mentioning the recipient’s name, modify the content as per their interests, and more. Similarly, automation saves marketers’ time as they don’t have to type messages to send to each attendee.

Now that you know why SMS marketing for events is important, let us share some key strategies with you to implement SMS marketing.

Key Strategies to Implement SMS Marketing for Events

1. Structure your messages wisely

Creating a solid SMS marketing strategy for an event begins with structuring your messages correctly. Consider the following tips to structure your messages for event promotion:

• Keep it short and crisp with only essential details like event title, date, time, registration like, location etc.
• Create a sense of urgency among recipients using words like limited seats, over valid till (date), final call for attendees etc.
• Considering the limited character count in text messages, avoid unnecessary things like the usage of slang, jargons, stretched paragraphs etc. 
• Add a brief description of the things your audiences can expect in your event like activities, speakers details, any special offers on ticket prices etc.
• Personalize messages using receiver’s name, relevant details etc.

2. Prepare a timing strategy

Whether it is a reminder message or registration confirmation message, timing plays a pivotal role in determining engagement level in SMS marketing.

Here are some tips for you to prepare a timing strategy for your SMS event marketing journey:

• Send event invite messages as soon as your event is finalized so that your audiences get time to make plans accordingly and purchase tickets.
• The second message or the follow up message should be sent a week before your event and the final call should be made a day or two before the event.
• Make sure to avoid sending too many messages to your audiences as overflowing messages annoy them.
• Two to three strategically timed promotional messages are enough to keep your audiences engaged.

3.Categorize audience

Categorizing your event audiences is crucial to ensure a systematic management of your SMS marketing journey and offer personalized event experiences to them.

Consider the following tips:

• Segment your audiences based on their registration status.
• Categorize audiences who have not registered yet. You can provide incentives to them or run a special offer to encourage them to sign up.
• Create separate messages for VIP guests, Sponsors etc.

4. Measure the effectivity of your previous SMS campaigns

It is important for every event marketer to check if his or her SMS marketing campaigns are working or not.

• To track the effectiveness of your previous SMS campaigns, you can begin with the click through rates, which show how many people have actually engaged with the text messages.
• Secondly, check the conversion rate to find out the number of people who registered or purchased tickets for your event based on your text messages.
• Opt-out- rate should also be considered to find out why they have unsubscribed, where you can improvements etc to reduce it. .
• Keep experimenting with different types of messages to see which works better.

5. Use WP Event Manager for  a smooth SMS marketing experience

When it comes to SMS marketing for events, use a WordPress plugin like WP Event Manager’s SMS notification to automate the process and enhance your marketing efforts. It allows you to send customized email messages instantly using Twilio integration.

Key features of the SMS notification addon include:

• Enables you to track your sent messages and track their status.
• Automates scheduled SMS.
• Get built in SMS template that saves time and adds convenience.
• Offers better security for admins and organizers with Twilio integration by separating their credential set up.
• Lets you send role based SMS like sending different messages for admins, organizers, and attendees.
• Offers a detailed dashboard for organizers in the frontend for better SMS setting management, tracking SMS and more.

Discover the plugin now !

Wrapping up

SMS marketing is a revolutionary step for event marketers to get noticed. It is cost-effective, it has a great open-rate, supports mobile first behavior, offers real-time messaging facility, better visibility, and drives engagement. Whether you have already adopted the new marketing method or you are a beginner, using a plugin like SMS Notification makes the process easier for you.

The post How to Use SMS Marketing for Events Business appeared first on WP Event Manager.

However, determining which is better might be challenging. To help you make an effective decision for your website, we have come up with this WordPress block themes Vs classic themes article, in which you will learn about their features in details and their comparison.

Let us begin with a brief introduction to the WordPress blocks themes and classic themes.

Introduction to blog themes and classic themes

1. Block themes

Block themes were invented in 2022 with the release of WordPress. These are the advanced WordPress themes that are mainly designed for Full Site Editing. As the name suggests, in block themes, each website element, including header, footer, etc is built using blocks. This allows users to customize pages using a visual drag and drop facility with Gutenberg block editor without any coding.

Key features of WordPress block editors include:

• Offers Full Site Editing facility to enable users to edit each part of their website.
• The Site editor in WordPress block themes eliminates the need for traditional theme customizers.
• It makes the process of modifying website typography, layouts and color combination effortless for users.
• Users can easily change their website templates without coding.
• Speeds up the page building process with block patterns and templates.

Now that you have a clear idea of block themes, let us focus on the classic themes.

2. Classic themes

As mentioned above, classic themes are traditional WordPress theme that support PHP templates. The work with widgets for site designing and requires WordPress customizers for customization. They are compatible with a wide range of WordPress plugins and page builders.

