Email Newsletter Sign upHoliday Party Invitations and Guest Lists
By Sarah Miller 11/24/15
Update 4/9/2020: CorpNote 3.0: more tools, more power, more possibilities...
Online invitations make holiday party planning much more efficient for both you and your guests. From creating and sending your holiday party invitations to following up before and after the event, CorpNote has you covered!
This step-by-step guide will help make holiday party planning easier for you and your guests.
Step 1. Create your invitation list. We recommend that you use CorpNote's address book to help you keep track of your invitation list and to more efficiently send your invites to larger guest lists. It will also make the personalization of your invitations easier.
Once your invitation list is assembled and imported into your online Address Book, send a 'Save the Date' eCard approximately 8 weeks prior to your holiday event to ensure a great turnout.
Step 2. In the Invitation Manager, create your event. Include all the basic information and directions to the event. I also recommend setting an RSVP cut-off date to get timely responses. You can always extend the RSVP date to be later if you need to.
If you have meal choices or other questions that you would like to ask your guests when they RSVP, you have the ability to create two optional multiple-choice questions which will be included on your invitation response form. If you have more questions or want more flexibility, you can also create and include an online survey as part of your invitation.
A feature that I use often is to have CorpNote send me an email notification when someone responds. You can choose to have CorpNote send a cumulative email once a day, on days that you have responses, or to send an email notice each time someone responds.
Step 3. Compose your online invitation about 6 weeks prior to the event. You can choose from CorpNote's invitation designs by selecting either the 'invitation' or 'Season's Greetings' category in the eCard search area, or you can upload a custom invitation design of your own by going to My Account > My Images.
Important Tip: Prior to sending your invitation to your guest list, send the invitation to yourself and/or any other people that need to approve the invitation before it is sent. You can then easily use the 'create template' or 'copy' feature to send your approved invitation to your guests.
Step 4. Send your invitation. When you compose your invitation, check the box for "Add Event RSVP Link" and select the event you want to associate with your invitation. This will insert the link that enables guests to RSVP, and it ensures that your recipients will automatically be added to your "invitation list."
No matter how many invitations you send for that event, as long as you associate each invitation with that specific event, CorpNote will automatically consolidate your invitation list. From your invitation list, you can then re-send an invitation at any time to people who have not picked up or responded.
Step 5. Monitor Responses. You can use the 'email response notification' feature when you set up your event in the invitation manager or check the invitation manager to see real-time progress on your event responses.
If someone calls to respond or change their response, you can easily make this change by going to the 'Manage Responses' area for that event.
Your "Guest List" contains everyone who has responded to your invitation. This area enables you to easily send an event reminder to all the people who replied they are attending and you can create Excel worksheets for attendance, nametags and more.
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After Party Follow Up. You can easily send Thank You eCards (and optionally include a follow up survey) to your guests after the event by going to your "Guest List." Surveys are useful for asking guests questions about their satisfaction with the facility (which is helpful for future party planning) or ideas they have for next year's party.
We love hearing from our members! Please let us know if you have any questions or if you have any additional ideas to add to this list.
Enjoy your holiday party!
Read the next blog in this series: Holiday eCards - Creating, sharing and tracking
