Sending messages before and after an event is like bookending the experience with a little extra magic—it keeps your audience excited, engaged, and coming back for more.
Before the event, you can hype up the crowd, share know before you go details (like schedules, parking tips, or weather updates), and give last-minute ticket sales a boost.
After the event, it’s all about keeping the good vibes going—thank your attendees, share highlights or photos, gather feedback, and drop teasers for what’s next.
This guide will walk you through setting up automated messages before and after every scheduled event, so your marketing runs on autopilot while your fans stay in the loop.
Getting started
To start, you will want to first click Campaigns on the lefthand menu, and then click Automations.
From here, you will want to click + New Automation in the top right hand corner.
Select the pre-built default automation; Pre/Post-Event Reminder Email.
Global rules
Next, click the Global Rules step. Generally, you will want to click Continue to save without adding any global rules. Adding more rules will make it tougher for your recipients to receive these emails.
Note: Global rules are rules that are evaluated at each step to determine which customers continue in the automation. If you want all customers to receive a pre/post event reminder for each event, save without adding any global rules.
Time delay
Adjust the time delay to your preference for the pre-event email. The default is 24 hours before an event. Then click Save.
Email details
Edit the Email Details of your pre-event email.
Note: To include the name of the event the subscriber has purchased a ticket for in the subject line, include the merge tag {{ event.name }} . This merge tag will automatically display the name of the event that the subscriber has purchased a ticket for once they've received the email.
Next, scroll down and click Edit to edit the template that all contacts that move through the automation will receive.
Edit template
The template editor will open up in a new window. You can use the editor to style your email like you would a regular campaign.
Note: The event block is a required element. When a subscriber receives this pre-event email, it will automatically display the event they purchased a ticket for. To ensure the event name appears correctly, keep the merge tag {{ event.name }} in your template, and be sure to delete the red placeholder text before saving.
For a quick refresher on navigating the email template builder, check out this help article.
Repeat steps for post event email
Repeat the above steps for customizing your post-event email. If you do not want to send a post-event email, you can delete the steps from the automation.
Preview email
To preview exactly what the customer will see in their inbox, click Preview in the bottom left corner of the template builder. You can also use the preview function to view the email as a specific contact who has purchased a ticket for an upcoming show.
If you’ve exited the template builder and are back in the automation view, you’ll find another Preview button located below the “From Email Address” field. Clicking this button will also show you a preview of what your email will look like.
Turn pre/post event reminder automation on
Click the Save Automation button and toggle the automation to Live.
Pre/post-event automation reminders
Subscribers with tickets to multiple events will receive separate pre- and post-event emails for each event.
Automation only applies to new purchases moving forward and does not work retroactively.
Example: If 50 tickets were already sold for an upcoming event, those 50 contacts will not enter this automation.
This automation was built using emails, but you can customize it with automation splits—sending an SMS to contacts who are opted in, and an email to those who aren’t. You can also replace the emails entirely and send only SMS messages if you prefer.