The event inbox problem
The week before a festival, a conference, or a concert, the info inbox becomes unmanageable. "Is there parking?" "What time do doors open?" "Can I transfer my ticket to a friend?" "What's the refund policy?" "Is the venue wheelchair accessible?" Every question is legitimate. Most can be answered from a single event FAQ page. But together they form a flood that lands on the smallest, busiest version of your team — the people who are simultaneously finalising logistics, briefing staff, and coordinating with the venue.
The pattern is the same every time: an enormous spike right before the event, a trickle during, then silence. Staffing a human team to absorb that spike is impractical. A static FAQ page helps, but it doesn't answer the email.
What event email automation does
An AI email agent gets its own dedicated address — like info@yourevent.mailon.ai. Your existing info@ address forwards to it; the agent handles every inbound message and your personal inbox stays untouched. When an attendee writes in, the agent:
Reads the full email and any thread history
Searches your knowledge base — your event FAQ, schedule, parking guide, transfer policy
Composes a reply in your event's voice, citing the relevant detail
Holds the draft in a 30-minute cancellable window
Sends — or escalates to your queue if it wasn't confident
The attendee gets a real answer in seconds. You don't lift a finger unless there's something that genuinely needs you.
What an event agent handles
Parking and transport: "Is there parking at the venue?" "Which train station is closest?" — answered from your event's transport guide
Door times and schedule: "What time do doors open?" "When does the main act start?" — drawn from your programme
Ticket transfers: "Can I transfer my ticket to someone else?" — answered from your transfer policy
Accessibility: "Is the venue wheelchair accessible?" "Is there a hearing loop?" — escalated to a human when specific arrangements are needed
Refund policy questions: the policy is explained from your document; actual refund requests are escalated
Registration and confirmation queries: "I haven't received my booking confirmation" — resend guidance and spam-check instruction, with an escalation path
General FAQ: age restrictions, dress code, what to bring, prohibited items — all from your event docs
Two things that matter most for events: metered usage and versioned prompts
Metered usage — pay for the peak, not the year
Events are the textbook case for spiky, bursty demand. There is no steady-state. The inbox is quiet for weeks, then it detonates in the 72 hours before doors open. Mailon's usage-based pricing fits that shape naturally: you pay for the replies sent during the event window, not for a year-round subscription that sits idle between events. Spin the mailbox up, absorb the surge, pause it after. No permanent hire required.
Versioned prompts — update to the last minute, roll back if needed
Event details change constantly right up to showtime: a support act drops off the bill, the car park entrance changes, the doors-open time moves by 30 minutes. Every change needs to be reflected in what the agent tells attendees — immediately. With versioned prompts, you update the agent's instructions on the fly. The full version history is preserved, so if an update creates a problem you can roll back to the previous version in a single click. No stale answers, no attendees being told a door time that's no longer correct.
How to set it up
Step 1 — Gather your documents
Event FAQ (parking, transport, doors, schedule, what to bring)
Ticket transfer policy (conditions, how to initiate)
Refund policy (window, conditions, how to claim)
Accessibility information (wheelchair access, hearing loops, companion tickets)
Any last-minute schedule changes or announcements
Step 2 — Write your event prompt
Example: "You are the info agent for [Event Name]. Answer questions about parking, doors, schedule, and transfers from the knowledge base. Tone: friendly, concise, excited about the event. Escalate all refund requests, ticket disputes, and specific accessibility arrangements to a human."
Step 3 — Point your info address at the agent
Forward your existing info@ address to the agent's address, or publish info@yourevent.mailon.ai directly on your event page and tickets. No changes to your website are required.
Step 4 — Set escalation rules
Define what the agent should always escalate: refund requests, ticket disputes, specific accessibility needs, anything that references an individual booking the agent can't look up.
Step 5 — Update and re-crawl as details change
As the event approaches and details firm up, re-upload your FAQ or re-crawl your event page. The knowledge base updates instantly. Use versioned prompts to keep a history of every instruction change.
A note on "where's my ticket" without live ticketing-platform data
Mailon answers from documents you provide — not from live Eventbrite, Billetto, or other ticketing-platform data. There is no integration with ticketing systems today. For "I never received my ticket" and "where's my booking confirmation" questions, the cleanest approach is: acknowledge warmly, ask the attendee to check their spam folder, provide the resend steps for your ticketing platform, and offer an escalation path for cases where the ticket genuinely can't be located.
This handles the vast majority of ticket-delivery questions. Attendees who email about a missing confirmation usually just need to check spam — and a fast, warm response that tells them exactly where to look is far better than silence.
For questions about specific bookings, order details, or anything that requires looking up a record in the ticketing system, the agent escalates to your queue with a suggested draft pointing to the provider's portal.
What stays with your team
Refund requests — escalated with a draft, never auto-approved
Ticket disputes and fraud flags
Specific accessibility arrangements that need a personal response
Complaints about the event itself — empathy and resolution require a human
Any question where the answer genuinely isn't in your documents
Frequently asked questions
Can the event email agent connect directly to Eventbrite or Billetto?
Not today. The agent answers from documents you provide — your FAQ, schedule, and policy pages. For "where's my ticket" questions it gives standard resend and spam-check guidance and points attendees to the ticketing provider's own support portal. Specific order lookups are escalated to your team with a suggested draft.
What happens when event details change right before the show?
Re-crawl your event page or re-upload the updated document — the knowledge base updates instantly, and the agent starts using the new information on the very next email. Prompts are versioned with full history, so you can update the agent's instructions on the fly and roll back in one click if a change causes a problem.
How does the agent handle refund and ticket-transfer requests?
Transfer policy questions are answered from your policy document. Actual transfer requests and all refund requests are escalated to your queue — never auto-processed. The escalation arrives with a suggested draft so you can respond quickly but personally, without starting from scratch.
What does "pay for the peak" mean for events?
Mailon uses metered, usage-based pricing. You spin the mailbox up for the event window, absorb the surge, and pause it after. You're charged for the replies sent during the active period — not for a year-round subscription that runs at full price during the quiet weeks between events. Free to start, no card required.