Evite gets more quick responses - that makes some sense. First, Facebook bugs you about lots of stuff (wall posts, etc), so you overlook those emails much more easily. Second, Facebook invites aren't going to get lost in your inbox like Evite - there's no pressure to respond. Third, Evite doesn't include any useful information in the invitation - guests have to open up the invitation in order to know when it is.
Example: I'm planning a very large event. The Evite has 1400 people on it, and the Facebook event has 650. Within two hours, I had 100 accepts on Evite and 5 on Facebook.
Facebook gets a higher response rate over all. Why? Well, an Evite comes in - you either open it... or it trickles down in your inbox. You might see one or two reminders about an event, but it's not continuously bugging you about it. On Facebook though, it's on the main page every time you log in, poking you to respond.
Example: I recently hosted a very large event. The Evite had about 800 people on it. After numerous messages, begging people to respond, I got almost 50% of people who responded. When I didn't do that, I got about 35%. The Facebook invite had about 550 people on it. 65% responded, without any bugging.Both have their own network effect properties. On Facebook, people discover invites for (public) events through their friends - but without their friends inviting them, because of mini-feeds. Evite guest lists, however, tend to grow through direct invitations.
So what to do? I can't use Facebook instead of Evite - not everyone is on Facebook. I like the network effect of Facebook though. So what do you do? Continue using both.
Or, ditch Evite for something else (Zoji.com?) :-). Who's with me on the Evite strike? Anyone? Anyone?
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11 comments:
I hate Evite. I'd be all for an Evite strike. However, for me Facebook isn't the answer. As you said, Facebook sends me so many notifications that I tend to ignore most of them. Some people I'm friends with send tons of event invites (e.g. for every show they're performing in), so it becomes a chore to go through them and pick the ones I want to go to and the ones I don't. So I usually just let them fester there. Every few weeks I'll have a few bored moments and go clean them up. This may be a symptom of my friends more than of Facebook, but it certainly influences the utility of Facebook for inviting me to events.
Evite, on the other hand, seems to most often be used for things I would actually consider going to, so I tend to pay attention to the invites. And there's less other noise, so I pay more attention to the invites from there. I also like that it's easier to see who else is coming and who isn't. But Evite is infested with very annoying ads, and they've caused a fair amount of spam in my inbox, so despite the fact that their service actually works better for me, I dislike giving them my business...
Hehe hey I'm all with you guys on the Evite strike! uhhh yeah, no bias here *whistle* :P
Gayle you bring up some excellent points, it's really refreshing for me to hear someone articulate the technical challenges involved in planning large events, I've never heard a more detailed one. Really appreciate and respect the analysis you've made!
It's so true, different tools have different end-user perceptions, and thus different benefits... and the bottom line to you as an event planner is how to get the most responses as quickly as possible. Well, the real bottom line would be to convince as many people to say YES as possible (assuming you want a ton of ppl), and maximize event momentum.
It's a tough problem to optimize, and the way you're going about it -- using a combination of tools -- is precisely what reality forces you to do (and you've probably done a lot of trial-and-error to come to this conclusion). Unfortunately, it's less-than-ideal, it's cumbersome and inefficient process.
Sean, I agree, Facebook is a super-awesome-powerful tool, but there can be drawbacks of being a jack-of-all-trades. It CAN be information overload at times, and sifting can be a chore as you describe. Their clean-and-simple user interface is great, but when it comes to promoting an event, things can seem kind of drab, an invitation looks pretty much just like any other page. And people just don't think about events when they think Facebook (esp if they're not on it), and this alone can be a deterrent for people to respond to an invitation.
So yes, if I had to give a report card for Facebook:
Network effect: A
Presentation: C
User interface: A
Event-related Features: B
Signal-to-noise-ratio: C
Evite has the advantage that it is a household name, the website does one thing only, and you pretty much know what's going on when you get an e-mail from them. Of course there are a whole host of other issues with the site involving usability and features, but I'm not gonna hate. It is what it is, people have gotten accustomed to it, and having been around since the 90s, it is the standard for invitations, for better or for worse. Its main purpose is to let the organizer get a semi-accurate headcount. Most people who respond never come back to the invitation again, probably out of habit, because they used to delete invitations after 30 days. An Evite is synonymous with a throw-away thing.
