It’s All in the Follow-Up

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by Allie White

The remarks conclude.
The buffet shuts down.
Attendees file out to their cars or rideshares and head home.
You breathe a sigh of relief — another successful UGA event has concluded after weeks or months of  planning. Congratulations!

But the work is not done yet!

There are invoices to process, vendors to pay, and materials to pack up. It’s also important to ensure your attendee experience is bookended with communications that will help foster the outcomes you were seeking by inviting them in the first place!

Enter: the follow-up email.

DARCOMM has produced hundreds of follow-up emails over the years — not only because DAR leadership has requested this step not be forgotten, but because it is a good marketing practice. There are several benefits to sending follow-up emails:

  • Thank attendees for participating
  • Share event photos
  • Share useful resources, such as presentations, materials, etc.
  • Reiterate key information or takeaways
  • Encourage action by the attendees (remember our three Gs: Grow, Give, Guide)
  • Solicit event feedback

While DARCOMM has years of experience crafting these emails, we know that many colleagues may have less experience with these communications. In addition, an event may pop up out of the blue and a short timeline may make a follow-up email overwhelming. Well … great news!

DARCOMM HAS CRAFTED A FOLLOW-UP EMAIL TEMPLATE FOR YOU TO USE!

Allie White built this email template with input from colleagues in DARCOMM and Donor Relations and Stewardship. Here are her tips for using the BEE template:

  1. Open the BEE Editor and navigate to the “Load from GAIL Emails” dropdown in the bottom left of the screen.
  2. Click into the dropdown and select “Load from Template.”
  3. In the dropdown (above the one that now reads “Select Template,”) you will select the template titled “DAR – FY26 Follow Up Email Template.”
  4. You will now be prompted to add the following information before you can save your email:
    1. Email Name
    2. Subject
    3. From Address
    4. From Name
    5. Reply Address
  5. Once you update that information, click the blue “Save” button in the top right corner of the screen.
  6. The email template is now ready for you to update for your event! You can choose what layouts make the most sense for your content and delete the rest.
    1. Make sure you update the subject and preview text to align with your goals for your follow-up email.
    2. Plus, make sure you update the “Communication Preferences” in the footer to that of your department/unit. Each SCUD has its own preferences; if you have questions about this, AIT has a helpful blog about checking your email’s communication preferences.
  7. Before sending, double-check that you’ve deleted any unused layouts or prompts included in the template.
  8. Your follow-up email is now ready to be sent to event attendees or registrants!

Please feel free to use this template for any follow-up communications; just remember that the more you customize this to your audience, the more connected to the information they will feel!

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