During my live "Designing an Amazing Party Experience" training, I talk about the importance of a great invitation for your parties. (I actually wrote a previous post on this topic – you can check it out here). One of the questions that seems to always come up is "Do I have to mail out an invitation or can I just use e-vites?" Great question.
Here’s what I think. E-mail is amazing. It’s an incredible tool for lots of the things I have to get done for my life and business every day. And it’s not perfect. Multiple times a week I either hear from someone that they never got an e-mail I sent or I’m telling someone the same thing (usually because said e-mail ended up in a junk mail or spam folder and was inadvertently deleted). So, while I love it when it works, e-mail just isn’t as reliable as regular snail mail.
The other thing I know is that e-mail is not taken as seriously as getting an invitation in the mail. Think about it. If you’re taking your mail out of your mail box and interspersed between all of those envelopes with windows in the front (you know the ones…they require that you write a check as a response), there’s a colored envelope with a hand written or plain typed label in the address section. Which envelope are you going to open first? The one that looks like more fun, right?
Finally, if you as a consultant take the step of mailing out your host’s invitations for them, you’re getting the mailing list of their addresses from your host. This provides a few important things for you. First of all, the task the host tends to hate the most is coming up with who to invite and addressing those labels. Once you have that list, the likelihood that she’ll actually hold the party on the original date goes way, way up because that task is behind her. Secondly, once you have the list, it’s like having an insurance policy for their party. In the event that they decide to cancel within about 10 days to 2 weeks prior to their party, your response can be, "Oh, I already mailed your invitations." (and then get them in the mail that day if you haven’t mailed them). Now they either have to call everyone and cancel or call everyone and confirm the party. I found that most of the time, it was easier to just go ahead and hold the party. So having the list equal fewer cancellations. Isn’t that a nice bonus!
So, here’s the bottom line. Do I think you should use e-vites? Absolutely! Do I think you should move to an e-vite only policy and rely solely on that method for getting invitations into the hands of your guests? Not on your life. Use them as a secondary reminder method that goes hand in hand with the invitation you’ve mailed.
So, what do you think?
WANT TO USE THIS ARTICLE FOR FREE IN PRINT OR ONLINE?
You may, as long as you do not alter it and include the following information (with active links as appropriate):
Julie Anne Jones is a success language consultant, a direct sales coach and trainer, and the CEO of Julie Anne Jones, Inc. She is known for her authentic and easy-to-use scripting and specializes in specific language and tools for success in direct sales. To learn more about Julie Anne and her products and services, visit her at www.julieannejones.com or check out her blog at http://julieannejones.com.
For years I've sent out "snail mail" invites. In recent years I've done Evites. Mailed invitations are better. Why? Like the other comments brought out-they end up in Spam or deleted or just overlooked. Postcards are great IF they are fun and colorful. Most company postcards are too bland so you may wish to create your own. Invites in pretty colored envelopes work best. As Julie Anne mentioned-you'll open it FIRST. About the Guest List: What happens if a Host does cancel? You have that list! You can sell/book/recruit right from it! You can also use it to re-book a Host for a later date. You can use it as an incentive for an extra gift or as a cancellation tool for not getting it on time. Thanks for another great post Julie Anne!
I just started with a direct selling company and I hosted my Launch Party today. I wasn't happy with mailing out the company post cards, and I wasn't happy with mailing out the HUGE launch party invitiations, either. I did the e-vites that the company gives us with their "party assistant", but they didn't work! When I contacted the my guests to see of they got their e-vite, they didn't.
If I had to do it over again, I would make my own invitation and follow up with an e-mail or a phone call.
Twelve people came to my Launch Party and we had a great time. I did the "booking tree" that Julie Ann talks about and I booked 2 parties! I'm sort of glad that not everyone I invited came. I was busy with 12 people. I had fantastic sales, so all is great!
Thanks, Julie Ann, for all of your encouragment. Now I'm going to take a look at your idea for invitations!!
Amanda
Julie: I think the idea of a mailed, handwritten invite is a nice personal touch. You’re right; so many emails get lost in the shuffle these days but a personal invite shows a potential guest and the hostess) that you’ve gone the extra mile and perhaps will make you stand out from the crowd. I admit that I’ve been relying on evites but will rethink that approach and switch to personal invites myself.
Cheers!!
Diane
I absolutely think you should do both. Many times evites are lost in junk mail or blocked, so if a guest has a postcard invitiation, they will stick it on their fridge or desk and that will serve as a better reminder in the long run. We all glance at an email and forget about it or it get’s buried, so a postcard reminder is key! Cheers!
I use both evites and snail mail. I only send postcards if I put them into envelopes because they get lost. I hand write the address on the envelope because it’s more personal and people are much more inclined to open it. I also use blank note cards as invites – I just print off a label with all the info on the party, stick it on the inside of the note card, then mail it. I try to find really cute, colorful cards with colorful envelopes! Seems to work.
Good point, Penny. I will reiterate that if you’re relying just on e-vites, you lose the insurance policy of having that guest list in hand.
I always think about the audience I’m trying to reach when planning the invite. Some are totally into evites while others are not. I agree with Rosemary, though, I love them both!
Robin – I actually addressed this question in the post I referenced in the blog today. You can go to http://julieannejones.com/blog/themed-invitations-say-come-party-with-me/ to read that (or just click in the link in the post for today).
I’ve used evites as well as postcards with no difference in amount of responses. Would cards in evelopes do better than postcards?
I like evites, becaue it can be tracked online, and I like the snail mails because I love getting mail! LOL! I agree, use both!!