Written by Jay Fortner and edited by Richard MacManus
After the Super Bowl and the defeat of my team the Chicago Bears, I checked my inbox to see how many Evite invitations I'd received for Super Bowl parties. Evite has been around for a relatively long time (1998), with very little competition. For example all my friends use Facebook or Evite to send out electronic invitations. But what competition is out there for Evite? In this post I check out a few of the 'web 2.0' sites that could one day usurp Evite. They are all promising, but have some way to go before they appeal to the average person and not just early adopters.
This Chicago-based Evite
system is meant for casual events. Currently the user interface is not aesthetically
pleasing, but the service offers a wiki-like product to enable gatherings big or small.
With some refining of the UI, they have a chance. I like the navigation and their
emphasis on sharing and aggregating information for invites. Currently, the site has no
clear monetization strategy.
Mypunchbowl is like an
advanced Evite, in that it sticks mainly to features that are similar to Evite's - such
as customized templates. They make it simple and easy for registration and have
integrated message boards, updates, and the ability to edit your RSVP status to increase
the pre-event conversation. After you have planned an event, they give recommendations of
party stores and other places of interest. This could be of major interest and I expect
Mypunchbowl to strike many deals with local retailers, with the goal of being a data mine
of sponsored local listings. Over time, this may be a compelling business model.
I really like Renkoo, although it feels
kind of "geeky". You can use Renkoo to begin the organization of an event and reach a
consensus on the next meeting place. The conversation can be tracked in many different
formats - including instant messenger, email, SMS or on Renkoo's website. Their 'Comet'
technology enables two-way, real time communication for all people taking part in the
discussion. If someone isn't logged in, the conversation will be displayed in full the
next time they go to their Renkoo account. All in all, Renkoo has a shot because of their
management team, use of technology on multiple platforms, and they are well funded.
There are other evite sites out there, such as Goovite and Socializr. But in general the online invite space has a long way to go. In order to build the necessary critical mass, these sites have to find a way to encourage the average person to send out a couple of invites a week - and not just for major events like the Super Bowl. These sites can provide tremendous value to review and local sites, as well as provide recommendations on events in the area.
Note that the major difference between events 2.0 sites, such as upcoming.org, and the sites we've profiled here, is the emphasis on pre-event planning. But along with pre-event planning, the above services need to be smarter and suggest events that I would like to attend - based on my previous history. Additionally, they should make it easy for me to send out a quick invite to my group, without going through the pains of creating a formal invite off a template. If we all want to meet up for lunch, it should take me less than a minute - and integrate with all of our mobile devices - so that we can meet up quickly. Until this happens, and is simple enough for mainstream people, Evite will still reign supreme in the online invitation arena.
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Hi, Thanks for the mention, but the link to Planypus is broken in the article. We do have a monetization strategy, we just prefer not to abuse our users with irrelevant ads which might be the 'clear' monetization strategy one might be used to ;-)
Posted by: Yan | February 6, 2007 8:37 AM
It's great to see the innovation in these new sites. We've taken a more vertical approach. TripHub helps people plan, coordinate, and share events that involve travel. In addition to the traditional invitation/RSVP management, we provide the tools necessary to centralize discussions, create a shared schedule of events, and share travel itineraries. Unlike party invitation services where the total spend might be $150, we sit at the middle of a significant economic event where spend can reach from several thousand to $50,000+ per trip. To the extent we can influence that spend, we've got a business model we like very much ;-)
Posted by: John Pope | February 6, 2007 9:45 AM
Yan apologies for broken link, I've fixed now.
Posted by: Richard MacManus | February 6, 2007 11:46 AM
I as well want to thank you for the mention. I want to highlight that Planypus is not here to replace evite. Unlike renkoo and mypunchbowl we really focus on casual events where planning an event literally takes 15 seconds. We do not require registration and allow the organizer to opt out of being the organizer, in fact an event does not need an organizer at all (until someone wants to step up to the plate and take the reins). This is what our users love. As far as the UI, I agree it needs work and we are working on it. Unfortunately we do not have the funds that some of our competitors have to spend lavishly so our UI is improving with each release.
Posted by: Alex | February 7, 2007 11:22 AM
your point about being able to organize in a minute or less is well-taken, and it made me think of my most common event scheduling situation - lunchtime at the office between mostly geeky coder-types who tend to be noncommittal - getting them out of their chairs is a 'lazy loading' proposition - they look around, see if there's critical mass, and something - guilt or otherwise - eventually lifts them from their chairs, away from their precious code. it'd be cool to have some kind of system that would gradually build buy-in from a set of people, with increasing levels of commitment, until the crescendo moment, when buy-in happens and momentum carries the day.
:)
tellin ya, though - all joking aside, this exact situation plays itself out in offices all across American ever weekday. "are you going to lunch? where you going? yeah? I'm thinking about it - I have some stuff to do? It's nice out? It's raining out? You driving or walking?" There's lots of room for creativity in this space.
Not to mention, what about offering coupons to groups of people to come to some joint. Let's say Chipotle will give everyone 20% off if you bring a group of five or more - you can print your Renkoo coupon right there - five of them - and boom, it's valid for the next 24hrs. Sweet!
