Guide · Promotion
Email blasts that help your show
DIY Stubs caps promotional email blasts at 5 per event. Here is how to use them so they land.
Use your 5 email blasts for news buyers need: set times, the week-of news, a day-of reminder, a night-of update if something changes, and a thank-you. Every DIY Stubs event can send up to 5 blasts to buyers who opted in. The cap is not a paywall, and no plan raises it. Past five emails about the same event, buyers stop reading and start marking them as spam.
Used well, five blasts is plenty. This guide shows how.
What blasts are for
A blast is for something your buyers need to know that they cannot find elsewhere. Five categories cover almost every use:
- Set times. When each act goes on. Especially useful when you have multiple openers and people want to time their arrival around a specific act.
- Logistical changes. Parking lot is closed for construction, here is the alternative. Weather warning for an outdoor show. (If you change the event's date, time, or venue, we email buyers automatically and it does not count.)
- Added content. A surprise opener was confirmed. A meet and greet got added. The merch table is taking pre-orders for tonight only.
- Day-of reminders. Doors at 8, show at 9, bring ID, parking is two blocks east, the QR ticket in your inbox is what gets you in.
- After the show. Thanks, photos at this link, mailing list to hear about the next one. Your best chance to turn a one-time buyer into a regular.
What blasts are not for
- Selling tickets to a different event. Your buyers signed up for this event. Other events go through your own marketing list, social media, or organic discovery.
- "Hi, just checking in" messages. If you have nothing to say, do not send the email. The 5-blast cap exists partly to enforce this.
- Upsells to merch the buyer can already see on the event page. Diminishing returns.
- Begging for shares or referrals. Once is fine (before the show, a soft ask with a link). More than once wears thin.
A five-blast cadence that works
Blast 1: On-sale confirmation, day 0
Skip this one. The automatic order confirmation already serves this purpose. Save the blast for when you have new information.
Blast 2: Set times, 7 days out
"Doors 8 PM, [opener] 8:30, [headliner] 9:45. Bring an ID for the bar, parking on the corner of X and Y is the closest. See you Saturday." Short, factual, mobile-readable.
Blast 3: Week-of news, 3 to 5 days out
Anything legitimately new: a surprise opener, a meet and greet confirmed, a venue logistical change. If nothing changed, skip and save the blast.
Blast 4: Day-of reminder, morning of show
"Tonight. Doors at 8. Your QR ticket is in your order email. See you there." That is it. Do not include the QR in the blast itself (it is already in the original confirmation), and do not pad it with marketing copy.
Blast 5: After the show, 1 to 2 days later
"Thanks for coming. Photos here. Next show is [date or signup link]. We owe you the rest of our shows being as good as last night." Tone matters more than the content here. This is the email that converts a buyer into a fan.
Practical writing tips
- Subject line is the email. Half your readers decide whether to open based on the subject. "Set times for Saturday: doors 8, headliner 9:45" beats "Important update".
- Lead with the actual info. Mobile inboxes show the first sentence as preview text. Put the news there, not "Hi friends, hope you are well".
- One thing per blast. A blast about set times should be about set times. Stuffing in a sponsor mention and a merch upsell dilutes the actual news.
- Short paragraphs. Three sentences is the maximum. Two is better.
- Plain text style. Heavy graphics and "design" look like marketing. Plain text looks like a person. Buyers open plain text.
- Reply-to is your own email. If a buyer replies, the message should reach a human. DIY Stubs sends blasts with your organizer email as reply-to.
Why the cap is 5, and stays 5
We get asked to raise the cap. We are keeping it at 5. Here is why:
- Inbox respect. Past five emails about the same event, the buyer is being spammed. They will mark you as junk, which hurts your sender reputation and the reputation of every DIY Stubs organizer downstream of that buyer's email provider.
- Sender reputation is shared. Email providers (Gmail, Outlook) score sending domains. If too many people on the platform send junk, deliverability for everyone else drops. The cap is a community good.
- It forces editing. A 5-blast limit means each blast has to be worth sending. Promoters who plan their blasts ahead of time send better blasts than promoters who blast every time they feel anxious.
For more on this, the long version is Why we cap email blasts at 5.