Key features of classic themes

• It enables users to modify site colors, settings and layouts using theme customizers.
• It is compatible with popular page builders like Elementor, Divi etc.  
• Classic themes rely on widgets for side bars and menus to customize navigation.
• They follow PHP template files like footer.php, function.php and more.

In a nutshell, WordPress classic themes follow the typical rigid WordPress theme pattern.

Let us have a look at the competitive study between the duo in WordPress block themes Vs classic themes detailed comparison.

WordPress block themes vs classic themes: detailed comparison

1. WordPress block themes Vs classic themes: Editing & customization

The first thing that comes to mind while building a website is editing and customization.  

When it comes to WordPress block themes Vs classic themes in terms of editing or customizing, blocks themes are more flexible than the traditional WordPress classic themes. This is because, the classic theme users can edit only using WordPres customizer but block theme users can use the customizer as well as Full Site Editor to make your preferred changes to the website.

Creating a website that looks just the way you want can be a challenge. Whether to opt for block themes or classic themes mostly depends on your idea and skills. If you are a developer, you can use code to achieve your preferred look, whereas non-techies need to rely on the features and functionalities that the tool they are using offers. On the other hand, UI/UX designers are the ones who probably use both the approach or any one of them.

2. WordPress block themes Vs classic themes:

The next differentiating feature in our WordPress block themes Vs classic themes’ competitive study is the storage space of both the tools. Classic themes save your template files directly in your website’s root directory. In contrast, block themes store temples in the templates folder.

Moreover, template parts in the classic themes can be kept in any directory, but the block theme template parts are stored in particular “parts” folder.

Classic themes can work with theme.json but with manual efforts to ensure that the styles appear the same way in the frontend and editor. Conversely, block themes are natively compatible with theme.json. As a result, styles are displayed perfectly in the frontend and editor without any manual effort.

3. WordPress block themes Vs classic themes: Website speed

It is worth mentioning how both the themes affect a website’s speed in this block theme vs classic themes study. Block themes are generally based on WordPress core blocks and a standardized styling method supported by theme.json. It completely eliminates the need for additional code which ultimately results in a consistent loading style.  Such themes also reduce CSS bloat as designs are mostly managed centrally.

This reduces the need for extra custom code and heavy dependencies, resulting in cleaner output and more consistent loading behavior. Since styles are managed centrally, block themes can also minimize CSS bloat.

Unlike block themes, classic themes rely on custom PHP templates, CSS, and even in some cases third-party tools or page builders. A properly built classic theme can be fast, but the performance majorly depends on the coding structure or how well it is coded, and the number of external CSS scripts it loads.

4. WordPress block themes Vs classic themes: Security

Classic themes are comparatively older than block themes, which means their security vulnerabilities are known to the users. So it is anticipated that most security vulnerabilities of classic themes are already addressed and patched, but older themes are usually not updated on a regular basis, which bear the risk of known vulnerabilities.  

In contrast, block themes are new in the market, which means its security vulnerabilities are yet to be found. As these themes are dependent on the WordPress core functionality, the chances of theme related vulnerabilities are less.

Moreover, there is a little involvement of custom PHP in block themes, which decreases the scope of developer specific security issues. Considering the security factor in the block themes Vs classic theme context, we could say that both types of themes are equal in quality.  A poorly coded classic theme can be as dangerous as Javascript related issues in block themes.

5. WordPress block themes Vs classic themes:Responsiveness

When the factor of comparison is responsiveness, both the themes score the same. Thanks to WordPress block editor which provides the feature of responsive designs to both block themes and classic themes.  However, block themes are slightly more advantageous than classic themes because of their integration with the block editor. Classic themes require the support of additional customization to utilize block editor’s responsive capacity.

Above everything, block editors are developed with the mobile-first approach, which signifies that responsiveness is their native feature.

6. WordPress block themes Vs classic themes: PHP and HTML

Classic themes have a heavy reliance on PHP to showcase content. Besides this, they are also dependent on PHP for text translations and making conditions. On the other hand, page templates in block themes are built as HTML files that has block markup instead of traditional PHP template files.

Note: WP Event Manager offers a set of WordPress event themes that you can rely on for your events website.

Wrapping up

The invention of Full Site Editing with block themes has given birth to the confusion of whether to choose block themes or classic themes among users. We hope that our Block themes Vs Classic themes guide, you will help you understand both the concept and choose the most suitable one for your business.

The post WordPress Block Themes Vs Classic Themes: Everything You Need to Know appeared first on WP Event Manager.