Posted by: Peter | February 7, 2007 2:50 PM
Peter, I agree with you 100% about the "what's for lunch" office situation. If someone can find out a quick and easy way to do that, it would be of great value to me. So many times, I try and get together with friends who work in the financial district of Chicago, and we go through a string of 25 emails, that really takes time out of my day. If we could connect all of our devices, make it less than a minute to send the invite, and email me a coupon or suggestions, that hits a sweet spot for me. I have a feeling that this sort of product could get mainstream traction.
Posted by: Jay Fortner | February 8, 2007 7:41 AM
Take a look at these pre-pre-event planning sites, into which category sites like goovite (already mentioned), meetwithapproval and my favorite: meetomatic falls.
meetomatic serves one purpose: finding a date where everyone can attend. The details, such as where, what time and what to do, has to be sorted out in some other way. Sites like Renkoo, planyplus, etc. would gain a lot from adding this basic functionality imho.
By the way, I'm not affiliated in any way with the meetomatic guys :-).
Posted by: Allan With S√∏rensen | February 8, 2007 9:26 AM
I think there is a small niche of people who are religious calendar users. For those users filling out a 'available/unavailable' time slot form would be the best way to determine when people can meet for lunch. In order for this to work everyone in the group has to be a scheduling-nut (and I say that in the kindest of ways). I think in reality most people do not live by their hourly calendars.
For most people, scheduling a lunch is a matter of casual discussion not machine-calculation. That means I can say "i'd like to do 1230 but i'm running late", or something like that. Planypus serves exactly this need...scheduling without the mechanical fill out a form style of meetwithapproval or some of these other sites. Getting a group together for dinner at 8 should still happen if 2 out of 8 people can only make it at 8:30. Pure-scheduling websites cannot easily take this into account. Only conversation can. The key is to make the conversation easy and ubiquitous (meaning mobile, rss, email).
Posted by: Yan | February 8, 2007 12:28 PM
Let me point you all to Koolvite, www.koolvite.com
I am part of Koolvite and we have taken a contrarian approach to the sites listed above in that we focus on the quality and personalization of the invite. Essentially, we let the users design their own invite with a flexibilty beyond other web sites.
Naturally, this is aiming for a different user base than Planypus, Renkoo, etc. but we do believe there is an audience for this as well as occasions such as birthdays, baby showers, etc. that demand this. Compared to the lets-plan-lunch events, such occasions are fewer but the monetization opportunities related to them are much better. Example, party supplies and targeted advertising.
The website is open even though we are still smoothening out the aesthetics and some layout. We invite you to visit and appreciate your feedback.
Posted by: Vandana | February 8, 2007 8:59 PM
Hi there...
I've never heard of the sites you listed... thanks for the info! I also want to let you know about another invitation site I like to use. It's called SendAnInvite.com and they do everything I need! (www.sendaninvite.com) They have ready-made templates for invitations or announcements, or you can create your own (including uploading your own images if you'd like). Invitations are emailed out to my guestlist who can then RSVP (or you can disable RSVP's if it's just an announcement) and SendAnInvite collects and stores the information for me. I log in and can see who's coming, if they're bringing guests, and what comments they left for me. :)
They do more things also... such as collecting ticket fees (great for concerts, etc) or admission fees and the funds go into my PayPal account. (they then bill me at the end of the month for their collection fees which are lower than places like Eventbrite) They also let you put your events into an RSS feed which I could see using for recurring events. There's also options like "What to bring" (for pot-luck dinners or the like) and Guest Preference Polling.
Accounts are free and they let you test out their service by sending to 7 (I think it was) email addresses for free. I can always send an invitation to myself for free as long as it's the same email address I used to sign up for the account with... which is great because I can see what the invitation looks like before I send it to my friends! Their prices seem reasonable to me considering everything I get. They work off of "Email Credits". If I want to send to 25 people, it's only $5! I like to buy 100 credits at a time ($12) and I'm allowed to use those credits for multiple invitations. OH YEAH... and there's NO ADVERTISING on any of the invitations!!
Of course there's a lot more that I'm not mentioning, but I'd suggest checking it out for yourself. :) I realize what works best for me may not be the solution for everyone, but I love that site!
Anyways... just thought I'd add my two cents! :)
Thanks again!
Posted by: Kelly | March 4, 2007 1:51 PM
Just noticed the link I added for SendAnInvite is attached to my name! Cool! Does that mean they'll give me a job? LOL! :D
Posted by: Kelly | March 4, 2007 1:55 PM
Kelly, it sounds like a lot of advertising there. considering one of the founder's names is Kelly. I've been to your site, it kind of stinks. Kind of like 1985 threw up.
Posted by: Homer | March 9, 2007 11:59 AM
"Homer"... Like no one else in the world is named "Kelly"! HA HA!!! You've been to my site? Exactly what site is that? I was just participating in the discussion about Jay's article and trying to offer other service options like Yan did, and John Pope did, and Vandana did. I don't care if you agree with me, my opinion is just that... and OPINION. Grow up.
Posted by: Kelly | March 10, 2007 6:15 PM