Here's my report card for Evite:
Network effect: C
Presentation: B
User interface: B
Event-related Features: B+
Signal-to-noise-ratio: B+
We recognized these issues and Zoji exists to try to address them. We wanted to have a site that was synonymous with great-looking event invitations, and at the same time provide a useful set of tools for guests to network with each other and build event momentum. What we aimed to streamline and modernize the Evite by having a more robust commenting presentation, online chat functionality, integrated photo hosting and tagging, local restaurant and bar reviews, and more. We try to be colorful, fun, and upbeat. And past events are never deleted, so you can always go back on your calendar and look up old comments and pictures.
By being event-focused, we hope to send the message that whenever you go to Zoji, you're going there to plan what you're going to do in real-life. And we have extremely open ears, we're constantly adding functionality that our users demand. The toughest thing to do is get users to try a new thing, which is understandable. It's our hope that we will seem so head-and-shoulders above everything else that people will say, "YES, that is a superior product that has my best interests in mind, I'm going to try that out." Maybe we're there already, maybe not, but we sure are trying I guarantee you.
Hehe I'm not going to give Zoji a report card, I'll let someone else do that...
Whew, thanks for putting up with my rant!
-Dan Shen
Founder and programmer, Zoji
http://www.zoji.com/dan
I'm curious, i've been on facebook and tried to set up an invitation but couldn't figure out how to do it. It appears that you can create an event, but only if you're a designated "network," which has to be approved by facebook. Is this correct? It would appear that facebook is more limiting on who can create an event and send invitations compared to evite. Am I missing something here?
Yvette
You can create an event that belongs to specific network, or make it global. Remember that most major cities (at least in the US) have a network. For example, I'm part of the following networks: Penn, Google and Seattle.
If you're not part of any network... I don't know. But I would get that you could still set up an event.
How about avoiding dependencies all together and just use a site designed for invitations and nothing else? Try http://yarp.com
No logins, no email harvesting, no maybes.
But I want people to be able to respond as 'maybe'.
Let's face it - like it or not, some people are a 'maybe'. If you don't provide that as a response, people will either respond as a yes or a no, or not at all. Why is that a better thing for the organizer or for the guests?
Gayle,
Maybes are the bane of organizers and a cop-out for guests. Not to mention, maybes almost always mean "no" anyway. People feel like it's a more polite way to say no when they don't have any other excuse. IMO, that's just lame. If unknown events really put you at a maybe, simply say no, and when those events change, change your response to a yes. It's the right thing to do.
@rmm5t As you said, a maybe can mean two different things:
(1) The person actually doesn't know if they can make it
(2) The person wants to reply "no" but is trying to be polite.
I organize lots of events each month, from 5 people to 150. It's annoying when people respond "maybe", because I don't know whether they're type 1 or type 2 (from above).
But, what do I get out of removing the "maybe" response? Do I get more information? Nope. I actually get less information because now, any of the "no"'s (or even the "yes"'s) could actually be "maybe".
So, as annoying as "maybe" is, I'd prefer for it to be there.
@Gayle,
I disagree. No one who would have replied "maybe" would ever reply with a "yes." That's just ridiculous. They either won't respond at all (which is a problem under either scenario) or they will more accurately reply as "no." For this reason, I posture that you absolutely get more accurate information out of removing the maybe option. I suggest you give it a try before knocking it, but to each their own. Thanks for the debate, regardless.
Let's do some math. Math is fun.
For a hypothetical party, the number of guests I should expect is:
(Number of Yes) + (Number of Maybe) * (Odds that a maybe will show up)
Let X = odds that a maybe will show up. (X is, admittedly, a small number - like 5%).
Of course, I don't know X, but I estimate it to be Y.
My estimate (with maybe):
Nyes + Nmaybe * Y
My estimate is off by:
abs((Nyes + Nmaybe * Y) - (Nyes + Nmaybe * X))
= abs(Nmaybe * (Y - X))
= Nmaybe * abs(X-Y)
Your estimate (without maybe):
Nyes
Your estimate is off by:
abs(Nyes - (Nyes + Nmaybe * X)
= abs(Nmaybe * X)
= Nmaybe * X
Whose estimate is less off? The solution to this inequality will tell you when my estimate is more accurate than yours:
Nmaybe * abs(X-Y) < Nmaybe * X
abs(X-Y) < X
It comes down to this: if X is closer to Y than to 0, my estimate is better, otherwise, yours is.
As someone who does event planning for a business, I know a few things about my guests. I know that the number of maybes who will show up is, in fact, around 5%. My estimate is better than 0, and thus, I want the maybe option.
If all organizers were stupid, then, yes, removing "maybe" would be a good thing.
I think the solution would be a Facebook App that connects Evite with the Facebook Events system.
That will give best of both worlds. I couldn't find one though..
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