There are a few different factors that play into getting the best response rate: age demographic, personality, ease of response, when you are mailing them out, if its a destination wedding or not, while also taking into consideration when your vendors need head counts.
Let simply start by when you should set a deadline. We covered this some last week but it is important to reiterate there is a sweet spot for getting RSVP responses. Wedding invites get sent out 6-8 weeks before hand, making the rsvp’s due about 4 weeks before the big day is a good time frame. This timeline has slight urgency to it, so people will not disregard or say they will do it later while at the same time not stressing anyone out to the point they are calling you because they don’t think it will get back to you in time.
For destination weddings the appropriate timeline to set rsvp deadlines is about 6-8 weeks so it gives you time to set up transportation and accommodations as well as them.
One thing to take into consideration here is when vendors need a final headcount. If it is sooner or later than expected, have your rsvp’s due back about 1-2 weeks before they need final headcount so it gives the stragglers some time to respond. If needed shift the previous recommended dates by a week or two.
Now. How to get a higher response rate. Two main things APPEAL TO AGE DEMOGRAPHICS and MAKE IT EASY.
Appealing to age demographics, now this is no study done it is just what I see, most people over the age of 30 tend to mail back rsvp’s but most people under 30 respond better with online rsvp’s. This doesn’t make any sense to me but that’s how the cookie crumbles.
This being said if your age demographic is more high, then go with the mail, if it is lower go with the site. You can also do a mix of both, which is something I wish I would have done. My print shop partner (who is above 30) said we would get a better response by choosing one, and we should choose just to mail. We did this and so far all our responses have been from people above thirty, we had one rsvp online but it wasn’t set up so I had to contact them about the misunderstanding, and we had one text us telling us the rsvp wasn’t online so be weary.
Onto making responding easy. If you are mailing, make it a postcard, that is stamped already, with your address already in the mail-to spot. Make it so literally the only things they have to do is a quick fill out and toss into the mail. If you prefer more formal include a card and envelope for the rsvp, but make sure the envelope is stamped and addressed. You want it to be insanely easy so if they don’t respond and find the stamped envelope they feel bad. Like you just wasted 50 some odd cents they should feel bad.
For websites and digital rsvp, I highly recommend not including password protected rsvp’s. The only reason being that is just an extra step for them to take. EASY AS POSSIBLE. Keep your questions short and the response time required to a maximum of like 2 minutes (that was not scientifically studied). Keep the answers short and precise so it is easy to respond.
My final piece of advise is have some personality to your rsvp. Sure some people will like the very formal writing, but if you include something like “I would like free drinks” or “No I don’t want to come and have a fun time” then it gets people at least looking at it more and talking about it more. Don’t be afraid to have personality.
