Constructing the Perfect After Trade Show Thank You Letter

Are you thinking about planning the perfect trade show? If so, then you need to make sure that you are considering your trade show thank you letter. Many businesses are so focused on what happens at the show itself that they completely forget about what occurs after it’s finished. This is when the letter of thanks becomes a vital tool. It’s one of the ways you can make sure that you maintain and even strengthen relationships that you have hopefully already laid a foundation for. 

Of course, a trade show thank you letter is only going to be effective if you hit the right marks. It needs to provide the right content and be written using the correct tone. This is going to ensure that it provides the maximum impact that you want. It’s not always easy to get a thank you letter right to maximise sales and long-term business relationships. 

Our guide below will provide you with the necessary knowledge and even some sample letters to ensure you have success after your trade show. 

Before we go any further, we should mention that whenever we’re referring to a “thank you letter”, the same information applies to thank you e-mails. Although less personal than a physical letter, e-mail is an effective and efficient way to communicate with potential clients. Many individuals aren’t comfortable giving out their physical address, so asking for it will reduce the amount of leads generated anyway. 

Why Send a Thank You Letter After a Trade Show? 

As mentioned, a trade show isn’t just about dazzling attendees. It’s about ensuring that they feel valued as part of your business model. A thank you letter is going to allow you to do this. It’s going to ensure that you are able to get positive word of mouth and provides you with credibility almost immediately. It also helps you build up a connection between you and your target audience. 

Knowing why you should send a thank you letter after a trade show is important. Knowing how to measure success after you’ve attended your trade show and sent your thank you letters is another important detail. To learn more, take a look at another one of our articles to learn how to measure trade show success.

Best Time to Send a Thank You Letter After a Trade Show

There are a few options for when you should send a thank you letter. This includes:

• Immediately after the trade show ends
• A few days later to provide time for attendees to breathe
• A couple weeks later

Ultimately, there isn’t a scientific answer as to the best time to send your after trade show thank you letter. Many within the industry swear by one of the above time periods, while others will passionately argue a different one. 

Sending a letter immediately after the trade show runs the risk of your letter being lost in the shuffle among the likely many other letters that attendees are being sent. Waiting for 2 weeks or more creates the possibility that the buzz from the trade show has worn off and individuals are no longer interested. The safe bet is to send a letter a few days to a week after the trade show. This is a sweet spot that will allow you to stand out from the crowd and reach out soon enough to not be forgotten.

At the end of the day, the quality and content of your letter far outweighs the time in which the letter is sent. 

Personalize Your Message, But Don’t Be a Creep

As noted above, the content of your message is the most important detail that will determine the success of your letter. Whenever possible, you should focus on bringing up details you discussed with the individual and in doing so make the trade show thank you letter more personal. People want to feel that their time speaking to you was valuable and you didn’t place them into a generic DRIP campaign. 

However, you should avoid suggesting that you have researched them. With the amount of technology available, it’s tempting to delve deep into someone’s online profile to show someone that you “did your homework” on them. Unfortunately, it’s impossible to know each person’s comfort level with this. Some people won’t mind and find it acceptable, while others find it intrusive and nosy.  It’s crucial that you are not too pushy or invasive. You need to let them come to you rather than trying to force them to choose your services. As such, you should aim for the content to feel natural with connection to what you discussed with them at the trade show. 

Sample Thank You Letter After a Trade Show

There are actually a variety of different ways to approach a thank you letter after a trade show. So, let’s explore some of the possibilities. 

Simple Yet Effective

Hi Eric,

It was great meeting you at the World Showcase Tradeshow. I thoroughly enjoyed talking with you about your time sailing around the pacific ocean.

I have no doubt you are busy after the show, so I’ll reach out to you next week. If you’re available we can take things from there, 

Thank you, 

{Your Name} 

This is a great option because:

• It provides a personal approach
• It gives an easy opening to follow up with a lead
• There’s no complex detail, it’s straightforward and quick to read. 
• Low-pressure approach

Offer More Information 

Hi Rachel, 

I want to thank you for attending the Sillicone Valley Trade Show. It was fantastic to meet you there and I am delighted that you were interested in our company.

It was great to discuss your thoughts on modern logistics solutions. On that matter, I thought it might be useful to send along some digital resources. These should help answer any questions about the service that we provide. 

I’d love to set up a call to talk with you about this further. Do you have any free time in the next couple of weeks for a fifteen-minute conversation?

Thank you,

{Your Name}

With this option you get other benefits including:

• A personal approach that focuses on the business matter 
• A non intrusive way to provide more details on your service or solution
• The chance to gain further engagement through a potential discussion in the future. 

Address The Pain Point 

Hi Chris, 

Thanks for stopping by our booth at the trade show. It was fantastic to speak to you and hope you enjoyed the rest of the event. 

I’m sure fixing your issues with your current CRM setup is something that’s important to you. So, I wanted to reach out and talk about how our service can help you tackle this problem.

If you’re free for a quick call in the next couple of days, we can talk about the next steps and work out the best solution.

Do you have time for a quick call this week? I won’t take more than 15 minutes of your time. 

Thank you,

{Your Name}

With this option you gain the chance to:

• Immediately start addressing their problem
• Keep things friendly and light while presenting yourself as the solution to their problem
• Set up a contact point

As you can see, regardless of what option you choose, setting up a point of contact will be vital. This means you do need to lay out your contact details clearly in the letter as well. 

Need Help Shipping to a Trade Show?

Are you preparing to promote your brand at a trade show in the near future? If so, it’s important to make sure that your trade booth arrives on time and that you minimize costs where possible. Shipping trade show materials can be stressful, but not with R+L Global Logistics. 

Our team of experts bring over 50 years of trade show freight shipping experience to the table. We put our expertise and knowledge to work for you by providing you with a quick and shipment to your trade show. In addition to transporting your trade show booth, our value-added services allow us to be your one-stop shop for all of your logistics needs.  

If you have questions or need a quote for trade show freight shipping, give us a call at 866-415-8986. We’re ready to help you.