Create event communications and journeys
After planning your event in Dynamics 365 Customer Insights - Journeys, your next task is to define, build, and send your event communications. This task might include invitations, reminders, registration confirmations, registration cancellations, and post-event communications.
Start by determining what communications are needed, the cadence for those communications (for example, two weeks before the event, day of the event, day after the event, and so on), and the audience that receives those communications. Then, use the tools in Dynamics 365 Customer Insights - Journeys to help you send those communications, including:
Emails - Create as many marketing emails as needed for your event. For more information, see Create and design a marketing email message.
Segments - Create a segment to find the relevant contacts to invite to your event. Build more segments to send targeted communications to contacts that registered for the event and/or attended the event. For more information, see Build segments in Customer Insights - Journeys.
Triggers - Use event-related triggers, such as marketing event registration created or marketing event registration canceled to send event-related communications to customers in real time.
Journeys - Set up journeys that send your email messages to all relevant contacts, register message interactions, and react to event registrations. For more information, see Create a trigger-based journey and Create a segment-based journey.
For more information, see Invite contacts to your events.
Use trigger-based journeys for events
Using trigger-based customer journeys is an effective strategy for engaging with customers in real time based on their actions. By using triggers, such as marketing event registration created, you can create dynamic and personalized experiences that respond directly to customer behaviors.
Examples of when you might want to use a trigger-based journey for events include:
Registration cancellation journey - You can use the marketing event registration canceled trigger to begin a journey to send your customers a cancellation confirmation email. The cancellation confirmation email can include dynamic content that automatically populates event details, such as:
Event name
Event start time
Event end time
Location
This journey could also include reminder emails leading up to the event that include dynamically populated details.
Event attended journey - You can use the marketing event check-in trigger to begin the journey to send customers that attended your event a post-event email. The post-event email can include dynamic content that automatically populates event details, such as event name, event start time, event end time, location, and more. It could also include a link to a survey to gather feedback about your event.
By implementing trigger-based journeys, you create seamless and personalized experiences for your customers.
Use email capabilities for events
The email designer in Dynamics 365 Customer Insights - Journeys has multiple capabilities that assist you when you're creating event-related emails.
Buttons and links
When you add a button or link in an email, several event-related options display in the Link to field, including:
Event - Mostly, you would use this option for event invitations. When your email is sent, this option dynamically populates your registration page URL so that when attendees select the button, they're redirected to the registration page to register.
Join in Teams - You would use this option for registration confirmation emails. This element generates a unique attendee URL for each registrant that creates a relevant check-in record for the attendee when they use the link to join the Teams event.
Note
The Join in Teams button uses a unique URL for each registrant. Forwarding an email with a Join in Teams button retains the URL that's specific to the original recipient. The forwarded email generates a check-in record for the original recipient, not the recipient of the forwarded email.
Add to calendar - Typically, you would use this option for registration confirmation emails. When the contact selects the button in their email, a personalized iCalendar file downloads, allowing the contact to add it to the calendar of their choice.
QR code element
When you add a QR code element in an email, you can select Event registration code in the Link to field. Then, you can embed a QR code into confirmation emails so that registrants can check in by using their mobile devices at the event. On the day of the event, event staff can quickly scan the code by using the Dynamics 365 smartphone app to create a check-in record in Dynamics 365 Customers Insights - Journeys.
Trigger-based dynamic content
If you're using a trigger-based journey for your email communications, you can include trigger-based dynamic content in your email.
In the email, add personalization, select the desired trigger (for example, marketing event registration created), and then add event-related details in the email (for example, event name, start date, end date, location, and so on). This approach allows you to dynamically populate content in the email that changes according to each event's data.