The Challenge
Edinburgh Connections were struggling to deal with the extreme popularity of their events. When delegates have been to more than one coffee or curry networking event, they wanted to reach out and educate them about membership options, and the benefits that come with it. With events regularly having over 90 attendees, keeping track of who was came and how many times they had been became impossible to do manually. Because of this, the team were not able to effectively nurture delegates and conversion to memberships dropped.
The Solution
AutomateNow worked with Edinburgh Connections to find a solution within their Marketing Enterprise HubSpot License. After consultation with Colin and the team, we found that they were using Eventbrite for registrations. Through the native integration between Eventbrite and HubSpot, whenever someone signed up for a networking event, we created a calculation that adds to a custom property, so we can count the number of visits automatically.
Watch workflows in action with Anna in the video below.
With so many attendees, just knowing who has been to more than one event was still too
much manual work to nurture and convert them into members. We created email marketing automations that were triggered if the custom property was updated to show they have been to more than one event. When this happened, they received a series of emails educating them networking and then about membership and its benefits. If they filled in a form attached to one of the emails, the workflow took delegates through different journeys, with a view to getting them signed up. As this was triggered by someone signing up, there was no manual work involved, yet 60-70 emails a week were being sent to potential members.
"Our potential members get a much more personalised service, and I get more time to plan and deliver an amazing programme of events."
The Results
Membership rate skyrocketed, with an increase in 25% since the automations were put into place. Colin McKeand of Edinburgh connections said "The growth we saw with what was a simple automated marketing journey feels like I have hired a membership manager, but without the cost". Since these automations were created, Edinburgh Connections and AutomateNow have worked together to create a further 28 automations, all aimed at giving value to their delegates, networkers, members and suppliers, whilst also saving time and money for Colin and the team.
