Messaging attendees on Live Events

Attendees enter your Live event via the Event Page URL. If you're hosting an auction, you can also directly share the auction page URL. Before your event, you'll want to share either with your attendees so they can access your event's pages.

The Welcome Message template includes a link to your event page, and you can turn this on to send automatically to attendees when they register. Otherwise, you can create templates and manually send them to registered attendees to customize your event's messaging.

Create custom email templates

1. In the menu, select Email Templates
2. Next to Custom Templates, select + Add

3. In the pop-up that appears, enter your template name, reply to, subject line, and message body
4. Select Save

Turn on lifecycle templates

Lifecycle templates are pre-built templates you can turn on to send automatically to attendees. Feel free to turn on and customize the text as needed. To do so:

1. In your menu, select Email Templates
2. Under Lifecycle Templates, select a template to edit

3. Toggle on Email Enabled
4. Edit the reply to, the subject line, and the message body
5. Select Save

When turned on, the lifecycle templates will be sent to attendees automatically based on the criteria in the description.

Send emails and SMS to event attendees

1. In your menu, select Attendees
2. Select the checkbox next to the attendees you want to notify

3. Select Send
4. A dropdown menu will appear, select Email or SMS

Send email to attendees

After you select Email, a window appears for you to compose your email or insert a message template. You can also toggle on two options to attach a Calendar Invite or QR Code for check-in.

Once your email is ready, select Review to preview your message. Select a specific recipient to preview how their email appears. If all looks good, select Send Emails. A prompt will appear to confirm you want to send your message; select Send.

Things to know:

• QR Codes, Calendar Invites, and Message templates are only available for emails
• Use Merge Tags to add unique user data to your messages. For example, you can personalize your emails by adding an attendee's first name in your greeting. 
  • Merge tags will not include custom questions.
• Email layout and font rendering can vary by email app, and Gmail mobile may auto-zoom emails with large images.

Send SMS to attendees

After you select SMS, a window appears for you to compose your SMS. Once the text is ready, select Review to preview your message. Select a specific recipient to preview how their SMS appears. If all looks good, select Send SMS. A prompt will appear to confirm you want to send your message; select Send.

Send alerts and calls to action

Alerts are mass messages sent to all of your attendees. These are great for messages you need to send during an event, like letting your attendees know a program is about to begin.

A Call to Action is another mass message you can send attendees, including a link to a specific part of your event. For example, you can use these to send out a reminder to all attendees that you have an unpaid balance that they need to complete checkout.

To send an alert or call to action:

1. In your menu, select Alerts
2. Select Send
3. Select Send Alert or Send Call to Action

Send alerts to attendees

After you select Send Alert, a pop-up will appear. To send your alert:

1. Enter your Alert's title and message content
2. Choose to send via Email, SMS, and the Virtual Venue
3. Choose Send Now or Send Later and select the time/date
4. Once you're finished, select Preview

Next, you'll view an example of your alert and how many recipients will receive it. Once you're ready, select Send Now or Save and schedule to send. If you need to save it for later, close the pop-up window, and it'll automatically save.

Send a call to action to attendees

After you select Call to Action, a pop-up window will appear. To send a Call to Action:

1. Enter the message title and body
2. Toggle on Delivery Methods (Email and SMS)
3. Select a Call to Action (Link to Event Page, Auction, Invoice, or Cart)

Note: If you send an invoice link to an attendee, they won't be able to pay their balance unless they already have a card on file. In that case, it's better to send a link to their cart.

4. Adjust the Call to Action Label as needed
5. Select who to send to (All, Only unpaid balances, only paid balances, or no card on file)
6. Choose Send Now or Send Later and select the time/date
7. Select Preview

Once you're ready, select Send Now or Save and schedule to send. If you want to save it for later, close the pop-up window, and it'll automatically save.

Call to action ideas

• Close out open balances: Send a message to attendees with open balances with a link to their cart to encourage them to complete their open transactions.
• Card on file: Send a message to attendees with no card on file with a link to the auction page to log in and add their card on file.
• Enter the virtual venue: Send a message to virtual attendees right before the event starts with a link to the event page to encourage them to log in.

Collect phone numbers and opt-in attendees for SMS

You'll want to turn on the cell phone custom question in your connected GoFundMe Pro campaign to collect phone numbers at registration.

To do so:

1. Go to your GoFundMe Pro campaign editor
2. Select the Details tab
3. In the menu, select Questions
4. Next to Cell Phone, toggle on
5. Save changes

When attendees register for your event, they'll be asked for their cell phone number, which will sync into Live Events.

Opt-in attendees for text messages

To opt-in attendees to receive text messages from Live Events:

1. Go to your Live event
2. In the menu, select Attendees
3. Select Manage Columns
4. Next to Opt-in to receive text message updates, check the box
5. Select Update View
6. With the column added, select the checkbox for each attendee and select Done

You can also opt-in all attendees in bulk:

1. In the attendee list, select the checkbox marking all attendees
2. Select Edit
3. Under Field to update, select Opt-in to receive text message updates
4. Select the checkbox
5. Select Update

Now, your attendees with a cell phone number on file will receive text messages when you send alerts and other messages.

Frequently asked questions

Can attendees opt out of text messages?

If attendees respond STOP to any Live Events text messages, they'll automatically be removed from any following messages.